On this day

1469: Niccolo Machiavelli, statesman and historian, was born in Florence.

1494: Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica while in search of a westward route to the East. 1808: A duel was fought between two hot air balloonists over Paris. 1814: Louis XVIII took the throne of France after Napoleon’s defeat and exile by the allies.

1903: Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, as Harry Lillis Crosby.

1903: The first electric train ran through the Mersey Railway tunnel between Liverpool and Birkenhead. 1934: Author HG Wells predicted there would be a major world war by 1940.

1951: The Festival of Britain was opened by King George VI on a bombsite near London’s Waterloo station.

1952: Newcastle United became the first team since 1891 to win two English FA Cup Finals in succession by beating Arsenal 1-0. 1968: The first heart transplant in Britain was carried out at the National Heart Hospital, Marylebone, London.

2007: British girl Madeleine

Mccann disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

2013: A Theropod dinosaur, dating from 161 million years ago was discovered in China.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Queen sent her “warmest good wishes” to the people of Northern Ireland on the date which many considered to be its centenary.