ON THIS DAY
ST DAVID’S DAY – NATIONAL DAY OF WALES
1498: Mozambique, on Africa’s south-eastern coast, was discovered by Vasco da Gama. 1711: The first edition of The Spectator was published.
1810: Composer Frederic Chopin was born near Warsaw, Poland. 1904: Glenn Miller, US trombonist, bandleader, composer and arranger, was born.
1913: The International Lawn Tennis Federation, the world’s governing body for tennis, was founded in Paris with representatives from 13 countries. 1932: The baby son of US aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped. He was found dead on May 12. 1940: Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.
1949: Joe Louis, US world heavyweight boxing champion known as the Brown Bomber, retired aged 35, after a record 25 successful defences of his title. 1957: Israel bowed to UN and US pressure and agreed to pull out of Gaza and Aqaba.
1966: Chancellor of the Exchequer
James Callaghan said Britain would switch to decimal currency from 1971.
1978: Charlie Chaplin’s coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. It was found 10 miles away on May 17.
1985: The Pentagon accepted the theory that nuclear war could lead to years of “nuclear winter”.
1992: Bosnian Serb snipers opened fire on civilians after a majority of Muslim and ethnic Croatian communities voted for
Bosnia’s independence.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK had “leapt” to 35. BIRTHDAYS: Harry Belafonte, calypso and folk singer, 94; Mike d’Abo, rock singer, 77; Roger Daltrey, actor and singer (The Who), 77; Catherine Bach, actress, 67; Ron Howard, actor/director, 67; Nik Kershaw, singer, 63; Lady Rose Windsor, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, 41; Justin Bieber, singer, 27.