ON THIS DAY

FEAST OF ST MARK

ANZAC DAY – Commemorates 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in the First World War.

1599: Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon. He became Lord Protector of England – Britain’s first and only dictator.

1859: Work began on the 100-mile Suez Canal.

1872: C B Fry, all-round sportsman, was born in Croydon. He played football, cricket and rugby and was also an athlete, hunter, fisherman and novelist.

1915: Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.

1926: Toscanini conducted the first performance of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, in Milan.

1945: Fifty nations gathered in San Francisco to begin the United Nations conference on International Organisations.

1975: Portugal held its first free elections for 50 years.

1983: In Germany, Stern published extracts from the so-called Hitler Diaries, also published by the Sunday Times in Britain. They were later found to be forgeries.

2005: Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.

2007: Alan Ball, the youngest member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning side, died of a heart attack at the age of 61.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A child’s risk of obesity as they grow up can be influenced by modifications to their DNA while in the womb caused by their mother’s ‘health, diet and lifestyle’, new research suggested.