The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
On this day
1577: English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.
1708: William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham and a British prime minister, was born in London.
1738: Astronomer Sir William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, was born in Hanover. He died in Slough, Berkshire, in 1822.
1837: Isaac Pitman’s stenographic sound-hand, the first shorthand system, was published, price 4d.
1899: Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the South African war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.
1923: Rampant inflation in Germany reached a peak when the mark (4.2 to the dollar in 1914) rose to 4,200,000,000 to the dollar.
1956: Elvis Presley’s first film, Love Me Tender, premiered in New York.
1968: The Cunard flagship Queen Elizabeth docked at Southampton for the last time. She was replaced by the Queen Elizabeth II.
1969: ITV channel ATV screened the first colour television commercial in Britain – for Birds Eye peas.
2002: Moors Murderer Myra Hindley died in jail, aged 60.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duchess of Cornwall paid tribute to a campaign by the Women’s Institute (WI) to encourage its members to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women.