IT HAPPENED TODAY
The law compelling people to celebrate this day was repealed in 1859.
1637:
The Ancient Society of College Youths was founded to ring the City of London bells. College youths have rung Bow Bells since 1637 and also ring St Paul’s Bells on Sundays.
1854:
The combined British and French armies defeated the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War.
1909:
The first Woolworths store in Britain opened in Liverpool.
1912:
The British Board of Film Censors was appointed. It decided on two classifications — Universal and Not Suitable for Children.
1914:
Britain and France declared war on Turkey.
1956:
A popular uprising in Hungary was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops, with an estimated 20,000 Hungarians killed.
1968:
US presidential election — Republican challenger Richard M Nixon (top) defeated vice president Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C Wallace.
1991:
Robert Maxwell (above), millionaire publishing tycoon, was found dead at sea hours after disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.
2006:
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraq High Tribunal.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Anexpensive Mediterranean black truffle was cultivated in the UK for the first time, the farthest north that the species had ever been found.
BIRTHDAYS:
Lester Piggott, former jockey, 83; Elke Sommer, actress, 78; Art Garfunkel, singer, 77; Dennis Andries, former boxer, 65; Bryan Adams, rock singer, 59; Tatum O’Neal, actress, 55; Tamzin Outhwaite (above), actress, 48; Danniella Westbrook, actress, 45.