IT HAPPENED TODAY
1583:
The first life insurance policy was sold in London.
1815:
The Battle of Waterloo was fought, where combined forces led by the Duke of Wellington (above) and the Prussian Field Marshal Blucher defeated Napoleon.
1817:
London’s Waterloo Bridge was opened. It was originally called Strand Bridge but was re-named on the anniversary of the battle.
1822:
London’s first nude statue was unveiled in Hyde Park. The bronze figure of Achilles was sculpted by Sir Richard Westmacott. Achilles later acquired a bronze fig-leaf.
1903:
Jeanette Macdonald, star of countless 1930s musicals with Nelson Eddy, was born in Philadelphia.
1940:
Winston Churchill made his famous Battle of Britain speech: “Let us brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’.“
1963:
Henry Cooper (above) floored Cassius Clay (later Muhammed Ali) in round four at Wembley Stadium. But by the fifth, with Cooper badly cut, the fight was stopped.
1978:
Garfield, the world’s favourite fat cat created by Jim Davis, was born. The name came from Davis’s grandfather, James A Garfield Davis.
2010:
John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for Beatles hit A Day In The Life sold for £810,000 at auction.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Anarmy helicopter rescued four Italian and two Pakistani climbers stranded after an avalanche in Islamabad.
BIRTHDAYS:
Delia Smith, TV cook, 79; Sir Paul Mccartney, musician, 78; Thabo Mbeki, South African politician, 78; Fabio Capello, former
England football manager, 74; Isabella Rossellini (above), actress/model, 68; Ralph Brown, actor, 63; Alison Moyet, singer, 59; Blake Shelton, American country singer, 44.