ON THIS DAY

ANZAC DAY – Commemorates 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in the First World War. ■■ 1599: Oliver Cromwell, above, was born in Huntingdon. He became Lord Protector of England – Britain’s first and only dictator.

■■1859: Work began on the 100-mile Suez Canal.

■■ 1872: CB Fry, all-round sportsman, was born in Croydon. He played football, cricket and rugby and was also an athlete, hunter, fisherman and novelist.

■■1915: Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.

■■ 1926: Toscanini conducted the first performance of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot, in Milan.

■■1945: Fifty nations gathered in San Francisco to begin the United Nations conference on International Organisations.

■■ 1969: The radio serial Mrs Dale’s Diary ended after 21 years and 5,400 episodes. Her last words were: “I’m rather worried about Jim.”

■■1975: Portugal held its first free elections for 50 years.

■■ 1983: In Germany, Stern published extracts from the so-called Hitler diaries, also published by the Sunday Times in Britain. They were later found to be forgeries.

■■2005: Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.

■■ 2007: The world of football paid tribute after Alan Ball, the youngest member of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning side, died of a heart attack at the age of 61.

■■ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The 2021 Oscars were finally taking place after delays, and despite cinemas having been closed for much of the previous 12 months.

■■ BIRTHDAYS: Al Pacino, actor, 82; Bjorn Ulvaeus, pop musician (Abba), 77; Talia Shire, actress, 76; Andy Bell, pop musician (Erasure), 58; Renee Zellweger, actress, 53; Jason Lee, actor, 52.

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