ON THIS DAY

NATIONAL DAY OF CANADA

■■ 1804: George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucie Dudevant), French romantic novelist who adopted her masculine pseudonym for the novel Indiana, was born. She is remembered for her long list of lovers, including Chopin.

■■1837: Compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths came into effect in England and Wales.

■■ 1858: Charles Darwin presented his theory on evolution and natural selection to the Linnean Society in London.

■■1868: The Dominion of Canada was established by the British North American Act. It comprised four million people and four provinces – Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

■■ 1872: Louis Bleriot, aviation pioneer, was born in Cambrai, France. He was the first person to come to Britain without arriving by sea. ■■1912: The British Copyright Act came into force, protecting an author’s works for 50 years after their death. ■■ 1916: First day of the battle of the Somme in the First World War. In less than 24 hours there were 60,000 British casualties.

■■1929: The cartoon character Popeye the Sailor was created by Elzie Segar in the USA.

■■ 1937: The 999 emergency service came into operation in Britain. ■■1969: Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales by the Queen at Caernarvon Castle.

■■ 1997: Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese authorities – ending more than 150 years of British control.

■■2007: A ban on smoking in public places came into effect across England, spelling an end to drinkers having a cigarette in pubs, bars and clubs.

■■ ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex attended a small event to mark the unveiling of a statue of the Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace. ■■BIRTHDAYS: Leslie Caron, actress, 91; Debbie Harry, rock singer, 77, above; Trevor Eve, actor, 71; Dan Aykroyd, actor, 70; Pamela Anderson, model and actress, 55; Missy Elliott, singer/ rapper, 51; Ruud Van Nistelrooy, former footballer, 46; Liv Tyler, actress, 45.

The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2021 was 65.7%