Also on this day

IThe world’s first traffic lights are installed outside Parliament Coronation Street is broadcast for the first time

in 1694. She died late in December that year, aged only 32.

The virus destroyed countless lives until the major breakthrough in 1798 when English scientist Edward Jenner discovered vaccination could prevent the disease.

He noted that milkmaids seemed immune to smallpox, and made the link to cowpox – a simliar but much less virulent form of the illness. He realised that those infected with cowpox gained immunity to smallpox and the modern vaccine was born. In fact, the very name vaccine comes from the Latin word for cow.

N THE 1950s, concerted efforts were made to eliminate the virus altogether. The last major outbreak in Europe was in Yugoslavia in 1972, which killed 35. By the end of 1975, it existed only in the Horn of Africa. The last naturally occuring case was recorded in 1977 in Somalia.

It is one of only two diseases to be wiped out by mankind, the second being deadly cattle virus rinderpest, which was eradicated in 2011.

Smallpox was a terrifying and dreadful disease, and the battle against it was a triumph for humanity. It is an example of global co-operation and sheer determination for which we should all be grateful.

Last week I asked which English poet died on December 2, 1985? The answer is Philip Larkin. This week’s question: Which Premier League football team was founded on this day in 1892?

Watch Shaun and his colleagues on The Chase on ITV at 5pm every day of the week.