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. • 1890: Beniamino Gigli, the great Italian tenor, who succeeded Caruso at the New York Met, was born in Recanati, near Ancona.

• 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.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle selected an organic lemon elderflower wedding cake which would incorporate the “bright flavours of spring”, it was revealed. • BIRTHDAYS: Dame Vera Lynn, singer, 102; William Hurt, actor, 69; Spike Lee, actor/director, 62; Theresa Russell, actress, 62.