ON THIS DAY
1715: King Louis XIV of France, called the “Sun King”, died in Versailles after reigning for 72 years – the longest in European history. 1853: The first triangular-shaped postage stamps were issued by the Cape of Good Hope.
1859: Pullman (sleeping cars) carriages were introduced, on the Bloomington to Chicago line. 1875: Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, was born in Chicago. He never visited Africa where his stories were set.
1923: An earthquake in Japan left the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in ruins and killed more than 300,000 people.
1939: Germany invaded Poland and bombed Warsaw at 6am. For the first time in history, the King went to Downing Street instead of the Prime Minister going to the Palace, as Neville Chamberlain needed to stay near his telephone.
1969: Colonel Gaddafi seized power in Libya, overthrowing King Idris I. 1971: The British penny and the threepenny piece coins ceased to be legal tender as decimalisation continued.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Ed Sheeran confirmed that he and wife Cherry had welcomed their first child, daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.