ON THIS DAY
1207: Liverpool was created a borough by King John.
1749: Johann von Goethe, poet, playwright and scientist, was born in Frankfurt. His masterpiece was Faust, and in 1867, 35 years after his death, the first part of that work became the first paperback book to go on sale in the world.
1849: Venice was taken by the Austrians after a siege.
1850: The Channel telegraph cable was laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez. 1850: Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It contains The Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes The Bride.
1933: The BBC was used for the first time by the police hunting a wanted man, with an appeal broadcast for information on murder suspect Stanley Hobday.
1963: Dr Martin Luther King made his famous “I have a dream…” speech to 200,000 people in Washington DC. 2012: The widow of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson said she hoped his campaign for a change in the law on assisted dying would continue in his memory. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A sheep said to be the most expensive in the world has sold for £367,500.