On this day
69 YEARS AGO (1953)
Our front page revealed Britain’s “greatest-ever flood disaster”. Canvey in Essex and Felixstowe, Suffolk, were badly hit. The final death toll was 307 with over 30,000 people left homeless.
50 YEARS AGO (1972)
On the day funerals were held for 11 of the 14 people killed by British troops on Bloody Sunday, a 30,000-strong crowd burned the British Embassy in Dublin.
32 YEARS AGO (1990)
South Africa President FW de Klerk began dismantling the apartheid laws which enforced racial segregation and promised to free Nelson Mandela from jail.
Today’s giggle
There’s a new type of broom out. It’s sweeping the nation.
Birthdays
Only Fools and Horses legend David Jason is 82. He can fly a helicopter. The King’s Man star Gemma Arterton is 36. She was born with 12 fingers. Hips Don’t Lie singer Shakira is 45. She’s worth £263million. Model Christie Brinkley is 68. She was the inspiration for Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl. And many happy returns to Mirror readers Derek Bailey, from Middlesbrough, who’s 80, and Maria Cockerell, from North Walsham, Norfolk, who’s 37.
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