IT HAPPENED TODAY
1642:
Montreal in Canada was founded.
Napoleon Bonaparte (above) was proclaimed Emperor of France.
1804: 1830:
Edwin Budding of Gloucestershire signed an agreement for the manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower. The first customer was Regent’s Park Zoo.
1872:
Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, nuclear disarmer and Nobel Prize for literature winner, was born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire.
1882:
The present Eddystone Lighthouse, the fourth in existence, was opened.
Fred Perry (below), three times Wimbledon men’s singles champion, was born.
1909: 1954:
The European Convention on Human Rights came into force.
1961:
The first London production of
The Sound Of Music opened.
1974:
India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.
1980:
Mount St Helens volcano in the American state of Washington erupted, killing 100 people. A cloud of ash 2,500 miles long and 1,000 miles wide was created.
1990:
A treaty was signed in Bonn introducing economic and monetary union between East and West Germany.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Gay couples in Taiwan planned a mass wedding registration after politicians voted to legalise same-sex marriage.
BIRTHDAYS:
Miriam Margolyes, actress, 79; Nobby Stiles, former footballer, 78; Rick Wakeman, rock musician, 71; Chow Yun-fat, actor, 65; Toyah Willcox,(above), singer/ actress, 62; Holly Aird, actress, 51; Martika, singer and actress, 51; Tina Fey, actress/comedian/writer, 50; Danny Mills, former footballer, 43.