on this day

• 1703: Diarist Samuel Pepys died.

• 1805: Napoleon was crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.

• 1733: John Kay, Richard Arkwright’s assistant, patented the Flying Shuttle to operate on Arkwright’s spinning frame.

• 1865: The Confederate Army surrendered, ending the American Civil War.

• 1868: Irish terrorist Michael Barrett was hanged outside Newgate Prison for causing an explosion in London which left 13 dead – England’s last public execution.

• 1906: The rebuilt Vauxhall Bridge over the Thames was opened.

• 1913: Emily Duncan became Britain’s first woman magistrate.

• 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a “bed-in” for world peace in a Montreal hotel.