On this day ...

NOVEMBER 21

1695: Henry Purcell, English composer, died of tuberculosis, aged 36.

1783: Man’s first free-flight was made over Paris by Jean de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes in the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon.

1787: Sir Samuel Cunard, shipowner, was born in Nova Scotia.

1843: Thomas Hancock patented vulcanised rubber.

1918: The German battle fleet surrendered to the Allies at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.

1934: Anything Goes by Cole Porter, above, opened in New York and made a star of Ethel Merman.

1936: The first television gardening programme was broadcast by the BBC - In Your Garden with Mr Middleton.

1953: The discovery of The Piltdown Man skull by Charles Dawson in Sussex in 1912 was finally revealed as a hoax.

1974: IRA bombs in two Birmingham public houses killed 19 people .

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke of Cambridge spoke about how his love of motorcycles had been put “on the back-burner” because of his growing family. BIRTHDAYS: Dr John (Mac Rebennack), R&B musician, 78; Juliet Mills, actress,77; Goldie Hawn, actress, 73; Lorna Luft, actress, 66; Bjork, singer, above, 53; Andrew Caddick, former cricketer, 50; Alex James, musician (Blur) and writer, 50; Justin Langer, former cricketer, 48; Carly Rae Jepsen, singer, 33.