ON THIS DAY
755: English missionary Boniface and 53 companions were murdered in Germany by unbelievers.
1916: Lord Kitchener, British general and conqueror of the Sudan, was lost at sea when his ship HMS Hampshire struck a mine off Orkney, en route to Russia. There were no survivors.
1944: The Cafe Gondree was the first place to be liberated from the Germans on the eve of the D-Day landings when paratroopers from the 6th Brigade dropped on the town on Benouville to seize the vital canal bridge.
1947: US Secretary of State George Marshall announced the Marshall Plan to help Europe recover from near-bankruptcy following the war.
1963: War minister John Profumo resigned, admitting he misled the House of Commons about his relationship with Christine Keeler.
1967: The Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt began.
1968: Robert Kennedy, American senator and younger brother of the late President John F Kennedy, was shot in the Hotel Ambassador in Los Angeles by a Jordanian Arab, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, and died the following day.
1975: Egyptian president Sadat re-opened the Suez Canal to all but Israeli shipping, after eight years of closure.
1975: In Britain’s first referendum, a large majority voted to stay in the Common Market – more than 17 million voted yes and almost 8.5 million voted no.
1989: In Poland, Solidarity defeated the Communists in the first free elections since the end of the Second World War.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR
Brisk walking may cut the risk of dying from cancer, even in more advanced stages of the disease, research suggested.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Margaret Drabble, author, 79; Nigel Rees, broadcaster/writer, 74; Laurie Anderson, musician, 71; Sir David Hare, playwright, 71; Ken Follett, writer, 69; Kenny G, saxophonist, 62; Ron Livingston, actor, 51; Mark Wahlberg, actor, 47; David Weir, Paralympic athlete, 39.