ON THIS DAY

1560: The first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was held. 1915: Australian, New Zealand and British troops were evacuated from the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition. 1928: Harry Ramsden started his fish and chip restaurant in a hut in Guiseley, near Leeds, which soon became the most famous in the world. 1957: At the height of his career, Elvis Presley received his call-up papers. 1961: The London bells of St Mary-leBow, Cheapside, began chiming again. They are the Bow Bells in the rhyme Oranges And Lemons, within the range of whose sound true Cockneys must be born. 1982: Two Townsend Thoresen ferries collided off Harwich with the loss of six lives. 1990: The last remaining pit in the Rhondda - Maerdy Colliery - closed after the afternoon shift finished, ending more than a century of coal mining. BIRTHDAYS: Uri Geller, spoon-bender and psychic, 70; Jenny Agutter, actress, 64; Billy Bragg, rock singer, 59; Simon Hughes, broadcaster and cricketer, 57; Robert Cavanah, actor, 51; George Lamb, radio and TV presenter, 37; Ashley Cole, footballer, 36; Jonah Hill, actor, 33. QUOTES OF THE DAY: “Any trade unionist with any sense wants to bring down this bloody working class-hating Tory Government. That is what we want to do. That is what we are about” - RMT union president Sean Hoyle. “This is not part of some conspiracy to bring the Government down” - RMT general secretary Mick Cash, insisting that the Southern Railway strike is not political but in the interests of passenger safety. “If I know something’s a good idea I’m going to push it through. It is much better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. Be a bit cheeky in life” - Alana Spencer, winner of TV’s The Apprentice TV. “I had one of those elastic big belts and I did a top note at the end of the song and the belt came undone and the skirt started to drop and I grabbed it and ran off stage. Only to be told ‘Next time you stay on stage and let it drop!’” - Veteran singer Shirley Bassey recalls one of her early performances. “Like all first-time users, I greatly enjoyed the woozy world into which I now had admission. My dreams that night were of wrestling the Queen Mother for occupancy of the coveted hospital bed. Another dream had the Nazis taking over the hospital, around which I was riding a bicycle” Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman after being given morphine during a hospital visit. “I try not to sound like an old git” Playwright Alan Bennett, 82.