IT HAPPENED TODAY
1798:
Giovanni Casanova (above), Italian adventurer, lover and romancer, died at his Castle of Waldstein, Bohemia.
1805:
The first Trooping the Colour took place at Horse Guards Parade, London.
1832:
The Great Reform Bill, an electoral measure which disenfranchised rotten boroughs, became law.
1913:
Suffragette martyr Emily Wilding Davison (below) was trampled at Tattenham Corner, Epsom, during the Derby. She flung herself in front of the King’s horse Anmer, and died on June 8.
1937:
The world’s first supermarket trolleys trundled down the grocery aisles. Sylvan Goldman of Oklahoma built his push-baskets by fixing baskets and wheels to children’s chairs.
1940:
The evacuation of Dunkirk, which had begun on May 27, was completed. Thousands of little ships, under heavy German attack, returned to the English south coast with 338,226 soldiers.
1977:
Damage estimated at £15,000 was caused when fans tore up parts of the Wembley pitch after Scotland beat England 2-1.
1989:
More than 2,000 people died in Tiananmen Square, Peking, when troops opened fire on protesting students.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Cadbury announced that all its chocolate bars sold in the UK and Ireland were to use sustainably-sourced cocoa in a bid to secure a future for farmers and supplies of the key ingredient.
BIRTHDAYS:
Geoffrey Palmer, actor, 91, Bill Treacher, actor, 88; Bruce Dern, actor, 82; Michelle Phillips, actress and singer, 74; Bob Champion, former jockey, 70; David Yip, actor, 67; Andrea Jaeger, former tennis player, 53; Noah Wyle, actor, 47; Debra Stephenson, actress, 46; Angelina Jolie, actress, 43; Mollie King (below), singer with The Saturdays), 31.