ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 6

❑ 1 year ago… Hairy Biker scare

TV chef Dave Myers announces he has cancer and will take a break from filming.

❑ 4 years ago… Snooker first

Judd Trump scoops his debut World Championship title after beating John Higgins 18-9 in the final.

❑ 19 years ago… Final Friends airs

The last episode of the hit American television sitcom goes out on the box and is watched by more than 52million viewers.

❑ 26 years ago… Banking revolution

Nearly 300 years since it was set up, the new Labour Government announce that the Bank of England is going to be made independent from political control.

❑ 29 years ago… Channel Tunnel opens

Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the 31-mile long Channel Tunnel along with France’s president Francois Mitterand.

❑ 58 years ago… Moors murderers jailed

Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to serve life in prison, after being found guilty of killing several children in the infamous Moors murders case.

❑ 69 years ago… Running record

British athlete Roger Bannister becomes the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes at Oxford’s Iffley Road track.

❑ 86 years ago… Hindenburg disaster

The German airship dramatically goes up in flames as it approaches Lakehurst, New Jersey, on its arrival in the US from Europe, killing 35 people.

❑ 108 years ago… Orson Welles born

The American, from Wisconsin, would go on to become a top film director, best known for his 1941 movie Citizen Kane.

❑ 113 years ago… George V is king

The new monarch ascends to the throne after the death of his father, Edward VII, aged 68, at Buckingham Palace.

❑ 124 years ago… Eiffel Tower opens

Gustave Eiffel’s 1,083ft tall iron tower in Paris, France, opens to the public for the first time as part of a World Expo.

❑ 183 years ago… Postage first

The Penny Black, carrying the image of Queen Victoria, becomes the world’s first adhesive postage stamp for use on letters.