On this day

1749: Johann von Goethe, poet, playwright and scientist, was born in Frankfurt. His masterpiece was Faust, and in 1867, 35 years after his death, the first part of that work became the first paperback book to go on sale in the world. 1849: Venice was taken by the Austrians after a siege.

1850: The Channel telegraph cable was finally laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez.

1850: Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It contains The Bridal Chorus, which has become better known as Here Comes The Bride.

1895: RL Thomas, secretary and treasurer of Kinestoscope Co of New Jersey, USA, became the first film actor, playing the part of the Queen in The Execution Of Mary Queen Of Scots. A dummy was also used for the first time – for the beheading.

1914: The first major engagement of the British and German navies during the First World War occurred at the Battle of Helgoland Bight.

1933: The BBC was used for the first time by the police hunting a wanted man. An appeal was broadcast for information on murder suspect Stanley Hobday. 1963: Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King, pictured, made his famous “I have a dream...” speech to a rally of 200,000 people in Washington. 1988: Thirty-three people died when three Italian air force jets collided during an aerobatics display at Ramstein, Germany. 2012: The widow of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson said she hoped his campaign for a change in the law on assisted dying would continue in his memory.

Birthdays

David Soul, singer/actor, 78;

Hugh Cornwell, rock singer (The Stranglers), 72; Emma Samms, actress, 61; Shania Twain, pictured, singer, 56; Jason Priestley, actor, 52; Jack Black, actor, 52; Leann Rimes, singer,

39; Lilli Schwarzkopf, heptathlete, 38; Florence Welch, singer, 35; Armie Hammer, actor, 35.