ON THIS DAY

● 1485: Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory was published. He wrote the tale of knightly love and chivalry while in prison for armed assault and rape.

● 1910: Wife-poisoner Dr Hawley Crippen was arrested on the SS Montrose at Quebec. He had left his dismembered wife in a cellar and was travelling with Ethel le Neve, his mistress, who was dressed as a boy. Crippen was the first criminal to be captured by the use of wireless telegraphy.

● 1912: The world’s first film censorship law was passed in the United States.

● 1919: The Weimar Republic was established in Germany.

● 1950: Britain’s first self-service store, Sainsbury’s, opened in Croydon.

● 1964: American country singer Jim Reeves was killed in an air crash. ● 1975: Irish pop group the Miami Showband were ambushed and murdered by Protestant gunmen near Newry in Northern Ireland.

● 2010: A four-strong British rowing team smashed a 114-yearold record for crossing the North Atlantic. Their time – 43 days, 21 hours, 26 minutes and 48 seconds – knocked 11 days off the previous 55-day record set in 1896 by Norwegian fishermen George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Scientists revealed the first sighting of a cross between a melonheaded whale and a roughtoothed dolphin in the ocean off Hawaii.

● JULY 31 BIRTHDAYS: Jonathan Dimbleby, broadcaster, 75; Evonne Cawley, former tennis player, 68; Andrew Marr, journalist, broadcaster and political commentator, 60; Wesley Snipes, actor, 57.