ON THIS DAY
1651: Oliver Cromwell’s army defeated Royalist forces at the Battle of Worcester during the English Civil War.
1658: Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader and Lord Protector of England, died of pneumonia.
1783: Britain finally recognised the United States of America by signing the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence. 1913: American film star Alan Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Although only 5ft 6in tall, it did not hamper his career since leading ladies stood in trenches or he stood on boxes.
1916: The first pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin was Captain William Leefe Robinson. During a raid on London, his tiny biplane attacked the airship, which caught fire and crashed in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. He was later awarded the VC.
1939: Great Britain, Australia and France declared war on Germany. 2004: After three days, the Beslan school siege ended when special forces stormed the building in an unplanned onslaught. The Russian massacre claimed the lives of more than 330 people – about half of them children.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The summer’s wildfires in the Arctic had put record amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, experts warned.