ON THIS DAY
1520:
Montezuma II, last Aztec ruler, was killed in Mexico City during the Spanish conquest of Mexico under Cortez.
1800:
The Glasgow Police Act, the first such Act in Britain, was finally passed through the persistence of Glasgow city authorities. This allowed the formation of the City of Glasgow Police.
1837:
A British Act of Parliament abolished punishment by pillory.
1859:
The great tightrope walker Blondin crossed Niagara Falls from the US to Canada in just eight minutes. The rope was stretched 1,100ft and suspended 160ft above the Falls.
1894:
London’s Tower Bridge was officially opened to traffic by the Prince of Wales.
1934:
Hitler’s rival Ernst Rohm and hundreds of influential Nazis were murdered by the SS in what was dubbed “The Night of the Long Knives”.
1936:
Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind was published. 1940:
German forces occupied the Channel Islands. 1960:
Norman Bates was unleashed onto an unsuspecting world when Hitchcock’s classic chiller Psycho was premiered in New York.
1974:
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Soviet-born ballet dancer, defected while on tour in Canada with the Bolshoi Ballet.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
A new survey revealed a fifth of ready meals sold by UK supermarkets were plant-based or vegetarian, and were the cheapest option at the majority of retailers.
BIRTHDAYS:
Vincent D’Onofrio, actor, 63; Rupert Graves, actor, 59; Gary Pallister, former footballer, 57; Mike Tyson, retired boxer, 56; James Martin, TV chef, 50; Ralf Schumacher, former racing driver, 47; Cheryl Cole, singer, 39; Michael Phelps, former Olympic swimmer, 37.