ON THIS DAY
1265: The Battle of Evesham took place, in which Simon de Montfort was defeated and killed by Royalist forces, led by the future King Edward I. 1792: Percy Bysshe Shelley, romantic poet, was born near Horsham, Sussex. After his death from drowning in Italy at 29, his wife kept his heart in her desk until she died. 1875: Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer most famous for his fairy stories, died. 1914: Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating the Treaty of London – and the First World War began. President Wilson proclaimed the USA neutral. 1917: Captain Noel Chavasse, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the second of only three men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice, died from his war wounds. 1978: Jeremy Thorpe, a former leader of the Liberal Party, was charged with conspiracy to murder Norman Scott. He was later cleared. 1991: Greek cruise ship the MTS Oceanos sank off the coast of South Africa’s Wild Coast. All 571 passengers and crew members were saved. 2006: 17 members of Action Against Hunger / ACF-USA were executed cwhile carrying out humanitarian programs in Muthur, Sri Lanka. 2007: Nasa’s Phoenix Spaceship was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to find out whether Mars could have once supported life. 2011: Mark Duggan, 29, was shot by police attempting to arrest him in Tottenham, London. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: An American woman was killed and five people injured as victims were selected at random in a “spontaneous” knife rampage in central London. BIRTHDAYS: Jack Cunningham, Labour politician, 78; Martin Jarvis, actor, 76; Georgina Hale, actress, 74; Billy Bob Thornton, actor, 62; Ian Broudie, musician/ producer (Lightning Seeds), 59; Mary Decker, former track athlete, 59; Bernard Rose, director, 57; Barack Obama, former president of the United States, 56; Lee Mack, comedian, 49; Greta Gerwig, actress, 34.