ON THIS DAY

■ 1876: The first recognisable words were transmitted by telephone over 100ft of wire. Speaking to his assistant, inventor Alexander Graham Bell said: “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you.”

■1886: The first Crufts Dog Show to be held in London was organised by Charles Cruft, general manager of a dog biscuit firm.

■1906: The Bakerloo Line on the London Underground was opened.

■1910: The first film made in Hollywood was released: DW Griffith’s In Old California.

■1914: The Rokeby Venus by Velasquez, in London’s National Gallery, was damaged by suffragettes.

■1969: James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to murdering American civil rights leader Martin Luther King and was sentenced to 99 years in jail.

■1988: The Prince of Wales narrowly escaped death in an avalanche at Klosters in the Swiss Alps. His friend Hugh Lindsay was killed.

■1990: Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft was sentenced to death by an Iraqi military court for espionage. Daphne Parish, a British nurse accused of helping him, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

■1994: Frederick West was charged with the murder of eight women after they were dug up in the garden of his Gloucester home.

■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Archaeologists working at the site of Birmingham’s main HS2 station uncovered the remains of what was believed to be the world’s oldest railway roundhouse.

■BIRTHDAYS: Chuck Norris, actor, 81; Garth Crooks, broadcaster and former footballer, 63; Sharon Stone, actress, 63; Neneh Cherry, singer, 57; Prince Edward, 57; Edie Brickell, singer, 55; Chris Sutton, former footballer, 48; Colin Murray, radio and television presenter, 44; Rafe Spall, actor, 38; Olivia Wilde, actress, 37.

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