ON THIS DAY

1531: About 20,000 people died in an earthquake in Lisbon. 1797: £1 notes were first issued by the Bank of England. 1815: Napoleon escaped from exile on the island of Elba and returned to France. 1839: The Grand National was first run at Aintree. 1846: William Frederick Cody – Buffalo Bill – American army scout and showman, was born in Scott County, Iowa. 1935: Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) was first demonstrated in Daventry by Robert Watson-Watt. 1936: The Volkswagen car factory was opened in Saxony by Adolf Hitler. 1950: Scottish music hall singer and comedian Sir Harry Lauder died, aged 79. 1983: Irishman Pat Jennings became the first footballer to play in 1,000 first-class football matches. 1984: The last of the remaining American forces occupying Beirut pulled out of the Lebanese capital. 1987: The Church of England’s General Synod voted by a huge majority in favour of the ordination of women priests. 1989: Burke’s Peerage reported that King Arthur’s Round Table had been found near Stirling, Scotland, on the banks of the Carron River. 1991: The Kuwaiti capital, Kuwait City, was liberated by the Gulf War allies after 208 days of Iraqi occupation. 1993: A susepcted car bomb exploded underneath the World Trade Center in New York killing six people. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Facebook announced it would ban ads that promise to cure coronavirus or incite panic around the outbreak. BIRTHDAYS: Sandie Shaw, singer, 74 ; David Edgar, playwright, 73; Helen Clark, former New Zealand prime minister, 71; Michael Bolton, singer/ songwriter, 68; Erykah Badu, singer/ actress, 50; Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player, 44; Corinne Bailey Rae, singer/songwriter, 42.