ON THIS DAY
1545:
The Mary Rose, pride of Henry VIII’s battle fleet, sank in the Solent with the loss of 700 lives. It was raised on October 11, 1982 and taken to Portsmouth Dockyard.
1553:
Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen and Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant, was sent to the Tower, where she was beheaded on February 12, 1554. Mary’s reign was short – she died in 1558.
1814:
Samuel Colt, inventor of the six-shot revolver, was born.
1843:
At Wapping Dock, Prince Albert launched the world’s largest ship, Brunel’s 3,270-ton Great Britain.
1860:
Lizzie Borden was born in America, attaining notoriety when she was accused of hacking to death both her father and stepmother. The charge was never proven.
1896:
Novelist AJ Cronin, creator of Dr Finlay, was born in Cardross, Dunbartonshire.
1937:
The creator of the immortal Peter Pan, JM Barrie, died. He was made a baronet for his most famous play.
1970:
Brunel’s 320-ft Great Britain, the world’s first all-metal liner, returned to Bristol from the Falkland Islands, where it had lain rusting since 1886.
1983:
People searching a clay pit in Surrey discovered fossils of a previously unknown species of carnivorous dinosaur.
1990:
MPs voted in favour of permanent televising of the House of Commons.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Most legal coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England, on a day dubbed “freedom day”.
BIRTHDAYS:
Ilie Nastase, former tennis player, 76; Bernie Leadon, rock guitarist ( The Eagles), 75; Brian May, rock guitarist, 75; Adrian Noble, theatre director, 72; Anthony Edwards, actor, 60; Evelyn Glennie, percussionist, 57; Angela Griffin, actress, 46; Benedict Cumberbatch, actor, 46.