ON THIS DAY
1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon with four vessels in search of a sea route to India. 1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet, was drowned in Italy while sailing his small schooner Ariel to his home on the Gulf of Spezia. 1882: Eccentric composer Percy Grainger was born in Melbourne. 1884: The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded. 1889: John L Sullivan defeated Jake Kilrain in Mississippi after 75 rounds - the last bare-knuckle heavyweight title contest. 1907: Ziegfeld’s Follies of 1907 opened on Broadway, his first, and like the others that followed, contained 13 characters in the title for good luck. 1918: National Savings stamps went on sale in Britain. 1961: The first all-England women’s singles final took place at Wimbledon between Christine Truman and Angela Mortimer, who won in three sets. 1965: Horse racing starting stalls were introduced in the Chesterfield Stakes at Newmarket. 1965: Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, scaled the wall of Wandsworth Prison with a rope ladder and escaped. He had served 15 months of his sentence. He eventually settled in Brazil. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Downing Street announced the ban on women soldiers serving on the front line would be lifted. BIRTHDAYS: Sarah Kennedy, TV and radio presenter, 67; Kevin Bacon, actor, 59; Pauline Quirke, actress, 58; Billy Crudup, actor, 49; Beck, pop star, 47; Robbie Keane, footballer, 37; Sophia Bush, actress, 35; Jaden Smith, actor, 19.