IT HAPPENED TODAY
1644:
Sir Thomas Fairfax was victorious at the Battle of Selby in the English Civil War.
1689:
William III and Mary II were crowned joint monarchs.
1713:
Gibraltar and Newfoundland were ceded to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.
1814:
Napoleon was forced to abdicate but allowed to retain his ‘Emperor’ title, although he was banished to the island of Elba.
1914:
A play by Dublin playwright George Bernard Shaw ( above), Pygmalion, named after a Greek mythological figure, opened in London with Mrs Patrick Campbell as Eliza Doolittle and Sir Herbert Tree as Professor Higgins. Shaw’s play has been adapted numerous times, most notably as the musical My Fair Lady.
1929:
Popeye made his first appearance as a supporting character in a cartoon strip in Hearst’s New York newspapers.
1951:
President Truman relieved war hero General Douglas MacArthur of his command in the Far East in a row over Korea.
1961:
American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan ( above) made his first public appearance in Greenwich Village, New York.
1983:
Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi won eight Oscars.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
A high-volume crustacean that produces a sound louder than rock concerts was named after the band Pink Floyd.
Joel Grey, actor, 86; Jill Gascoine, actress, 81; Peter Riegert, actor, 71; Jeremy Clarkson, TV motoring expert and columnist, 58; Lisa Stansfield ( above), singer, 52; Cerys Matthews, singer and radio presenter, 49; Jennifer Esposito, actress, 45; Ian Bell, cricketer, 36; Joss Stone, singer, 31.