ON THIS DAY
AD41: The mad Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated.
AD76: The Roman Emperor Hadrian was born. It was on his orders that Hadrian’s Wall was built in Britain “to separate the Romans from the Barbarians”.
1670: William Congreve, English playwright, was born near Leeds.
1848: James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s sawmill in California to spark the great Gold Rush.
1916: Conscription was introduced in Britain.
1922: The first performance of William Walton’s Facade took place in the Sitwell family drawing room in Carlyle Square, London.
1935: Canned beer went on sale for the first time, made by Krueger brewery of Richmond, Virginia.
1965: Sir Winston Churchill died, aged 90. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had died on the same date 70 years earlier. 1976: Margaret Thatcher was dubbed The Iron Lady in the Soviet newspaper Red Star, after a speech about the Communist threat.
1986: Staff of The Sun and News of the World newspapers were told they were moving to London’s Docklands – the start of a press exodus from Fleet Street.
1997: The Archers celebrated its 12,000th episode. The Radio 4 series drew an average 4.5 million listeners each week.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Reports emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had secretly welcomed a new member of the family – a cocker spaniel puppy.
BIRTHDAYS:
Desmond Morris, zoologist and ethologist, 94; Bamber Gascoigne, writer and broadcaster, 87; Neil Diamond, singer, 81; Aaron Neville, R&B singer, 81; Michael Des Barres, singer/actor, 74; Adrian Edmondson, actor, 65; Jools Holland, musician/TV presenter, 64; Vic Reeves, comedian, 63; Tatyana Ali, actress and singer, 43.