ON THIS DaY

■ 1133: Henry II, the first Plantagenet King (1154-89), was born in Le Mans.

■1790: Death of Flora Macdonald, Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to safety after his defeat at Culloden.

■1850: The Menai tubular bridge, joining Wales and Anglesey, constructed by Robert Stephenson, was opened.

■1879: William Henry Beveridge, who produced the report which laid the foundations of the British welfare state, was born in Rangpur, Bengal.

■1918: Moscow was declared the new capital of Russia in place of Petrograd.

■1933: The Nazi Party won almost half the seats in the German election.

■1936: The Spitfire fighter plane made its maiden flight.

■1946: Winston Churchill introduced the phrase “Iron Curtain”. He said in a speech: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

■1953: Joseph Stalin, Russian Communist leader, died in mysterious circumstances officially from a brain haemorrhage. On the same day, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died.

■1976: The pound fell below two US dollars for the first time.

■1984: Scientists warned of a “greenhouse effect” amid growing concern that carbon dioxide, produced by fossil fuels, would damage the environment.

■1993: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned for life after failing a drug test.

■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duchess of Sussex made her first official public appearance in the UK following the Megxit crisis.

■BIRTHDAYS: Dean Stockwell, actor, 85; Samantha Eggar, actress, 82; Eddy Grant, singer, 73; Elaine Paige, singer, 73, above; Eva Mendes, actress, 47; Kimberly McCullough, actress, 43; Jake Lloyd, actor, 32.

■ The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%