ON THIS DAY

1567: The first state lottery was held in England - 40,000 lots at 10 shillings each were available from St Paul’s Cathedral.

1753:

Sir Hans Sloane, British physician and naturalist, whose collection formed the nucleus of the British Museum, died.

1857:

Fred Archer, champion jockey who had 2,748 wins including five Derbys, was born.

1858:

H Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London department store, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. Selfridges in Oxford Street, London 1917: A patriotic appeal was launched for the nation to subscribe to the new War Loan, to finance the staggering cost of the conflict (£5.7 million a day).

1922:

Insulin was first used successfully in the treatment of diabetes.

1928:

Thomas Hardy, English poet and novelist, died in his native Dorset aged 87.

1973:

The Open University awarded its first degrees.

1974:

The first surviving sextuplets were born in South Africa.

1989:

The second Battle of Naseby was lost when judges refused to halt the M1-A1 link across a field where Cromwell was defeated by Royalists in 1645.

1993:

Richard Branson won a legal victory after British Airways apologised for a”dirty tricks campaign” against Virgin Atlantic Airways.