ON THIS DAY

• 1765: English wig-makers petitioned George III for financial relief as the male fashion of wearing wigs came to an end.

• 1810: French emperor Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the royal nursery.

• 1852: The first flushing lavatory for women opened in Bedford Street, London.

• 1858: The ‘Miracle of Lourdes’ took place when St Bernadette (peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous) had her first vision of the Virgin Mary.

• 1929: The 109 acres of the Vatican in Rome was made an independent sovereign state.

• 1940: John Buchan, Scottish novelist who became Lord Tweedsmuir, died. He is best remembered for his novel The Thirty-Nine Steps. • 1975: Margaret Thatcher became the first woman leader of a British political party, the Conservatives, at the age of 49. • 1990: South Africa’s black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years.

• 2010: The fashion world mourned the loss of a “modernday genius” following the death of Alexander McQueen.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:

The Royal Horticultural Society announced that snowdrops, the blooms that signal the end of winter is coming, had appeared across the UK around a week earlier than usual.

• BIRTHDAYS: Dennis Skinner, Labour politician, 87; Sheryl Crow, singer/songwriter, 57; Jennifer Aniston, actress, 50; Steve McManaman, former footballer, 47; Kelly Rowland, singer, 38.