ON THIS DAY
1643: In the English Civil War, the Cavaliers scored an early success with victory over the Roundheads at Roundway Down.
1793: Jean Paul Marat, French revolutionary leader, was stabbed to death by Charlotte Corday while in his bath.
1837: Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace, the first monarch to live there.
1930: The first World Cup football tournament kicked off in Uruguay.
1947: Europe accepted Marshall Aid, the US financial package to help recovery after the WWII.
1951: Composer Arnold Schoenberg died in Los Angeles. As he was born on September 13, 1874, and was superstitious, he always said he would die on his 76th birthday because seven plus six equalled 13. He died on Friday, July 13, 1951, at 13 minutes to midnight, in his 76th year.
1955: Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis became the last woman hanged in Britain when the sentence for murdering her lover David Blakely was carried out at Holloway Prison.
1973: The Everly Brothers parted on stage in California when Phil smashed his guitar and stormed off, leaving Don to finish the gig.
BIRTHDAYS: Patrick Stewart, actor, 78; Harrison Ford, actor, 76; Roger McGuinn, rock musician (The Byrds), 76; Erno Rubik, Rubik’s Cube inventor, 74; Michael Spinks, former boxer, 62; Cameron Crowe, film director, 61; Ian Hislop, Private Eye editor, 58.