ON THIS DAY

● 1284: According to legend, the Pied Piper reappeared in the German town of Hamelin. He had rid the town of rats but the townspeople refused to pay him, so he led away 130 children with his pipe, and sealed them in a cave on Koppenburg Mountain.

● 1830: King George IV – England’s fattest king – died aged

67. His favourite breakfast was two pigeons, three beefsteaks, a bottle of Moselle, a glass of Champagne, two glasses of port and one of brandy.

● 1857: The first investiture ceremony of Victoria Cross medals took place in Hyde Park. Queen Victoria awarded 62 servicemen this highest military honour.

● 1906: The first Grand Prix took place at Le Mans and was won by Hungarian Ferenc Szisz.

● 1909: The Victoria and Albert Museum first opened its doors.

● 1917: King George V dropped the German titles from the royal family, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became Windsor. The name Battenberg was changed to Mountbatten.

● 1962: A young American tennis player, Billie Jean Moffitt, 18, knocked out top seed Margaret Smith - the match that began Billie Jean King’s long reign at Wimbledon.

● 1991: After battling for 15 years to prove their innocence, the “Maguire Seven” were cleared of running an IRA bomb factory in England.

● ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Monty Python revealed events to mark their 50th anniversary in what they dubbed “an increasingly Pythonesque world”.

● BIRTHDAYS: Georgie Fame, singer, 77; Mick Jones, guitarist (The Clash), 65; Chris Isaak, singer, 64; Chris O’Donnell, actor, 50.