IT HAPPENED TODAY
1510:
Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli, whose work included The Birth Of Venus, died.
1836:
Sir Norman Lockyer, British astronomer who discovered helium, was born in Rugby.
1861:
A group of holidaymakers set off from London for Paris on the first package trip arranged by Thomas Cook.
1890:
The first weekly comic, Comic Cuts, was published in London by Alfred Harmsworth.
1899:
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
1900:
Mafeking was relieved by British Forces in the Boer War after 217 days.
1960:
The Kariba Dam on the Zambesi River was opened by the Queen Mother.
Dubliner Tom McClean completed the first solo transatlantic
crossing in a rowing boat.
1978:
Compact discs were created by Philips.
1978:
The coffin of Charlie Chaplin was found 10 miles from the Swiss cemetery where he had been buried after it was stolen on March 2.
1990:
The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminated homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
2004:
The first legal same-sex marriages in the US were performed in the state of Massachusetts.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Sir Richard Branson warned that criminals were using his name to dupe people into buying fake investments.
BIRTHDAYS:
Sugar Ray Leonard, former boxer, 62; Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain), singer, 57; Trent Reznor, singer (Nine Inch Nails), 53; Jeremy Vine, journalist/presenter, 53; Hill Harper, actor, 52; Andrea Corr
singer, 44 ; Derek Hough, dancer/choreographer, 33.