On this day

» 1577: English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.

» 1708: William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham, was born in London.

» 1738: Astronomer Sir William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, was born in Hanover. He died in Slough in 1822.

» 1837: Isaac Pitman’s stenographic sound-hand, the first shorthand system, was published, price 4d.

» 1899: Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.

» 1901: An electrical hearing aid was patented by Miller Reese of New York.

» 1923: Rampant inflation in Germany reached a peak when the mark (4.2 to the dollar in 1914) rose to 4,200,000,000 to the dollar.

» 1956: Elvis Presley’s first film, Love Me Tender, was premiered in New York.

» 1968: The Cunard flagship Queen Elizabeth docked at Southampton for the last time. She was replaced by the Queen Elizabeth II.

» 1969: ITV channel ATV screened the first colour television commercial in Britain – for Birds Eye peas.

» 1983: The Greenham Common women’s group mounted their first protest as cruise missiles arrived at the US airbase in Berkshire.

» 2002: Moors murderer Myra Hindley died in jail, aged 60.

» ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duchess of Cornwall paid tribute to a campaign by the Women’s Institute to encourage its members to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women.