ON THIS DAY

• 1804: George Sand (Amandine Aurore Lucie Dudevant), French romantic novelist who adopted her masculine pseudonym for the novel Indiana, was born. She is remembered for her long list of lovers, including Chopin.

• 1858: Charles Darwin presented his theory on evolution and natural selection to the Linnean Society in London.

• 1868: The Dominion of C anada was established by the British North American Act. It comprised four million people and four provinces – Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

• 1872: Louis Bleriot, aviation pioneer, was born in Cambrai, France. He was the first person to come to Britain without arriving by sea.

• 1916: First day of the battle of the Somme in the First World War.

In less than 24 hours there were 60,000 British casualties.

• 1929: Thecartooncharacter Popeye the Sailor was created by Elzie Segar in the USA.

• 1937: The 999 emergency service came into operation in Britain.

• 1997: Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese authorities - ending more than 150 years of British control.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Prince of Wales was praised for his “extraordinary” dedication, support and love of the Welsh people as he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his investiture.

• BIRTHDAYS: Leslie Caron, actress, 89; Debbie Harry, rock singer, 75; Trevor Eve, actor, 69; Dan Aykroyd, actor, 68; Pamela Anderson, model and actress, 53; Missy Elliott, singer/rapper, 49; Liv Tyler, actress, 43.