ON THIS DaY

■■ 1873: Sergei Rachmaninov, above, last of the great Russian Romantic composers, was born in Oneg. He later settled in the USA.

■■1875: Edgar Wallace, thriller writer and journalist, was born in London. In his career he wrote more than 170 books, along with plays and hundreds of short stories. ■■1918: The Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps merged to become the Royal Air Force. ■■1924: The first gramophone to change records automatically went on sale.

■■1965: Greater London came into being, comprising the City of London plus 32 metropolitan boroughs.

■■1973: Value Added Tax was introduced in Britain.

■■1974: Re-organisation of local government in England and Wales saw changes to many county names and boundaries.

■■1990: The longest prison riot in British history began at Strangeways, Manchester, and lasted until April 25.

■■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Long before becoming covered in ice, Antarctica was reportedly once a swampy rainforest with average temperatures of around 12 ° C, scientists revealed.

■■BIRTHDAYS: Milan Kundera, novelist, 92; Ali MacGraw, actress, 82; Jimmy Cliff, singer, 73; Barry Sonnenfeld, film director, 68; David Gower, broadcaster and former cricketer, 64; Phillip Schofield, TV presenter, 59; Chris Evans, DJ/TV presenter, 55, above; Hannah Spearritt, actress and former singer (S Club 7), 40.

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