ON THIS DAY
1582: Pope Gregory XIII announced the new Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar.
1825: Thomas Bowdler, who took out the ‘’naughty bits’’ in Shakespeare’s work, died. He gave the English language the word ‘’bowdlerise’’.
1848: France became a republic for the second time, following the abdication of King Louis Philippe.
1887: The first two cities to be linked by telephone were Paris and Brussels.
1905: The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps, 12.3 miles long, was completed. 1920: American-born Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons following her election as an MP two months earlier.
1923: The Flying Scotsman locomotive began hauling scheduled services between London and Scotland. 1932: Malcolm Campbell in Bluebird beat his own land speed record at Daytona Beach by reaching 253.96 mph.
1938: A nylon toothbrush, the first commercial nylon product, went on sale in New Jersey. 1991: In their first parliamentary elections under a genuine multi-party system, voters in Lithuania rejected Communist rule. BIRTHDAYS: Phil Knight, billionaire co-founder of Nike, 77; Denis Law, commentator/ former footballer, 75; Paul Jones, blues singer/broadcaster, 73; John Stapleton, journalist/TV presenter, 69; Dennis Waterman, actor, 67; Alain Prost, racing driver, 60; Billy Zane, actor/director, 49; Lleyton Hewitt, tennis player, 34. QUOTES OF THE DAY: “I approached my landmark birthday eyes shut tight, hurtling headlong into the dark with my fingers crossed” - Broadcaster Mariella Frostrup who said she was in “terminal despond” about reaching 50 but had now learned to love being that age.
“I will be its custodian and I promise you I will look after him, I will polish him, I will answer his beck and call and wait on him hand and foot “- Eddie Redmayne, clutching the Oscar he won as best actor, adding that he was “a lucky, lucky man”. “He’s probably past the stage of punching people” - Matthew Taylor, a former aide to Tony Blair, on the return of Lord (John) Prescott to frontline politics. “The new Jennifer Aniston film Cake is brilliant. And the giant Jaffa cake I inhaled during the first 10 minutes wasn’t bad either” - Sarah Millican. “The whole exercise is utterly nauseating” - Boris Johnson, mayor of London, on Robert Mugabe’s forthcoming 91st birthday party in Zimbabwe, said to be costing $1m. “I’ve probably made too many jokes about the size of her mouth. She might hate me by now” - Actor Hugh Grant on Notting Hill co-star Julia Roberts.