ON THIS DAY

• 1797: The first parachute descent was made, over the Parc Monceau in Paris, by Andre-Jacques Garnerin, from a balloon.

• 1811: Franz Liszt, composer – creator of the symphonic poem – and piano virtuoso was born near Sopron, Hungary, in what was then the Austrian Empire.

• 1883: The Metropolitan Opera House in New York opened with a performance of Gounod’s Faust.

• 1910: American-born Dr Hawley Crippen was convicted at the Old Bailey of poisoning his wife Cora. He was hanged on November 23 at Pentonville Prison.

• 1937: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet Hitler, study housing conditions and hear a concert by the Nazi District Orchestra.

• 1966: KGB master-spy George Blake escaped from

Wormwood Scrubs where he was serving a 40-year sentence.

• 1974: A bomb exploded in Brooks Club in London, near a restaurant where opposition leader of the time Edward Heath was dining.

• 1987: The first volume of the Gutenberg Bible was sold in New York for £3.26 million, becoming the most expensive printed book ever sold at auction.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul and told MPs in the Commons that “we must get to the truth of what happened”.

• BIRTHDAYS: Sir Derek Jacobi, actor/director, 81; Christopher Lloyd, actor, 81; Catherine Deneuve, actress, 76; Arsene Wenger, football manager, 70; Jeff Goldblum, actor, 67.