ON THIS DAY
1510:
Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli, whose work included The Birth Of Venus, died.
Sir Norman Lockyer, British astronomer who discovered helium, was born in Rugby.
A group of holidaymakers set off from London for Paris on the first package trip arranged by Thomas Cook.
The first weekly comic, Comic Cuts, was published in London by Alfred Harmsworth.
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
1836: 1861: 1890: 1899: 1900:
Mafeking was relieved by British Forces in the Boer War after 217 days.
The Kariba Dam on the Zambesi River was opened by the Queen Mother.
Dubliner Tom McClean completed the first solo transatlantic crossing in a rowing boat.
1960: 1969: 1978:
Charlie Chaplin’s coffin was found 10 miles from the Swiss cemetery where he had been buried, after it was stolen on March 2.
1990:
The General Assembly of the World Health Organisation eliminated homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
The first legal same-sex marriages in the USA were performed in the state of Massachusetts.
2004: BIRTHDAYS:
Sugar Ray Leonard, former boxer, 62; Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain), singer, 57; Trent Reznor, singer (Nine Inch Nails), 53; Jeremy Vine, journalist/presenter, 53; Hill Harper, actor, 52; Andrea Corr, singer, 44; Derek Hough, dancer/ choreographer, 33.