DATELINE

February 11

1765: English wig-makers petitioned George III for financial relief as the male fashion of wearing wigs came to an end.

1810: French emperor Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the royal nursery. 1847: Inventor Thomas Edison was born in Ohio.

1852: The first flushing lavatory for women opened in Bedford Street, London.

1858: The ‘Miracle of Lourdes’ took place when St Bernadette (peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous) had her first vision of the Virgin Mary.

1975: Margaret Thatcher became the first woman leader of a British political party, the Conservatives, at the age of 49.

2010: The fashion world mourned the loss of a “modern-day genius” following the death of Alexander McQueen.