On this day

1836: The Alamo fell to Mexican forces under Santa Anna. Legendary frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie both died in the 12-day battle.

1890: An ornithologist released 100 starlings in New York’s Central Park as a memorial to Shakespeare. The starling is now America’s worst bird pest.

1899: Chemist Felix Hoffmann patented aspirin.

1926: The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-avon was engulfed by flames, leaving only a blackened shell. 1928: Gabriel García Márquez, author of Love in the Time of Cholera, was born in Aracataca, Colombia.

1930: Clarence Birdseye marketed the first frozen foods in Massachusetts.

1944: US planes from bases in Britain began daylight bombing raids on Berlin.

1951: Ivor Novello (David Ivor Davies), Welsh-born composer, playwright and actor, died in his flat above the Strand Theatre, London.

1961: George Formby, pictured left, film star and music hall artist, who sang comic songs and accompanied himself on the banjo, died.

1987: The ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized with her bow door open leaving Zeebrugge harbour - 193 died.

1988: Three IRA terrorists were shot dead by SAS men in Gibraltar.

1997: A gunman stole Tete de Femme, a million-dollar Picasso portrait, from a London gallery. The painting was recovered a week later.

Birthdays

Alan Greenspan, economist and former chairman of the US

Federal Reserve, 95; Jean Boht, actress, 89; Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano, 77; David Gilmour, Pink Floyd guitarist, 75; Kiki Dee, singer, 74; Rob Reiner, actor/ director, 74; Martin Buchan, former Aberdeen and Manchester United footballer, 72; Tom Arnold, actor, 62; Moira Kelly, actress, 53; Shaquille O’neal, former basketball player, 49; Rufus Hound, pictured right, actor/ comedian, 42.