ON THIS DAY
C270:
St Valentine was thought to have been martyred by Roman Emperor Claudius II.
1766:
Thomas Robert Malthus, economist and author of An Essay On The Principles Of Population (1798), was born. He saw famine, disease and disaster as a method of controlling the earth’s fast-growing population.
1779:
Captain James Cook, British explorer, was murdered by natives in Hawaii.
1822:
Britain’s postal services had to employ extra sorters as the fashion of sending messages to loved ones on this day continued to grow in popularity.
1895:
The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde had its premiere in London.
1929:
The St Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in a Chicago warehouse. Seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang were gunned down, probably by mobsters from Al Capone’s outfit.
1946:
The Bank of England was nationalised.
1975:
Sir Pelham Grenville (PG) Wodehouse, KBE, known affectionately as ‘Plum’ and writer of many humorous novels, notably the Jeeves series, died in the United States, aged 93.
1984:
Britain’s Torvill and Dean skated their way to a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, getting maximum points for artistic expression.
2013:
Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius was arrested on suspicion of murder after his girlfriend was shot dead at his home.