ON THIS DAY

● 1413: Henry IV, also known as Henry of Bolingbroke, died aged 45 after suffering a stroke at Westminster Abbey.

● 1806: The foundation stone of Dartmoor prison in Devon was laid by Thomas Tyrwhitt.

● 1815: After his banishment to Elba, Napoleon returned to regain power in France. It was his “Last Hundred Days”, ended by defeat at Waterloo.

● 1819: The famous and exclusive Burlington Arcade opened in London.

● 1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published. It became the best-selling novel of the 19th Century.

● 1969: Beatle John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

● 1974: An attempt to kidnap Princess Anne was made by a gunman who fired six shots, then tried to drag her from her car in Pall Mall. He was later charged with attempted murder.

● 1980: The pirate radio station Radio Caroline, on the ship Mi Amigo, sank after 16 years of broadcasting.

● 1989: The IRA killed two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary officers in an ambush.

● LAST YEAR: Astronomy fans looked forward to witnessing a supermoon – when the moon appears large in the sky owing to the coincidence of its closest approach to the earth with a full moon. The moon reached its fullest at 01.42am.

● BIRTHDAYS: Dame Vera Lynn, singer, 103; Brian Mulroney, former Canadian prime minister, 81; William Hurt, actor, 70; Spike Lee,actor/director,63;Theresa Russell, actress, 63; Paul Merson, former footballer, 52.