ON THIS DAY

● 1478: George, Duke of Clarence, was murdered in the Tower of London. According to legend, he drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.

● 1516: Mary I, Queen of England (1553-1558), daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, was born in Greenwich.

● 1546: Martin Luther, father of the Reformation, died at his birthplace at Eisleben, Germany, aged 62 – supposedly of overwork.

● 1564: The great Renaissance artist and sculptor Michelangelo died in Rome, aged 88.

● 1678: John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress was published.

● 1745: Count Alessandro Volta, physicist who devised the first battery, was born in Como, Italy. He gave his name to the electrical unit volt.

● 1911: More than 6,000 letters and postcards were flown five miles from Allahabad to Naini Junction in India by Henri Picquet – the first official airmail.

● 1915: Germany’s blockade of Britain by submarine began.

● 1930: American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto from a series of pictures taken the previous month at Lowell Observatory.

● 2005: Fox hunting became illegal in England and Wales. The Hunting Act outlawed hunting with dogs.

● LAST YEAR: Church spires will be used to boost broadband and mobile connectivity in rural areas, the culture secretary it was announced.

● BIRTHDAYS: Yoko Ono, artist/singer, 86; Graeme Garden, actor, comedian and presenter, 76; Michael Buerk, broadcaster, 73; Sinead Cusack, actress, 71.