On this day ...

AUGUST 28

1850: The Channel telegraph cable was finally laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez.

1850: Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It contains The Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes The Bride.

1895: RL Thomas, secretary and treasurer of Kinestoscope Co of New Jersey, USA, became the first film actor, playing the part of the Queen in The Execution Of Mary Queen Of Scots.

1933: The BBC was used for the first time by the police hunting a wanted man. An appeal was broadcast for information on murder suspect Stanley Hobday.

1963: Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King, above, made his famous “I have a dream...” speech to a rally of 200,000 people in Washington.

1988: Thirty-three people died when three Italian air force jets collided during an aerobatics display at Ramstein in Western Germany.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Scientists at Oxford University revealed that sea birds’ sense of smells was a key factor in how they navigate the oceans. BIRTHDAYS: Windsor Davies, actor, 88; David Soul, singer/actor, 74; Hugh Cornwell, rock singer (The Stranglers), 69; Emma Samms, actress, 58; Shania Twain, singer, 53; Jason Priestley, actor, 49; Jack Black, above, actor, 49; LeAnn Rimes, singer, 36; Lilli Schwarzkopf, heptathlete, 35; Florence Welch, singer, 32; Armie Hammer, actor, 32.