ON THIS DAY
1506: Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer, died in Valladolid, Spain.
1840: York Minster was badly damaged by fire.
1867: The foundation stone of the Royal Albert Hall was laid.
1903: Kew Bridge over the river Thames was opened by Edward VII. Its real name is Edward VII Bridge.
1932: Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo air crossing of the Atlantic.
1941: Germany began an aerial invasion of Crete.
1956: America dropped its first hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1991: In the USSR, the government passed a new law allowing Soviet citizens to leave the country of their own free will.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke of Cambridge announced he’d received his first Covid jab, as the vaccine rolled out across the nation.