ON THIS DAY

1618: Sir Walter Raleigh, English seafarer, once a favourite of Elizabeth I, was beheaded at Whitehall, falsely accused of treason. 1740: James Boswell, Scottish diarist and biographer of Samuel Johnson, was born. He accompanied Johnson on a tour, retold in Journal Of A Tour To The Hebrides, before producing his Life Of Samuel Johnson in 1791. 1787: Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni was first performed, in Prague. 1929: “Black Tuesday’’ – so-called when Wall Street crashed, leading to the Great Depression. 1956: Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and troops pushed on towards the Suez Canal. 1986: The final section of the M25 around London was opened. 1987: Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns won the world middleweight title, making him the first boxer to win a world title at four different weights. 2015: David Cameron defended his support for the troubled Kids Company charity amid repeated warnings about its financial viability. BIRTHDAYS: Robert Hardy, actor, 91; Jack Shepherd, actor and playwright, 76; Denny Laine, rock musician (Wings), 72; Richard Dreyfuss, actor, 69; Kate Jackson, actress, 68; Yasmin Le Bon, model, 52; Greg Blewett, former cricketer and commentator, 45; Winona Ryder, actress, 45; Michael Vaughan, former cricketer, 42. QUOTES OF THE DAY: “Taking your place in the pantheon of vampires in film is a real honour” - Actor Michael Sheen. “There aren’t a lot of pale-faced, stick-thin men in Hollywood” - Actor/ comedian Stephen Merchant. “Totally dysfunctional, incompetent, blundering government” – Tory peer Lord Tebbit hitsoutattheEUoverits handling of a trade deal with Canada. “In the old days a note passed across a classroom sealed with a loving kiss at worst might end up on a playground floor. These days the equivalent - and the worst extremes of it is a form of sexting – goes viral and ends up on social media in perpetuity, open to millions of people to see it” - Tory MP Tim Loughton. “Twenty-five years ago, all this was a mere dream. To most people a completely mad dream” – The Prince of Wales on Poundbury, the town based on his vision. “I don’t enjoy the X Factor. The judges are on a huge ego trip. Are you watching them or the singers?” – Musician and broadcaster Tony Hatch. ”Stupid and unrealistic” - Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to those who believe he wants to invade another European country. “It’s a good thing the Plane Stupid mob were not around in Victorian times, or we wouldn’t have any railways” - Norman Grahame, of Middlesex, in a letter to the Daily Mail.