On this day

1759: George Frideric Handel, German composer, died in London, where most of his music-making had been done. 1828: Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language.

1865: Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president, was shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, dying the next day.

1894: Thomas Edison, pictured on facing page, demonstrated his “kinetoscope” moving picture machine in New York. 1917: Dr Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof, Polish physician who invented the international language Esperanto, died.

1929: The Monaco Grand Prix was first run.

1931: The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code. 1983: The first cordless telephone, capable of operating up to 600ft from base, was introduced.

2003: The Human Genome Project was completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

Birthdays

Julie Christie, actress, 81; Ritchie Blackmore, rock guitarist, 76; Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist, 70; Robert Carlyle, actor, 60; Gina Mckee, actress, 57; Anthony Michael Hall, actor, 53; Adrien Brody, actor, 48; Sarah Michelle Gellar, actress, 44; Abigail Breslin, pictured, actress, 25.

Quotes of the day

“The stories we tell are like babies – they never stop coming, we love them all, and we vow to do our best by every single one” – Call The Midwife producer

Heidi George on news that two further series have been commissioned.

“His death was a tragedy but his life was a triumph” –

Anne Merritt at the inquest into the death of her son Jack, 25, who was killed by convicted terrorist Usman Khan at a prisoner rehabilitation event near London Bridge on November 29, 2019.