Also on this day

Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Gone With The Wind, right.

Festival of Britain and the Royal Festival Hall open.

Chicago’s Sears Tower becomes the world’s tallest building at 1,451ft.

Prince, considered to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy. Dedicated to the new Florentine ruler, Lorenzo de’ Medici, it offered advice on how to remain in power. It was a how-to guide for rulers, written in practical terms. The book reflects the notion that the ends justify the means, with crimes all the way to murder permissible provided they keep the Prince in power.

Many of its concepts ring true to this day, including his observation that “the first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him”. He also warned “never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception”, and famously wrote “it is much safer to be feared than loved”.

The Prince may have been intended to find favour with the Medici family, but in that regard it failed. Machiavelli never returned to the fore of politics and died in June 1527. To be Machiavellian, however, is a trait very much alive in the modern corridors of power.

Question: Which boxer, often regarded as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in history, was born as Walker Smith Jr on this day in 1921?

Last week I asked the name of a national leader’s wife who was born on April 26, 1970. The answer is MELANIA TRUMP.