ON THIS DAY

1376: The mass abduction of children from the town of Hamelin by the Pied Piper supposedly took place, according to a legend. 1478: Philip the Handsome of Spain was born. After his death his wife kept his corpse and continued to sleep with it beside her bed for three years. Her name was Joanna the Mad. 1812: The Battle of Salamanca took place in west Spain in which the Duke of Wellington was victorious over the French in the Peninsula War. 1844: The Rev William Spooner was born in London. He was an albino and suffered defective eyesight and it is thought that this caused some of his verbal confusions which were later dubbed ‘’spoonerisms’’. These included ‘’it is kisstomary to cuss the bride’’ and ‘’you hissed my mystery lecture’’. 1933: Wiley Post, one-eyed pioneer aviator, became the first to fly solo round the world. 1934: Movie-loving gangster John Dillinger - Public Enemy Number One was shot dead by federal agents outside the Biograph Cinema in Chicago. 1946: After a failed wheat harvest, bread was rationed in Britain. 2005: Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by police as the hunt began for the bombers responsible for the 7/7 London bombings. 2013: The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to her first child, Prince George. BIRTHDAYS: Terence Stamp, actor, 78; George Clinton, funk musician, 75; Don Henley, rock singer, 69; Willem Dafoe, actor, 61; Bonnie Langford, dancer/ actor/singer, 52; David Spade, actor, 52; Rhys Ifans, actor, 49; Selena Gomez, actress/singer, 24. QUOTES OF THE DAY: “It’s grotesque. I think it’s like looking at something out of the dark ages when a woman leaves her house with her hand in that contorted position. That ring says handcuffs to me”Broadcaster Janet Street-Porter on the £250,000 engagement ring given to Pippa Middleton by fiance James Matthews. “The problem is,the better you are, the worse an actor you seem” - Sir Michael Caine makes an enigmatic point. “I don’t want to work in the West End at all. For me it is not theatre, there’s a magic missing. I am not bitter about it. I just can’t stand it. I never could” - Veteran actor Brian Blessed. “Candidate Obama promised to fundamentally transform America and that’s one promise he has kept. Turning a shining city on a hill into a sinking ship” - American Republican politician Sarah Palin. “There is a move at the moment to say we want a general election. No, we bloody don’t. Someone would have to be insane in the Labour Party to demand a general election” - Veteran Labour MP Paul Flynn.