ON THIS DAY
1567: The first state lottery was held in England - 40,000 lots at 10 shillings each were available from St Paul’s Cathedral. 1753: Sir Hans Sloane, British physician and naturalist, whose collection formed the nucleus of the British Museum, died. 1857: Fred Archer, champion jockey who had 2,748 wins including five Derbys, was born. 1858: H Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London Department Store, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. 1917: A patriotic appeal was launched for the nation to subscribe to the new War Loan, to finance the staggering cost of the conflict (£5.7m a day). 1922: Insulin was first used successfully in the treatment of diabetes. 1928: Thomas Hardy, poet and novelist, died in his native Dorset aged 87. 1973: The Open University awarded its first degrees. 1974: The first surviving sextuplets were born in South Africa. 1989: The second Battle of Naseby was lost when judges refused to halt the M1-A1 link across a field where Cromwell was defeated by Royalists in 1645. 1993: Richard Branson won a legal victory after British Airways apologised for a “dirty tricks campaign” against Virgin Atlantic Airways. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Jeremy Corbyn’s Twitter account was hijacked by a hacker who used it to brand the Prime Minister “a pie”. BIRTHDAYS: Arthur Scargill, former mineworkers’ union leader, 80; Anna Calder-Marshall, actress, 71; Ben Crenshaw, golfer, 66; John Sessions, comic/actor, 65; Phyllis Logan, actress, 62; Bryan Robson, football manager, 61; Jason Connery, actor, 55; Mary J Blige, rap singer, 47; Emile Heskey, footballer, 40.