ON THIS DAY

● 1189: RichardtheLionheart was crowned king of England at Westminster after the death of his father, Henry II.

● 1651: Oliver Cromwell’s army defeated Royalist forces at the Battle of Worcester during the English Civil War.

● 1658: Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader and Lord Protector of England, died of pneumonia.

● 1783: Britain recognised the United States of America by signing the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence.

● 1916: The first pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin was Captain William Leefe Robinson. During a raid on London, his tiny biplane attacked the airship which caught fire and crashed in Hertfordshire. He was later awarded the VC.

● 1939: Britain, Australia and France declared war on Germany.

● 1962: The Trans-Canada highway, 4,800 miles from St John’s, Newfoundland, to Victoria, British Columbia, was opened.

● 1976: The US spacecraft Viking II landed on Mars after a journey lasting six days short of one year.

● 2004: After three days, the Beslan school siege ended when special forces stormed the building. The Russian massacre claimed the lives of more than 330 people – about half of them children.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A revolutionary gene therapy that can restore sight in children with a certain inherited eye condition would be available on the NHS, it was announced.

● BIRTHDAYS: Pauline Collins, actress, 80; Al Jardine, singer, 78; Valerie Perrine, actress, 77; Derek Redmond, former athlete, 55; Charlie Sheen, actor, 55.