ON THIS DAY
1687: Jean-Baptiste Lully, the composer who made French opera popular, died from an abscess on his foot caused by striking it with the stick he used to conduct his Te Deum. 1859: In Melbourne, plasterer Ben Douglas became chairman of the Political Labour League of Victoria, the first Labour Party. 1888: The English Football League was formed by 12 clubs meeting at a hotel in Fleet Street, London. 1895: The first celluloid film was presented to an invited audience by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in Paris. 1896: Thomas Hughes, lawyer, author and Liberal MP, died. He was involved in the formation of some early trade unions and wrote Tom Brown’s Schooldays. 1907: The first cabs with taxi meters began operating in London. 1945: The Arab League was founded by seven Middle East countries. 1958: Showman Michael Todd, the third husband of Elizabeth Taylor, died when his light aircraft iced up and crashed into mountains in New Mexico. The plane was called Lucky Liz. 1963: Conservative minister John Profumo denied having an affair with model Christine Keeler. The Secretary of State for War later resigned admitting he had lied to Parliament. 1979: Sir Richard Sykes, the British ambassador to the Netherlands, was shot dead by two IRA gunmen who opened fire outside his home in The Hague. 1996: The war crimes tribunal in The Hague made its first indictment of three Muslims and a Croat for the torture, rape and murder of Serb prisoners. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Eyewitnesses described “chaos” as they ran from the sound of explosions during suspected terrorist bomb attacks at an airport and metro station in Brussels, which killed 32 people. BIRTHDAYS: Stephen Sondheim, songwriter, 87; William Shatner, actor, 86; M Emmet Walsh, actor, 82; Roger Whittaker, singer/songwriter, 81; George Benson, guitarist, 74; Lord (Andrew) Lloyd Webber, composer, 69; Matthew Modine, actor, 58; Beverley Knight, singer, 44; Reese Witherspoon, actress, 41.