ON THIS DAY
1535: Miles Coverdale’s translation of the Bible was published.
1883: The Boys’ Brigade was founded in Glasgow by Sir William Alexander Smith.
1895: Deadpan hero of the silent screen Buster Keaton was born in Kansas. His parents were acrobats in vaudeville, and by the time he was three, Buster was in on the act.
1911: Britain’s first escalators were introduced, connecting the District and Piccadilly platforms at Earl’s Court underground station in London.
1957: Russia launched Sputnik I, the world’s first satellite. 1958: The first transatlantic passenger jet service began operating.
1970: The American rock singer Janis Joplin died. She left 2,500 dollars in her will “so that my friends can get blasted after I’m gone”. 2010: Comedian and actor Sir Norman Wisdom died in a nursing home on the Isle of Man, aged 95.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Royal Opera House announced plans to sell a David Hockney portrait of its FORMER chief Sir David Webster, in a desperate bid to raise funds amid the coronavirus pandemic.