ON THIS DAY

■ 1593: Izaak Walton, the “father of angling” - he wrote The Compleat Angler - was born in Stafford.

■ 1721: Prisoners in Newgate Gaol were offered a pardon if they agreed to be inoculated against small pox - to test Dr Charles Maitland’s theories on the subject. Seven men volunteered and all survived to live in freedom.

■ 1870: The Elementary Education Act was passed, giving compulsory free education to every child in England and Wales between the age of five and 13.

■ 1902: Edward VII was crowned. The Coronation, set for June 26, had been postponed because he had an emergency appendectomy.

■ 1941: RAF fighter pilot Douglas Bader was shot down and seized by German troops, who were surprised to discover his apparently fractured legs were both artificial.

■ 1945: The second atomic bomb of the war was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

■ 1963: Ready Steady Go! was first transmitted by ITV to rival the BBC’s Top Of The Pops - presenter Cathy McGowan became known as “Queen of the Mods”.

■ 1967: English playwright Joe Orton was battered to death by his male lover who then committed suicide.

■ 1969: The bodies of actress Sharon Tate, eight months pregnant, and four others were found butchered at a Beverly Hills mansion. Members of a commune known as The Family led by Charles Manson were later arrested, tried and jailed.

■ 1979: Brighton established the first nudist beach in Britain, despite protests from those who feared great depravity.

■ 2010: British adventurer Ed Stafford became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon after a gruelling 4,000mile trek lasting nearly two-and-ahalf years.

■ ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A former RAF dog handler who lost his leg after stepping on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was reunited with the Chinook crew who saved his life. ■■ BIRTHDAYS: Rod Laver, former Wimbledon tennis champion, 84; Sam Elliott, actor, 78; James Naughtie, broadcaster, 71; Melanie Griffith, actress, 65; Gillian Anderson, above left, actress, 54; Eric Bana, actor, 54; Mikael Silvestre, former footballer, 45; Daniela Denby-Ashe, above right, actress, 44.

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