ON THIS DAY

• 1899: Duke Ellington, jazz composer, bandleader and pianist, was born in Washington, DC.

• 1909: In a revolutionary Budget, Chancellor David Lloyd George introduced a “supertax” of sixpence in the pound for anyone earning more than £5,000 a year, to pay for pensions and re-armament.

• 1930: The Academy Awardwinning war classic All Quiet On The Western Front opened in America. Twelve years later, its star Lew Ayres refused to fight in the Second World War, declaring himself a conscientious objector.

• 1980: Film director Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, died aged 80.

• 1990: Stephen Hendry, at 21, became the youngest world snooker champion by beating Jimmy White 18-12 in the final at Sheffield.

• 1991: A 145mph cyclone devastated the port of Chittagong in Bangladesh, killing more than 100,000 people and making millions homeless.

• 2011: Prince William and Kate Middleton began their life together as a married couple after a glittering wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey. They sealed their love with not one but two kisses on Buckingham Palace’s famous balcony.

• LAST YEAR: Scientists reported that part of the world’s largest ice shelf was melting 10 times faster than expected due to the sea warming around it.

• BIRTHDAYS: Cheryl Kennedy, actress, 73; Anita Dobson, actress, 71; Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, 66; Daniel Day-lewis, actor, 62; Michelle Pfeiffer, actress, 61; Phil Tufnell, former cricketer, 53; Andre Agassi, former tennis player, 49; Uma Thurman, actress,

49.