On this day

1891: The first American Express travellers’ cheque was cashed. 1926: Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born famous escapologist and magician, survived for one-and-a-half hours in a bronze coffin in a hotel swimming pool in Los Angeles. 1958: The nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus completed its historic journey under the North Pole.

1962: Marilyn Monroe died alone in her bedroom from “acute barbiturate poisoning”. She was 36. 1963: Britain, the United States and the USSR signed a nuclear test ban treaty.

1974: US president Richard Nixon admitted his complicity in the Watergate affair.

1984: Richard Burton, pictured, Welsh actor who became a Hollywood legend partly through his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, died in Geneva, aged 58.

2010: The Copiapo mining accident trapped 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300ft below the ground. The miners a survived for a record 69 days underground before they were finally rescued.

2012: Andy Murray claimed two Olympic medals after a momentous day on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Birthdays

John Spellar, Labour politician, 74; Barbara Flynn, actress, 73; John Whitaker, showjumper, 66; Kevin Darley, former jockey, 61; Jon Sleightholme, former rugby union player, 49; Sophie Winkleman, actress, 41.

Quote of the day

“You are putting a smile on the faces of millions of people across this country with quite sensational performances in the pool, in the gymnastics, in the eventing, BMX, heaven knows what. You are producing medal-winning performance after medal-winning performance and I just want to say congratulations, keep going, we’re all rooting for you” – Boris Johnson’s message to Britain’s Olympians.