The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
On this day
1440: Eton College was founded by Henry VI for 25 poor and needy scholars. Prefects were warned to look out for “ill-kempt heads, unwashed faces, foul clothes”.
1818: Richard Gatling, American inventor of the Gatling gun, was born in North Carolina.
1878: Cleopatra’s Needle, an ancient Egyptian obelisk, 68ft of granite, was presented to Britain by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan and erected on the Thames Embankment. Inside the pedestal were placed some important reminders of the British Empire, including Bradshaw’s Railway Guide, Whitaker’s Almanack and pin-ups of Victorian ladies.
1888: Maurice Chevalier, legendary French entertainer and actor, was born in Paris. He appeared in many films, including Gigi, in which he sang Thank Heaven For Little Girls.
1910: The first policewoman in the United States, Alice Stebbins Wells, joined the Los Angeles Police Department.
1935: US multimillionaire Howard Hughes achieved the first of several aviation records he established before going into selfenforced seclusion, flying a plane of his own design at 352.46mph.
1953: Senator John Kennedy, later to be president, married Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island.
1970: Concorde landed at Heathrow Airport for the first time to a barrage of complaints about noise.
1977: South African black activist Steve Biko died after six days in police detention in Port Elizabeth.
2014: Former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley died, aged 88. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: David Cameron stood down as MP for Witney, triggering a by-election.