IT HAPPENED TODAY

1087:

William the Conqueror died in Rouen, France, from injuries received when his horse stumbled while he was fighting the King of France. William Rufus (Red Rufus), third son of William the Conqueror came to the throne of England.

The Battle of Flodden Field was fought near Branxton in Northumberland, in which James IV of Scotland was defeated and killed by English troops under Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey.

William Bligh (above), captain of the Bounty, was born. He sailed around the world on Cook’s second voyage before taking command of his own ship in 1787. The infamous mutiny in 1789 was not the end of his career — he became Governor of New South Wales in 1805.

Modern local government came into being with the British Municipal Corporations Act.

The stunted, bespectacled French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec died after suffering a second stroke.

Scotland’s Jim Clark became the world’s youngest motor racing champion.

Mao Tse-tung (Chairman Mao, below) died aged 82 after a series of strokes.

1513:

1754:

1835:

1901:

1963:

1976:

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A New York City subway station reopened for the first time since it was destroyed during the September 11 World Trade Centre attack 17 years earlier. The original Cortlandt Street station was opened in 1918. The station was renovated in the 1960s when the original WTC was built.

BIRTHDAYS: Tom Wopat, actor best known for the Dukes of Hazzard, 68; Angela Cartwright, actress made famous by her role as Brigitta von Trapp in The Sound Of Music, 67; Dave Stewart, musician who had big hits on both sides of the Atlantic with The Eurythmics, 67; Hugh Grant, actor, 59; Adam Sandler, actor and comedian, 53; Julia Sawalha, actress, 51; Henry Thomas, actor who rose to fame as a young boy in the Steven Spielberg movie ET, 48; Eric Stonestreet, American actor who is perhaps best known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the mockumentary sitcom Modern Family, 48; Goran Visnjic, actor, 47; Michelle Williams, actress (below), 39.