ON THIS DAY
1519: Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist and man of science, died at the Chateau Cloux near Amboise. 1670: King Charles II granted a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America. 1859: Jerome K Jerome, novelist whose Three Men In A Boat sold more than one million copies, was born in Walsall. 1942: HMS Edinburgh was sunk in the Barents Sea off Norway. Its cargo of gold bars lay in 803 feet of water until salvaged in 1981. 1952: The first jet passenger service began between London and Johannesburg. 1953: Stanley Matthews, at 38, won his first FA Cup winners medal as Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3 after trailing 3-1. 1969: The Queen Elizabeth II sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage. 1982: The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by British submarine HMS Conqueror off the Falklands. 2011: US president Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, was dead. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Piers Morgan took a swipe at the former Top Gear presenting line-up of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, warning that they will “have to get used to not being big stars in this country any more”. BIRTHDAYS: Bianca Jagger, 72; David Suchet, actor, 71; Alan Titchmarsh, horticulturist and broadcaster, 68; Isla St Clair, TV personality, 65; David O’Leary, former footballer/manager, 59; Jimmy White, snooker player, 55; Brian Lara, former cricketer, 48; David Beckham, former footballer, 42.