On this day ...

JANUARY 15

1790: Fletcher Christian and eight fellow mutineers from the Bounty landed on the remote Pitcairn Island in the Pacific.

1867: Forty skaters died when the frozen lake in London’s Regents Park gave way.

1880: The first telephone directory was published by the London Telephone Company.

1893: Ivor Novello, composer, actor, director and playwright, was born in Cardiff.

1912: The first sickness benefit , unemployment benefit and maternity benefit were introduced in Britain.

1929: Martin Luther King, above, American civil rights leader, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1963: The BBC ended its ban on mentioning politics, royalty, religion and sex in comedy shows.

2009: Dozens of passengers had a miraculous escape as a US airliner plunged into the Hudson River in New York.

2014: Actor Roger LloydPack, amiable dimwit Trigger in Only Fools And Horses, died at the age of 69.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Nearly 15,000 people fled from villages around the Philippines’ most active volcano, as lava flowed down its crater. BIRTHDAYS: Frank Bough, broadcaster, 86; Margaret Beckett, politician, 76; Princess Michael of Kent, 74; Gareth Hale, comedian, 66; Mario Van Peebles, actor, 62; James Nesbitt, above, actor, 54; Mary Pierce, tennis player, 44; Scott Murray, rugby union player, 43; Jermaine Pennant, footballer, 36.