ON THIS DAY
1327: Edward III acceded to the English throne.
1533: Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (wife number two of six) were married secretly by the Bishop of Lichfield.
1759: Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, who used the Scottish dialect in his poems and many songs, including “To a Mouse”, was born in Alloway, Ayrshire.
1857: Lord Lonsdale (Henry Cecil Lowther), president of the National Sporting Club, who gave boxing its rules and Lonsdale Belts to its champions, was born in London.
1874: W Somerset Maugham, master of the short story, was born in Paris.
1924: The first winter Olympics began at Chamonix, France.
1938: The aurora borealis (Northern Lights) were seen as far south as London’s West End and throughout western Europe. It was due to intense sunspot activity.
1947: Al Capone, Chicago gang boss in the Prohibition era, died of a heart attack, days after suffering a stroke, aged 48.
1981: The Gang of Four (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers) broke away from the Labour Party to set up the Social Democrats.
1990: A Boeing 707 jet crashed on Long Island after running out of fuel, killing 73 people including the pilot. More than 80 passengers survived.
2010: One of Saddam Hussein’s closest allies, Ali Hassan alMajid, the man known as “Chemical Ali”, was executed in Iraq.
On this day last year: The parents of a teenager who died from an allergic reaction after eating a baguette received a royal honour for their campaigning efforts in the wake of her death.
Birthdays
Angela Thorne, actor, 84; Tom Paulin, poet and critic, 74; Jenifer Lewis, actor, 66; Emma Freud, broadcaster, 61; David Ginola, former footballer, 56; Ana Ortiz, actor, 52; Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian politician, 45; Alicia Keys, singer, 42; Francis Jeffers, footballer, 42; Ariana DeBose, actor and singer, 32.
PA
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