On this day ...

SEPTEMBER 4

1860: The first weather forecast appeared in The Times.

1870: Emperor Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, was deposed and the Third Republic declared in France.

1886: Geronimo, Apache chief and leader of the last great Native American rebellion, surrendered in Arizona to General Nelson Miles.

1909: The first Boy Scout rally took place at Crystal Palace in London.

1939: The British liner Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat, the first sinking of its kind, off the coast of Ireland.

1964: The Forth road bridge, above, 6,156ft long and with a centre span of 3,300ft, was opened by the Queen.

1965: Albert Schweitzer, French medical missionary, died aged 90 in Gabon, the village where he had opened his hospital for natives.

1970: Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova defected to the West during a visit to London by the Kirov Ballet.

1989: Georges Simenon, creator of detective Maigret, died in Switzerland.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Prince Harry was welcomed back to a street transformed for ex-service personnel to live in – even if one of the younger residents insisted he wiped his feet before he went into her home. BIRTHDAYS: Bill Kenwright, theatrical impresario, 73; Tom Watson, golfer, 69; Mark Ronson, music producer, 43; Beyonce Knowles, above, singer, 37; Jonny Lomax, rugby league player, 28.