ON THIS DAY

FILM star Christopher Lee was born in London. He played everything from vampires to a Bond villain during his career and also appeared as Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Saruman, pictured, in the Lord Of The Rings films. He once pointed out: “Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them.” PRIME Minister Anthony Eden and the Conservatives celebrated after winning the general election with a clear majority. The Tory manifesto, “United for Peace and Progress”, promised a programme for prosperity, economic strength and high employment. AMERICAN businessman Victor Kiam, who made his fortune with the Remington Electric Razor, died at the age of 74. He became a household name when be began fronting his own television adverts declaring: “I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company.” He repeated the same catchphrase in different languages for other adverts in countries around the world. EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Michael Owen became the youngest player to score for England when he struck the winning goal in a friendly match against Morocco in Casablanca. Soccer star Pelé once called him one of the world’s greatest living players. THE German battleship Bismarck was sunk by the Royal Navy in the North Atlantic, near France. Up to 100 British ships chased the brand-new “unsinkable” battleship across 1,500 miles of the Atlantic after the Bismarck’s sinking of HMS Hood days earlier. After three days of continuous air strikes, the Bismarck was destroyed. Some survivors were later picked up by HMS Dorsetshire.