On this day ...

AUGUST 31

1888: Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, first victim of Jack the Ripper, was found mutilated in Buck’s Row in the East End.

1900: Coca-Cola first went on sale in Britain.

1908: At the age of 60, and after a career spanning 43 years, the legendary WG Grace retired from first-class cricket.

1936: Elizabeth Cowell, Britain’s first woman TV announcer, made her debut at Alexandra Palace.

1962: Chris Bonington and Ian Clough became the first Britons to conquer the north face of the Eiger.

1969: Rocky Marciano, American world heavyweight boxing champion from 1952 to 1956, who retired undefeated, was killed in an air crash in Iowa.

1972: American swimmer Mark Spitz won his fifth gold medal at the Munich Olympics.

1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, above, was killed in a car crash in central Paris along with Dodi Fayed.

2012: The German manufacturer of anti-morning sickness drug thalidomide apologised for the thousands of children born without limbs as a result of its use.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Monsoon rain in Pakistan left at least eight people dead in flood-related incidents in the country’s largest city Karachi.

BIRTHDAYS: Martin Bell, former broadcaster and MP, 80; Clive Lloyd, former cricketer, 74; Van Morrison, singer, 73; Richard Gere, above, actor, 69; Edwin Moses, former athlete, 63; Glenn Tilbrook, rock musician (Squeeze), 61; Todd Carty, actor, 55.