ON THIS DAY

1763: Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon, was born on the French island of Martinique as Marie Rose Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie. 1848: Adolphe Sax was awarded a patent for the saxophone. 1860: On St John’s Eve, Mussorgsky completed St John’s Night On A Bare Mountain. 1872: The first practical typewriter was patented by Christopher Sholes in Milwaukee, USA. 1894: Edward VIII (left), the king who abdicated for the love of Wallis Simpson, was born at Richmond, Surrey. 1902: Edward VII founded the Order of Merit for his Coronation Honours. One of the first recipients was Viscount Kitchener. The order is limited in number to 24 at any one time.

1951: British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the Soviet Union.

1956: General Nasser became Egypt’s first president after an election in which voting was compulsory, and he was the only candidate.