IT HAPPENED TODAY
1679:
The Habeas Corpus Act, stating that nobody could be held in prison without trial, was passed.
1703:
Tsar Peter the Great founded St Petersburg (above) and proclaimed it the new capital of Russia.
1818:
Women’s rights campaigner Amelia Jenks Bloomer was born in New York. She caused such a stir by wearing trousers that they acquired her name — bloomers.
1837:
James “Wild Bill” Hickok, US frontiersman, was born in Troy Grove, Illinois.
1840:
Italian violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini died. He was reputed to have had a hand-spread which measured a staggering 18 inches.
1900:
Belgium became the first country to elect a government by proportional representation.
1936:
The Queen Mary (above) left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York.
1937:
The 4,200ft Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, was officiallly opened.
1940:
Operation Dynamo — the evacuation of British and French troops from the Dunkirk beaches—began. It lasted until June 4.
1941:
The German battleship Bismarck was sunk.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Daredevils threw themselves down a steep hill in the annual death-defying Cheese Rolling Race in Gloucestershire, England.
BIRTHDAYS:
Dr Henry Kissinger, statesman, 97; Louis Gossett Jr, actor, 84; Duncan Goodhew, former swimmer, 63; Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Ballion), rock singer, 63; Neil Finn, rock singer (Crowded House), 62; Pat Cash, former tennis player, 55; Paul Gascoigne, former footballer, 53; Joseph Fiennes, actor, 50; Denise Van Outen (below), TV star, 46.