IT HAPPENED TODAY
1628:
Charles Perrault, French writer and collector of fairy tales, was born in Paris. His Tales Of Mother Goose included Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and Puss In Boots.
1866:
The Royal Aeronautical Society was founded.
1879:
1948:
The London Co-op opened the first supermarket in Britain at Manor Park.
1959:
Henry Cooper (above) became the British and European heavyweight boxing champion when he defeated Brian London on points.
1960:
Nevil Shute, popular author, notably of A Town Like Alice, died in Melbourne, Australia, where he had emigrated in 1950.
1970:
Nigeria’s civil war ended when the Biafran army surrendered.
1976:
Dame Agatha Christie (below), the world’s most successful detective story writer, died, aged 85.
1982:
Mark Thatcher disappeared in the Sahara while on the Paris-Dakar rally. He was later spotted by a search plane and rescued.
1987:
Prince Edward resigned from the Royal Marines.
2010:
The British-Zulu War began.
A severe 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The confirmed death toll rose above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Figures revealed that around 170 children and teenagers each day had teeth removed during the previous year, with sugar blamed for creating an ‘‘oral health crisis’.
BIRTHDAYS:
Des O’Connor, singer and television presenter, 87; Michael Aspel, TV presenter, 86; Maggie Bell, singer/songwriter, 74; Anthony Andrews, actor, 71; Brendan Foster, athletics commentator, 71; Howard Stern, radio DJ, 65; Melanie Chisholm, singer (Spice Girls), 45; Gemma Arterton (above), actress, 33.