on this DAY

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: The British-Zulu War began. 1948: The London Co-op opened the first supermarket in Britain at Manor Park.

1959: Henry Cooper became the British and European heavyweight boxing champion when he defeated Brian London on points.

1970: Nigeria’s civil war ended when the Biafran army surrendered.

1976: Dame Agatha Christie, the world’s most successful detective story writer, died, aged 85. 1987: Prince Edward resigned from the Royal Marines.

1990: The break-up of the USSR began as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania prepared for secession.

2010: A severe 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The confirmed death toll rose above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone.