IT HAPPENED TODAY

MAY 1

1707: The Union of Scotland and England was proclaimed.

1840: The first Penny Black stamps with Queen Victoria’s head went on sale five days before the official issue date.

1851: Queen Victoria (above) opened the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.

1873: Missionary and explorer David Livingstone died of malaria in central Africa.

1912: The statue of Peter Pan was installed in Kensington Gardens, London. JM Barrie (below ),authorof Peter Pan, commissioned and paid for the statue, although children were told that fairies put it there.

1925: Cyprus became a British colony, having originally been annexed in 1914 when Turkey supported Germany during the First World War.

1931: US president Herbert Hoover opened the Empire State Building in New York. At 1,250ft high and with

1945: Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels committed suicide in his bunker.

1960: An American U2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down over the Soviet Union.

2009: Carol Ann Duffy became the first female Poet Laureate in the post’s 341-year history.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The proportion of women high earners had not changed for six years, despite moves to increase diversity in senior positions, it was reported.

BIRTHDAYS: Una Stubbs, actress, 81; Judy Collins, singer, 79; Rita Coolidge, singer, 73; Joanna Lumley

(above) actress, 72; John Diehl, actor, 68; Ray Parker Jnr, singer, 64; Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, 54; Tim McGraw, country singer, 51; Wes Anderson, director, 49.

102 floors, it was then the world’s tallest building.