ON THIS DAY

● 1769: Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica. He expanded the French empire until defeated by an allied coalition which sent himinto exile to Elba. Here turned to fight atWaterloo, which led to final exile onthe remotesouth Atlantic island of St Helena.

● 1771: SirWalter Scott, creator of the historical novel, was born in Edinburgh.

● 1842: The first regular British detective force was formed. This division of the Metropolitan Police assumed the name Criminal Investigation Department( C ID) in1878.

● 1939: The Wizard Of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

● 1947: The Union Flag was run down for the last time in New Delhi as India gained independence from Britain. Pakistan split from India, also becoming in dependent. ● 1960: Britain’s first motorway restaurant was opened on the M1 at Newport Pagnell.

● 1969: The three-day Woodstock pop festival began in upstate New York. More than 400,000 peoplewatched artists such as The Who, Santana and Jimi Hendrix – but massive traffic jams, adverse weather and shortage offood led to the event being declared a disaster area.

● 1998: The Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, theworst terrorist incident of The Troubles, killed 29 people and injured about 220.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A third set of twins from the same family were preparing for their first day at school.

● AUGUST 15 BIRTHDAYS: Jim Dale, actor, 84; Tony Robinson, actor/writer/presenter, 73; The Princess Royal, 69; Jack Russell, former cricketer, 56.