BORN ON THIS DAY

CHARLES GREY ( 17641845). As prime minister, the 2nd Earl grey’s main political achievements included the abolition of slavery in 1833. But he will be best remembered for the blend of tea named after him, thought to have been the result of a gift he received of tea flavoured with bergamot oil. He loved it so much, he tasked British tea merchants with recreating it. DAVID NOBBS (1935-2015). The Kent-born writer penned jokes for Les dawson and The Two ronnies before making his name with the Seventies series The Fall And rise Of reginald Perrin, adapted from his own novels, starring Leonard rossiter. While practising a comedy routine on Barnet Common, he was stopped by police who mistook him for an ‘escaped lunatic’.