ON THIS DaY

■■1469: Niccolo Machiavelli, statesman and historian, was born in Florence.

■■1494: Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica while in search of a westward route to the East. ■■1808: A duel was fought between two hot air balloonists over Paris. ■■1814: Louis XVIII took the throne of France after Napoleon’s defeat and exile by the allies.

■■1903: Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, as Harry Lillis Crosby.

■■1903: The first electric train ran through the Mersey Railway tunnel between Liverpool and Birkenhead.

■■1934: Author HG Wells predicted there would be a major world war by 1940.

■■1951: The Festival of Britain was opened by King George VI on a bombsite near London’s Waterloo station.

■■1952: Newcastle United became the first team since 1891 to win two English FA Cup Finals in succession by beating Arsenal 1-0.

■■1968: The first heart transplant in Britain was carried out at the National Heart Hospital, Marylebone, London.

■■2007: British girl Madeleine McCann, above, disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

■■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: As lockdown puppy sales began to soar, a charity urged the public to remember that “a dog is for life, not just for lockdown”.

■■BIRTHDAYS: Frankie Valli, singer, 87; Mary Hopkin, singer, 71; Christopher Cross, singer, 70; Ben Elton, comedian, 62: Kathy Cook, former athlete, 61; Steve McClaren, football manager, 60; Rob Brydon, actor/comedian, 56, above; Bobby Cannavale, actor, 51; Christina Hendricks, actress, 46.

■■ The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2016 was 62.8%