BORN ON THIS DAY

ALExAnDER HAMILTOn (1757-1804). One of the U.S. founding fathers (pictured) is the subject of the hit hip-hop musical which is named after him. Born illegitimate in the British West Indies, he was at the heart of one of the first U.S. sex scandals. Married Hamilton, described by a biographer as ‘brimming with libido’, had an affair with a woman who, with her husband, orchestrated the fling to extort money from him. It destroyed his career. He was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. HARRY gORDOn SELFRIDgE (18581947). The U.S. entrepreneur founded Selfridges department store in Oxford Street in 1909, which boasted the world’s largest glass windows. Selfridges was one of the first stores to provide ladies’ toilets.