ON THIS DAY
1871: Whit Monday became the first bank holiday in Britain. 1874: GK Chesterton, author and poet, was born in Kensington, London. His detective Father Brown was based on Father John O’Connor, who received him into the Catholic Church. 1911: Sir William Gilbert, librettist of Gilbert & Sullivan operas, died after rescuing two women from a pond. 1942: Bing Crosby recorded the world’s top-selling disc, White Christmas, for the soundtrack of the film Holiday Inn. 1953: Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first two climbers to reach the summit of Everest. The news broke on Coronation Day, June 2. 1982: Pope John Paul II became the first Pope in 450 years to step on to British soil, and the first to pray side by side with the Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral. 1985: Some 39 football fans were killed when a wall collapsed during crowd violence at Heysel Stadium, Brussels, before the Liverpool v Juventus European Cup Final. BIRTHDAYS: Nanette Newman, actress, 80; Michael Berkeley, composer and broadcaster, 66; Francis Rossi, rock musician (Status Quo), 65, pictured; LaToya Jackson, singer, 58; Rupert Everett, actor, 55; Adrian Paul, actor, 55; Melissa Etheridge, singer, 53; Noel Gallagher, rock musician, 47; Melanie Brown, former Spice Girl Mel B, 39. QUOTES OF THE DAY: “It wouldn’t be safe to let him cook. The only thing he is good at with his height is changing light bulbs” - Strictly Come Dancing winner Abbey Clancy on her lanky Premier League footballer husband Peter Crouch. “I am already pushing my body to the limit. I am not going to be able to do this in a few years’ time, so maybe the comfy chair is beckoning. I want to be that boring old man who sits in the corner” - TV documentary maker and former EastEnders star Ross Kemp. “If my university years taught me anything, it was that the smarter a woman’s background, the more primitive her bedchamber” - Rowan Pelling, former co-editor of The Erotic Review. “A priest who does this betrays the body of the Lord. It is like a satanic mass” - Pope Francis on sexual abuse of children. “It is difficult to find an electricity supplier who has not been strongly criticised. Perhaps I should lay in some manure and generate my own” - Ann Widdecombe, former Tory Minister. is considering ways to streamline the complex “stage 3” debates and votes, will hear evidence from MSPs Malcolm Chisholm, Rob Gibson and Stewart Maxwell. Other witnesses include Ann Henderson, Assistant Secretary of the STUC and Professor Colin T Reid, of the School of Law, University of Dundee.
The Justice Sub-committee on Policing will consider its draft report on the first year of reforms to the police and fire and rescue services.