ON THIS DAY
1847: The United Shakespeare Company bought the house in which Shakespeare was born at Stratfordupon-Avon in Warwickshire for £3,000. It was the first building in Britain to be preserved officially.
1908: The American car firms Buick and Oldsmobile merged to form General Motors.
1945: John McCormack, the lyrical Irish tenor, died in Dublin. “I have hung up my harp, all my songs are sung,” he is reported to have written just before he died.
1946: Have A Go began on the Light Programme, with Wilfred Pickles and his wife as Mabel at the table. Pickles started each programme by saying, “How do, ‘Ow are yer?” The show ran for more than 20 years.
1963: Malaysia became independent – and a mob celebrated by burning down the British embassy.
1968: The “two-tier” postal system was introduced in Britain – First and Second class.
1977: Opera singer Maria Callas was found dead in her Paris flat, aged 53.
1989: Classic horse race, the St Leger at Doncaster, was abandoned when officials declared the course unsafe.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India surpassed 5 million for the first time.