IT HAPPENED TODAY
1227:
Genghis Khan (above), the Mongol emperor who conquered more than a million square miles of land, died after falling from his horse.
1587:
Virginia Dare became the first child born of English parents in the New World — on Roanoke Island, North Carolina — seven days after Sir Walter Raleigh’s second expedition landed.
1948:
Jockey Lester Piggott, aged just 12, rode his first winner on only his seventh ride.
1960:
The birth control pill was launched in America.
1964:
South Africa was banned from the Olympics because of its racial policies.
1966:
The Tay Road Bridge was opened.
1971:
Disabled 28-year-old Eamon McDevitt was shot dead by the Army in Strabane, Northern Ireland.
2009:
2012:
2012:
2016:
Samantha Druce, aged 12 years and 119 days, is the youngest woman to swim the English Channel.
Former South Korean president and 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kim Dae-jung died of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.
Al-Qaida militants kill 14 people in an attack in Aden, Yemen.
Nato air strikes kill at least 13 militants in Afghanistan.
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (above) wins the gold medal in the men’s 200m for the third successive Summer Olympics, recording a time of 19.78 in Rio de Janeiro.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Victims from 34 countries were killed or injured in terror attacks in Spain the previous day, it was revealed.
Roman Polanski, film director, 85; Robert Redford (above), actor, 82; Madeleine Stowe, actress, 60; Christian Slater, actor, 49; Mika, singer/songwriter, 35.