On this day

1307: William Tell is reputed to have shot the apple off his son’s head on this day.

1558: Mary I, “Bloody Mary”, died and was succeeded by Elizabeth I.

1796: Catherine the Great of Russia died of a stroke, aged 67. 1882: The Royal Astronomer witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object from the Greenwich Royal Observatory. It was described as a “strange celestial visitor - a circular object glowing green”.

1887: Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (“Monty”), who led the Eighth Army to victory in North Africa in the Second World War, was born in London.

1955: Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into its water supply. 1959: Two Scottish airports, Prestwick and Renfrew, became the first to offer duty-free goods in Britain.

1970: The Sun pictured its first Page Three girl, Stephanie Rahn. 1988: Franz Kafka’s manuscript of his classic novel The Trial (1925) was sold at Sotheby’s in London for £1 million, a world record for a modern literary text. Kafka had died in poverty in 1924,

2009: The unfinished novel, The Original Of Laura, by Vladimir Nabokov was published 32 years after his death despite his request in his will for the manuscript to be burned.

Birthdays

Martin Scorsese (pictured), film director, 78; Lauren Hutton, actress, 77; Danny Devito, actor and film director, 76; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, actress, 62; Jonathan Ross, broadcaster, 60; Rachel Mcadams, actress, 42; Sarah Harding, singer (Girls Aloud), 39.

Quote of the day

“Take My Breath Away is my favourite work, because of the components and the way Terri [Nunn] sings it. It won best original song at the Golden Globes and my third Oscar. There’s some things you forget but this one felt incredible” - composer Giorgio Moroder on his hit song.