ON THIS DAY

• 1087: William the Conqueror died in Rouen, France, from injuries received when his horse stumbled while he was fighting the King of France. William Rufus (Red Rufus), third son of William the Conqueror, came to the throne of England.

• 1513: The Battle of Flodden Field was fought near Branxton in Northumberland, in which James IV of Scotland was defeated and killed by English troops under Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey.

• 1754: WilliamBligh, captain of the Bounty, was born. He sailed around the world on Cook’s second voyage before taking command of his own ship in 1787. The infamous mutiny in 1789 was not the end of his career – he became governor of New South Wales in 1805.

• 1835: Modern local government came into being with the British Municipal Corporations Act.

• 1901: The stunted, bespectacled French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec died after suffering a second stroke.

• 1963: Scotland’s Jim Clark became the world’s youngest motor racing champion.

• 1976: Mao Tse-tung (Chairman Mao) died aged 82 after a series of strokes.

• LAST YEAR: A New York City subway station reopened for the first time since it was destroyed during the World Trade Centre attack 17 years earlier.

• BIRTHDAYS: Tom Wopat, actor, 68; Angela Cartwright, actress, 67; Dave Stewart, musician, 67; Hugh Grant, actor, 59; Adam Sandler, actor and comedian, 53; Julia Sawalha, actress, 51; Henry Thomas, actor (ET), 48; Eric Stonestreet, actor, 48; Goran Visnjic, actor, 47; Michelle Williams, actress, 39.