ON THIS DAY

1707: Charles Wesley, hymn-writer and prolific preacher, was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire.

1737: Antonio Stradivari, violinmaker, died in his 90s in Cremona, Italy.

1865: The United States officially abolished slavery with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

1912: Newspapers ran headlines of the discovery of Piltdown Man in Sussex. It was claimed to be the fossilised skull and remains of the earliest known European. In 1953 it was proved to be a hoax – the skull was that of an orangutan combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man.

1952: Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men, were first seen on BBC TV, along with Little Weed.

1969: The death penalty for murder was formally abolished in Britain.

1970: Divorce became legal in Italy.

1974: The government said it would pay £42,000 compensation to relatives of the 13 men killed in the Bloody Sunday riots in Londonderry three years previously.

2012: The Queen capped her Diamond Jubilee year by becoming the first monarch to attend the cabinet in more than two centuries.

2014: Ronnie Biggs, the Great

Train Robber who won worldwide notoriety for spending 36 years on the run after escaping prison, died aged 84.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Clarence House announced the Prince of Wales would visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in January 2020 to carry out a series of official engagements for the first time.

BIRTHDAYS: Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist, 77; Steven Spielberg, film-maker, 74; Brad Pitt, actor, 57; Robson Green, actor, 56; DMX (Earl Simmons), rapper, 50; Katie Holmes, actress, 42; Christina Aguilera, singer, 40; Lizzie Deignan (nee Armitstead), cyclist, 32.