ON THIS DAY
1191:
Richard I (the Lionheart) married Berengaria, reputed to be extremely ugly. Although Queen, she never set foot on English soil.
1540:
Henry VIII divorced his fourth wife Anne of Cleves, nicknamed The Flanders Mare, after six months of marriage. She at least managed to keep her head.
1819:
Elias Howe, inventor of the domestic sewing machine, was born in Massachusetts. He sold the British rights of his machine to a Cheapside corset-maker.
1872:
The first doughnut cutter was patented in America by John Blondel. A sea captain, he is said to have invented the hole so he could slip the doughnut over the handle of the ship’s wheel and enjoy his snack while steering.
1877:
Wimbledon staged its first lawn tennis championship, at its original site in Worple Road.
1938:
Gas masks were issued to Britain’s civilian population in anticipation of the war with Germany. Some 35 million went into the shops. 1954:
Australia’s Peter Thomson, at 24, became the youngest winner of the British Open Golf Championship.
1955:
Bill Haley And His Comets went to No 1 in the US pop charts with Rock Around The Clock.
1984:
A bolt of lightning set fire to York Minster. The 700-year-old building suffered serious damage to the south transept but the famous Rose Window survived.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
People in the UK had sent more than 112 million tweets about Covid-19 since the beginning of 2020, Twitter revealed.
BIRTHDAYS:
David Hockney, artist, 85; Dean Koontz, novelist, 77; OJ Simpson, former actor and American football player, 75; Jimmy Smits, actor, 67; Marc Almond, singer, 66; Tom Hanks, actor, 66; Kelly McGillis, actress, 65; Jim Kerr, singer (Simple Minds), 63; Courtney Love, singer/actress, 58; Jack White, musician ( The White Stripes), 47.