ON THIS DAY
1792: The Mint of the United States was established, striking its first silver dollars.
1801: Nelson put a telescope to his blind eye at the Battle of Copenhagen and thus ignored the command to cease fighting. He continued the action until the pro-French Danish fleet was totally subdued.
1805: Hans Christian Andersen, master of the fairy tale, was born in Odense, Denmark.
1873: British trains were fitted with toilets – but only in sleeping cars.
1877: The first human cannonball act was performed at London’s Amphitheatre, when acrobatic Lady Zazal was shot by elastic springs into a safety net.
1947: The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst was formed.
1954: Britain’s first TV soap opera, The Grove Family (named after Lime Grove Studios), was transmitted.
1977: Charlotte Brew on Barony Fort became the first woman to ride in a Grand National. Her mount refused at the 27th fence.
The winner was Red Rum, scoring his third win, the only horse ever to
do so.
1982: Argentinian forces invaded and occupied the British Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
ON THIS DAY LAST
YEAR: Zookeepers in Hampshire were celebrating the birth of an antelope, which is assessed as extinct in the wild. BIRTHDAYS: Penelope Keith,
actress, 82; Linda Hunt, actress, 77; Camille Paglia, social critic and author, 75; Paul Gambaccini, DJ and broadcaster, 73; Linford Christie, former Olympic gold medal-winning athlete and athletics coach, 62; Keren Woodward, singer (Bananarama), 61; Dermot Reeve, former cricketer/ commentator, 59; Teddy Sheringham, former footballer, 56.