ON THIS DAY
1695: Henry Purcell, English composer, died of tuberculosis, aged 36. It is said that a friend asked him if he had made his peace with God, and he replied: “We’ve never quarrelled.”
1783: Mankind’s first free balloon flight was made by Jean de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes in the Montgolfier brothers’ hot-air balloon. They flew above Paris and, after 25 minutes, landed a few miles south.
1787: Sir Samuel Cunard, shipowner, was born in Nova Scotia. He came to Britain in 1838 and, with two partners, established what became the Cunard Line.
1843: Thomas Hancock patented vulcanised rubber.
1918: The German battle fleet surrendered to the Allies at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.
1934: Cole Porter’s Anything Goes opened in New York and made a star of Ethel Merman.
1936: The first television gardening programme – In Your Garden with Mr Middleton – was broadcast by the BBC.
1953: The discovery of the Piltdown Man skull by Charles Dawson in Sussex in 1912 was finally revealed as a hoax.
1974: IRA bombs in two Birmingham public houses killed 21 people and left a further 182 injured.
On this day last year: I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! began on ITV. The series was again filmed in Gwrych Castle near Abergele in north Wales, and starred Frankie Bridge, Richard Madeley and Arlene Phillips.
Birthdays
Juliet Mills, actor, 81; Goldie Hawn, actor, 77; Lorna Luft, actor, 70; Bjork, singer, 57; Andrew Caddick, former cricketer, 54; Alex James, musician (Blur) and writer, 54; Justin Langer, former cricketer, 52; Carly Rae Jepsen, singer, 37.
Want your views to be included in The Independent Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independent.co.uk. Please include your address
BACK TO TOP