ON THIS DAY
■ ANZAC DAY - Commemorates 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in the First World War.
■ Feast of St Mark
■ 1599: Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon. He became Lord Protector of England – Britain’s first and only dictator.
■ 1859: Work began on the 100-mile Suez Canal.
■ 1872: CB Fry, all-round sportsman, was born in Croydon. He played football, cricket and rugby and was also an athlete, hunter, fisherman and novelist.
■ 1915: Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.
■ 1926: Toscanini conducted the first performance of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, in Milan.
■ 1945: Fifty nations gathered in San Francisco to begin the United Nations conference on International Organisations.
■ 1969: The radio serial Mrs Dale’s Diary ended after 21 years and 5,400 episodes. Her last words were: “I’m rather worried about Jim.”
■ 1975: Portugal held its first free elections for 50 years.
■ 1983: In Germany, Stern published extracts from the so-called Hitler diaries, also published by the Sunday Times in Britain. They were later found to be forgeries.
■ 2005: Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
■ 2007: The world of football paid tribute after Alan Ball, the youngest member of England’s 1966 World Cup winning side, died of a heart attack at the age of 61.
■ BIRTHDAYS: Al Pacino, actor, 78; Bjorn Ulvaeus, pop musician (Abba), 73; Talia Shire, actress, 72; Andy Bell, pop musician (Erasure), 54; Renee Zellweger, actress, 49; Jason Lee, actor, 48.