ON THIS DaY

■ 1702: Queen Anne acceded to the throne on the death of William III, who died in a riding accident at Hampton Court.

■ 1787: Karl von Grafe, pioneer of plastic surgery, was born in Warsaw.

■1790: The French Assembly voted to continue slavery in their colonies.

■1859: Kenneth Grahame, author of children’s books, notably The Wind In The Willows, was born in Edinburgh.

■1879: Otto Hahn, German physicist and chemist, was born. He discovered nuclear fission, which made the atomic bomb possible.

■1910: The first pilot’s licences were granted. The Royal Aero Club granted licence number one to JTC Moore Brabazon (later Lord Brabazon of Tara).

■1952: An artificial heart was used for the first time on a 41-year-old man, which kept him alive for 80 minutes.

■1961: Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor and founder of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, died.

■1966: An IRA bomb destroyed the Nelson Column in Dublin.

■1971: Boxer Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali on points to become World Heavyweight champion.

■1983: President Ronald Reagan, above, called the Soviet Union an “evil empire”.

■1990: Figures showed more than 3,000 Britons had fully developed Aids.

■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A pig who swallowed a pedometer ended up sparking a fire in its pen. Fire crews believed copper from the pedometer’s batteries reacted with the pig’s excrement and dry bedding.

■BIRTHDAYS: Lord (Douglas) Hurd of Westwell, former foreign secretary, 91; Michael Grade, former ITV executive chairman, 78; Micky Dolenz, actor/singer, 76; Gyles Brandreth, ex-MP, author and TV personality, 73; Cheryl Baker, singer/ TV presenter, 67; Gary Numan, rock musician, 63; Aidan Quinn, actor, 62; Freddie Prinze Jr, actor, 45.

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