ON THIS DAY

• 1157: King Richard Iwas born in Oxford, third son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Hewas later known as Richard the Lionheart. Although he reigned for nearly 10 years, hewas only in England twice – a grand total of 160 days. He was away mostly on crusades.

• 1504: Michaelangelo unveiled his statue of David in Florence.

• 1664: The Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was seized by the English and renamed New York, in honour of James, Duke of York, the future King James II.

• 1727: A barn fire during a puppet showin the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire kills 78 people, many of whom are children.

• 1858: Abraham Lincoln ays in a speech “Youmay fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of thepeople all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.”

• 1886: Siegfried Sassoon, First World War poet, was born in Brenchley, Kent.

• 1888: Thefirst English Football League matches were played.

• 1914: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion duringthe First World War.

• 1944: Thefirst German V2 flying bombs fell in Britain.

• 1966: The Severn Bridgewas officially opened by the Queen.

• ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Celebrated playwright Peter Nichols died at the age of92.

• BIRTHDAYS: Anne Diamond, journalist/TV presenter, 66; Victor Ubogu, former rugby union player, 56; David Arquette, actor, 49; Martin Freeman, actor, 49; Pink, pop singer, 41.