On this day

1797: The first parachute descent was made, over the Parc Monceau in Paris, by Andre-Jacques Garnerin, from a balloon.

1811: Franz Liszt, composer and piano virtuoso was born near Sopron, Hungary, in what was then the Austrian Empire.

1883: The Metropolitan Opera House in New York opened with a performance of Gounod’s Faust.

1910: American-born Dr Hawley Crippen was convicted at the Old Bailey of poisoning his wife Cora. He was hanged on November 23 at Pentonville Prison.

1937: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet Hitler.

1966: KGB master-spy George Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs, where he was serving a 40-year sentence.

1987: The first volume of the Gutenberg Bible was sold for £3.26 million.