ON THIS DAY
1215: King John put the Royal Seal on the Magna Carta at Runnymede, near Windsor.
1330: Edward, the Black Prince, eldest son of Edward III, was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
1381: Wat Tyler, the first poll tax protester, was executed at Smithfield.
1572: Harrow School was founded.
1621: The first greenhouse in Britain was erected in Oxford in preparation for a predicted severe winter. A gardener tended a charcoal fire throughout the night to keep up the temperature.
1844: Charles Goodyear patented his vulcanised rubber process in the US, making possible the commercial use of rubber.
1846: The 49th parallel was established as the border between Canada and the USA.
1860: Florence Nightingale started her School for Nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital, London.
1934: Dictators Hitler and Mussolini met for the first time, in Venice.
1945: Family Allowance payments were introduced in Britain - five shillings (25p) a week for the second child and subsequent children, but no payment for the first-born.
1996: The IRA exploded a 3,300lb bomb in Manchester city centre, causing massive damage and more than 200 injuries, but no fatalities.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The National Lottery pledged to give The National Portrait Gallery £9.4m to help fund its ‘biggest ever transformation’.
BIRTHDAYS: Richard Baker, broadcaster, 93; Noddy Holder, actor/singer (Slade), 72; Simon Callow, actor, 69; James Belushi, actor, 64; Helen Hunt, actress, 55; Courteney Cox, actress, 54; Ice Cube, rapper and actor, 49; Jake Busey, actor, 47; Justin Leonard, golfer, 46; Neil Patrick Harris, actor, 45.