ON THIS DAY

■■ 1596: Sir Francis Drake died at sea off Panama.

■■1756: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg. He composed 20 operas, 17 masses, 41 symphonies, 27 string quartets and 21 piano concertos – and still died a pauper in 1791, aged 35.

■■ 1778: Joseph Bramah patented the valved flush toilet.

■■1832: Lewis Carroll, children’s author, was born in Daresbury, near Warrington, as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

■■ 1859: Kaiser Wilhelm II, above, third German emperor and grandson of Queen Victoria, was born. He was forced to abdicate after World War I.

■■1879: Edison patented his electric lamp.

■■ 1885: Jerome Kern, US composer regarded as the father of the modern musical, was born in New York. His major work was Show Boat.

■■1901: Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer whose operas include Rigoletto, Traviata and Aida, died aged

87.

■■ 1926: John Logie Baird gave a public demonstration of television to members of the Royal Institution in London.

■■1944: The 900-day siege of Leningrad ended.

■■ 1951: Atomic bombs were tested in Nevada for the first time.

■■1967: Round-the-world yachtsman Francis Chichester was knighted by the Queen at Greenwich with a sword which once belonged to Sir Francis Drake.

■■ 1973: America signed a ceasefire to end its military action in Vietnam.

■■1992: Gennifer Flowers accused Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton of being a liar after he denied having a 12-year affair with her.

■■ 2010: American novelist JD Salinger, the author of The Catcher In The Rye, died aged 91.

■■BIRTHDAYS: Nick Mason, rock musician (Pink Floyd), 79; Mimi Rogers, actress, 67; Bridget Fonda, actress, 59; Alan Cumming, actor/ director, 58; Robbie Earle, former footballer, 58; Mike Patton, rock singer, 55; Dean Headley, former cricketer, 53; Mark Owen, singer (Take That), 51; Marat Safin, retired tennis player, 43.

■■ The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2021 was 65.7%