ON THIS DAY

• 1567: Mary Queen of Scots abdicated after defeat by the Protestants at Carberry Hill.

• 1704: Admiral Sir George Rooke captured Gibraltar from the Spanish.

• 1802: Alexandre Dumas, French creator of The Three Musketeers, was born near Soissons.

• 1824: The first public opinion poll was conducted in Wilmington, Delaware, on voting intentions in the forthcoming US presidential election.

• 1883: Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel in 1875, drowned attempting to swim the rapids below Niagara Falls.

• 1908: Some 56 runners began the London Marathon from the east lawn of Windsor Castle. An extra 385 yards was added to the 26-mile course so that they finished in front of the royal box at White City Stadium.

• 1925: Six-year-old Patricia Cheeseman was the first person to be successfully treated with insulin, at Guy’s Hospital in London.

• 1935: Greetings telegrams were introduced by the GPO. If they were in a gold envelope they cost an extra threepence.

• 1980: Peter Sellers died in hospital, two days after suffering a heart attack attending a reunion lunch with fellow Goons Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:

Boris Johnson succeeded Theresa May as prime minister.

• BIRTHDAYS: Lynda Carter, actress, 69; Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, politician, 69; Gus Van Sant, director, 68; Joe McGann, actor, 62; Kerry Dixon, former footballer, 59.