ON THIS DAY

1797: The first parachute descent was made, over the Parc Monceau in Paris, by AndreJacques Garnerin, from a balloon.

■■1811: Franz Liszt, composer - creator of the symphonic poem - and piano virtuoso was born near Sopron, Hungary, in what was then the Austrian Empire.

■■1881: The first edition of the British magazine Tit-Bits was published.

■■1883: The Metropolitan Opera House in New York opened with a performance of Gounod’s Faust.

■■1910: American-born Dr Hawley Crippen was convicted at the Old Bailey of poisoning his wife Cora. He was hanged on November 23 at Pentonville Prison.

■■1937: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet Hitler, study housing conditions and hear a concert by the Nazi District Orchestra.

■■1966: KGB master-spy George Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs where he was serving a 40-year sentence.

■■1974: A bomb exploded in Brooks Club in London, near a restaurant where opposition leader of the time Edward Heath was dining.

■■1987: The first volume of the Gutenberg Bible was sold in New York for £3.26-million, becoming the most expensive printed book ever sold at auction.

■■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A trio of space travellers – NASA’s Chris Cassidy and Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner – returned safely to Earth after a six-month mission on the International Space Station. ■■BIRTHDAYS: Sir Derek Jacobi, actor/director, 83; Christopher Lloyd, actor, 83; Catherine Deneuve, actress, 78; Kelvin MacKenzie, former newspaper editor and media executive, 75; Arsene Wenger, football manager, 72, above; Jeff Goldblum, actor, 69; Shelby Lynne, singer, 53; Shaggy, singer, 53; Amanda Coetzer, former tennis player, 50; Plan B (Ben Drew), rapper/producer/actor, 38.