On this day

1864: Stephen Foster, US composer of minstrel songs and ballads (The Old Folks At Home, Beautiful Dreamer) died after hitting his head on a chamber pot.

1887: Sophie Tucker, singer and vaudeville star known in America as “the last of the Red Hot Mamas”, was born in Russia.

1893: The Independent British Labour Partywas formed by Keir Hardie.

1904: English composer Richard Addinsell was born. His most famous work was the Warsaw Concerto written for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight.

1921: The first British patent forwind screen wipers was registered by Mills Munitions of Birmingham.

1942: The pilot of an experimental jet fighter became the first to use an emergency ejector seat.

1962: An outbreak of smallpox hit Britain.

1964: A reluctant Capitol Records released the first Beatles record in the US. IWanna Hold Your Hand became their fastest-selling single.

1982: A Boeing 737 crashed into a bridge, hitting five ships and killing 78 people, on the Potomac River in Washington DC.

2010: Pope Benedict XVI met and forgave thewoman who knocked him down at Christmas Eve mass in 2009.

2013: Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave won the coveted Golden Globe for best movie drama.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Sainsbury’s revealed it could shut a raft of Argos stores and relocate them within its supermarkets.