IT HAPPENED TODAY
1504:
Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born. He had an extremely long nose and was extremely inquisitive, hence the expression “Nosey Parker”.
1637:
The first Poet Laureate, Ben Jonson, died in poverty.
1844:
The first press telegram in Britain was sent to The Times, announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria.
1859:
“Worth a guinea a box” appeared on Beecham’s Powders packets — the first known advertising slogan.
1881:Alexander
Flemming (above) Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, was born.
1889:
The Savoy Hotel in London opened.
Murderer Walter Kemmler was the first man to die in the electric chair, at Auburn Prison, New York.
1931:
Bix Beiderbecke (above), legendary jazz trumpeter, died aged 28 from a combination of pneumonia and alcoholism.
1932:
The first film festival was held in the Hotel Excelsior, Venice.
1945:
The first atomic bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan, from a B29 bomber Enola Gay.
2011:
A march in protest of the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, sparked a wave of rioting throughout the country.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Tiny flecks of gold could be used in the fight against cancer, new research suggested.
BIRTHDAYS:
Sir Chris Bonington, mountaineer, 84; Barbara Windsor (above), actress, 81; Ron Davies, Welsh politician, 72; Oliver Tobias, actor, 71; Reece Dinsdale, actor, 59; Michelle Yeoh, actress, 56; Geri Halliwell, singer, 46; Robin van Persie, footballer, 35.