On this day

1760: The first hanging took place at Tyburn, London. Earl Ferrers was executed for killing his valet. 1818: Father of Communism Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier, Germany, the son of a Jewish lawyer.

1821: Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St Helena. 1904: Sir Gordon Richards, English jockey, was born. He was champion jockey 26 times.

1930: Amy Johnson left Croydon in Gypsy Moth “Jason” to become the first female to fly solo to Australia, arriving on May 24.

1941: Emperor Haile Selaisse returned to Ethiopia from exile in

England after liberation of his country by British forces.

1961: Commander Alan Shepard returned to Earth after becoming the first American in space.

1980: The SAS stormed the terrorist-occupied Iranian Embassy in Knightsbridge, killing four gunmen and rescuing 19 hostages. 2005: The UK general election took place, in which Tony Blair’s Labour Party was re-elected for a third consecutive term.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Scientists revealed they had discovered a simple way to recreate the early structure of the human embryo from stem cells.