ON THIS DAY
1800: The first soup kitchens for the poor of London began.
1815: The British, led by General Sir Edward Pakenham, were defeated at New Orleans in the last battle Britain fought against the US.
1824: Wilkie Collins, English pioneer of the detective and suspense story, was born in London. He wrote The Woman In White (1860) and The Moonstone (1868).
1832: Bell’s New Weekly Messenger published the first cartoon to appear in an English newspaper.
1889: Dr Herman Hollerith of New York patented an electrically operated computer to process data. The company he formed to market his invention evolved into the giant IBM.
1921: David Lloyd George became the first British prime minister to occupy Chequers, a country mansion in Buckinghamshire, presented to the nation as a gift by Lord Lee of Fareham.
1935: Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the survivor of twin boys. 1940:
Sugar, bacon and butter were rationed in Britain.
1982: Spain ended its siege of Gibraltar and reopened the frontier. In return, Britain ended its opposition to Spain joining the EEC.
1989: A British Midland 737 crashed into an embankment alongside the M1 near Kegworth, Leicestershire, killing 47 people.
1997: Kevin Keegan quit as manager of Newcastle United after five years in the post.