ON THIS DaY

■ 1792: The Mint of the United States was established, striking its first silver dollars.

■ 1801: Nelson put a telescope to his blind eye at the Battle of Copenhagen and thus ignored the command to cease fighting. He continued the action until the pro-French Danish fleet was totally subdued.

■ 1805: Hans Christian Andersen, master of the fairy tale, was born in Odense, Denmark.

■ 1873: British trains were fitted with toilets - but only in sleeping cars.

■ 1877: The first human cannonball act was performed at London’s Amphitheatre, when acrobatic Lady Zazal was shot by elastic springs into a safety net.

■ 1947: The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, above, was formed.

■ 1954: Britain’s first TV soap opera, The Grove Family (named after Lime Grove Studios), was transmitted.

■ 1977: Charlotte Brew on Barony Fort became the first woman to ride in a Grand National. Her mount refused at the 27th fence. The winner was Red Rum, scoring his third win, the only horse ever to do so.

■ 1982: Argentinian forces invaded and occupied the British Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

■ ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The number of suspected modern slavery victims in the UK had hit a record of more than 10,000 - up 52% in a year, shocking figures revealed.

■ BIRTHDAYS: Penelope Keith, actress, 81, above; Linda Hunt, actress, 76; Camille Paglia, social critic, author, 74; Paul Gambaccini, DJ and broadcaster, 72; Linford Christie, former Olympic gold medal-winning athlete and athletics coach, 61; Keren Woodward, singer (Bananarama), 60; Dermot Reeve, former cricketer/commentator, 58; Teddy Sheringham, former footballer, 55.

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