ON THIS DaY

■■ 1767: Georg Telemann, the most prolific composer of all time, died in Hamburg. He wrote more than 1,000 cantatas, 40 operas, 120 concertos, 44 passions, 600 orchestral suites and 12 sets of church services with pieces for every Sunday of the year.

■■1867: The first patent for barbed wire was taken out by Lucien Smith of Kent, Ohio.

■■1870: Robert Erskine Childers, Irish author and nationalist, was born. He wrote the classic spy yarn The Riddle Of The Sands but after joining the IRA he was arrested and executed for being in possession of unauthorised weapons.

■■1945: The United Nations Organisation was founded.

■■1953: John Christie was sentenced to death for murdering four women including his wife. He is believed to have killed three others, including Beryl Evans and her daughter in 1950, for which Timothy Evans was found guilty and hanged.

■■1969: Pancho Gonzalez and Charlie Pasarell played a record 112-game singles match on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, lasting five hours 12 minutes. Gonzalez, aged 41, won.

■■2009: Tributes from the world of music, film and celebrity flooded in following the death of 50-year-old “King of Pop” Michael Jackson. ■■BIRTHDAYS: Roy Marsden, actor, 79; Carly Simon, singer/songwriter, 75; Tim Finn, musician, 68; Johnny Herbert, racing driver, 56; Jamie Redknapp, ex-footballer turned pundit, 47; Iestyn Harris, former rugby league player/coach, 44.

Let us know your community events

Write to What’s On, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff CF10 1XR or email ecletters@walesonline. co.uk including your name, address and daytime contact number. Don’t forget to tell us where and when your event is taking place and what it’s all about.

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■■1797: Admiral Nelson was wounded in the right arm by grapeshot. He had it amputated that afternoon. ■■1876: Custer’s Last Stand took place at Little Big Horn, Montana. The Sioux Indians, led by Crazy Horse, killed Custer and all 264 soldiers of his 7th US Cavalry. ■■1968: Comedian Tony Hancock killed himself in a hotel bedroom in Sydney, Australia. ■■1990: 7,000 king penguins killed themselves on uninhabited sub-Antarctic Macquaine Island. Bodies were piled four deep in this bizarre mass suicide, and the reason remains a complete mystery. The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%