ON THIS DaY

■■1567: Mary Queen of Scots abdicated after defeat by the Protestants at Carberry Hill.

■■1704: Admiral Sir George Rooke captured Gibraltar from the Spanish.

■■1802: Alexandre Dumas, French creator of The Three Musketeers, was born near Soissons.

■■1824: The first public opinion poll was conducted in Wilmington, Delaware, on voting intentions in the forthcoming US presidential election.

■■1883: Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel in 1875, drowned attempting to swim the rapids below Niagara Falls.

■■1908: Some 56 runners began the London Marathon from the east lawn of Windsor Castle. An extra 385 yards was added to the 26-mile course so that they finished in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium.

■■1925: Six-year-old Patricia Cheeseman was the first person to be successfully treated with insulin, at Guy’s Hospital in London.

■■1935: Greetings telegrams were introduced by the GPO. If they were in a gold envelope they cost an extra threepence.

■■1980: Peter Sellers died in hospital, two days after suffering a heart attack attending a reunion lunch with fellow Goons Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

■■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Boris Johnson succeeded Theresa May as Prime Minister.

■■BIRTHDAYS: Chris Sarandon, actor, 78; Lynda Carter, actress, 69, above; Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, politician, 69; Gus Van Sant, director, 68; Joe McGann, actor, 62; Kerry Dixon, former footballer, 59; Martin Keown, former footballer, 54; Jennifer Lopez, singer and actress, 51; Anna Paquin, actress, 38.

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