ON THIS DAY

● 1709: Samuel Johnson, poet and lexicographer, was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the son of a bookseller. His dictionary, which took him eight years to compile, contained some eccentric explanations, such as “Oats: A grain which in England is generally given to horses but in Scotland supports the people.”

● 1810: Chile revolted and gained independence from Spain.

● 1851: The New York Times was first published.

● 1905: Greta Garbo, the Swedish shop girl who became one of the most legendary film stars of all time, was born.

● 1948: Some 7,000 tons of food supplies and petrol were airlifted into Berlin by British and American aircraft, defying a threemonth Russian blockade.

● 1970: Rock star Jimi Hendrix died in an ambulance on the way tohospital,apparentlysuffering from a drug overdose.

● 1976: In China, 800 million citizens paid a last tribute to their leader Mao Tse-Tung at the beginning of a memorial service. For three minutes, one-fifth of the world’s population stood in silence.

● 1981: France abolished execution by guillotine.

● LAST YEAR: Boris Johnson is confronted by an angry father of a child patient at Whipps Cross University Hospital in north-east London who tells the prime minister the NHS has been “destroyed for years and years”.

● BIRTHDAYS: Peter Shilton, former goalkeeper/football manager, 71; Darren Gough, former cricketer, 50; Jada Pinkett Smith, actress/singer, 49; James Marsden, actor, 47; Sol Campbell, footballer, 46; Dizzee Rascal, singer/rapper, 36.