ON THIS DAY
1519:
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist and man of science, died at the Chateau Cloux near Amboise.
King Charles II granted a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
Jerome K Jerome, novelist whose Three Men In A Boat sold more than one million copies, was born in Walsall.
HMS Edinburgh was sunk in the Barents Sea off Norway. Its cargo of gold bars lay in 803 feet of water until it was salvaged in 1981.
The first jet passenger
1670: 1859: 1942: 1952:
service began between London and Johannesburg.
Stanley Matthews, at 38, won his first FA Cup winners’ medal as Blackpool beat Bolton 4-3 after trailing 3-1.
The Queen Elizabeth II sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage.
The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by British submarine HMS Conqueror off the Falklands.
US president Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, was
1953: 1969: 1982: 2011:
dead.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: BIRTHDAYS:
Harry
Potter author JK Rowling apologised for killing off Professor Severus Snape in the final book of the wizarding series.
Bianca Jagger, 73; David Suchet, actor, 72; Alan Titchmarsh, horticulturist and broadcaster, 69; Isla St Clair, TV personality, 66; David O’Leary, former footballer/manager, 60; Jimmy White, snooker player, 56; Brian Lara, former cricketer, 49; David Beckham, former footballer, 43.