On this day

1483: Martin Luther, German religious reformer, was born in Eisleben.

1683: George II was born in Hanover.

1775: The US Marine Corps was founded.

1871: Henry Morton Stanley, sent to Africa by his newspaper to find Scottish missionary David Livingstone, finally made contact with him at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika with the words: “Dr Livingstone, I presume.”

1910: Edward Elgar conducted the first performance of his violin concerto, played by Fritz Kreisler, in the Queen’s Hall, London. Applause was described as worthy of the victory of the Battle of Trafalgar.

1928: Hirohito was crowned Emperor of Japan. The Crown Prince, aged 27, had been regent for seven years before taking over from his sick father.

1982: Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died of a heart attack, aged 75.

1988: George Bush was elected US president.

1991: In Calcutta, a record 95,000 people watched South Africa’s return to international cricket. They won by three wickets.

1997: British au pair Louise Woodward (pictured below) walked free from a court in America when judge Hiller Zobel reduced her murder conviction to manslaughter.

2017: A series of war memorials erected a century ago, before the end of the First World War, was given protected status.