ON THIS DAY
1628:
Charles Perrault, French writer and collector of fairy tales was born in Paris. His Tales Of Mother Goose included Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Puss In Boots.
1866:
The Royal Aeronautical Society was founded.
1948:
The London Co-op opened the first supermarket in Britain at Manor Park.
1959:
Henry Cooper became the British and European heavyweight boxing champion when he defeated Brian London on points.
1960:
Nevil Shute, popular author, notably of A Town Like Alice, died in Melbourne, Australia, where he had emigrated in 1950. 1970:
Nigeria’s civil war ended when the Biafran army surrendered.
1976:
Dame Agatha Christie, the world’s most successful detective story writer, died, aged 85.
1982:
Mark Thatcher disappeared in the Sahara while on the Paris-Dakar rally. He was later spotted by a search plane and rescued.
1987:
Prince Edward resigned from the Royal Marines.
1990:
The break-up of the USSR began as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania prepared for secession. 2010:
A severe 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The confirmed death toll rose above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
A small volcano near the Philippine capital erupted with a massive plume of ash and steam, prompting a mass evacuation and forcing Manila’s international airport to shut down.
BIRTHDAYS:
Michael Aspel, TV presenter, 88; Maggie Bell, singer/ songwriter, 76; Anthony Andrews, actor, 73; Brendan Foster, athletics commentator, 73; Howard Stern, radio DJ, 67; Melanie Chisholm, singer (Spice Girls), 47; Gemma Arterton, actress, 35.