ON THIS DAY

● 1554: Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days, was executed on Tower Green by her cousin and rival claimant to the throne, Mary.

● 1688: The Glorious Revolution ended. James II fled to France and Prince William of Orange and Princess Mary were declared King and Queen of England.

● 1809: Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, was born in Kentucky.

● 1809: Charles Darwin, naturalist and author, was born in Shrewsbury.

● 1870: Marie Lloyd (Matilda Alice Victoria Wood), Cockney music hall star who sang risque songs and had a scandalous private life, was born in London.

● 1898: Henry Lindfield of Brighton became the first British motorist to be killed in a car crash. ● 1818: Chile proclaimed an independent republic.

● 1924: Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin was first performed in New York.

● 1929: Actress Lillie Langtry, an intimate friend of Edward VII, died.

● 2010: Three faculty members were killed and three other school employees were wounded in a shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Sea levels are increasing at an accelerating rate that could see them rising by a whole centimetre per year by 2100, research revealed.

● BIRTHDAYS: Franco Zeffirelli, film director, 96; Annette Crosbie, actress, 85; Nicholas Soames, politician, 71; Steve Backley, former athlete, 50; Gethin Jones, television presenter, 41.