On this day
1606: Guy Fawkes, chief conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot, was hung, drawn and quartered.
1788: Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart), the Young Pretender, died in Rome.
1797: Composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria. 1868: The four great bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s Column were completed by painter Sir Edwin Landseer and
positioned in Trafalgar Square.
1910: Dr Crippen poisoned his wife, then cut her into small pieces and buried her remains in the cellar.
1943: Field Marshal Paulus surrendered the German 6th Army to the Russians at Stalingrad – the worst single defeat in German military history.
1953: More than 300 people died in widespread flooding in Kent, Essex and East Anglia.
1956: AA Milne, English writer of children’s books, notably Winnie The Pooh, died in Hartfield, Sussex.
1983: Wearing seat belts in cars became compulsory in Great Britain.
1991: Allied forces recaptured the Saudi border town of Khaǟi in the first ground battle of the Gulf War.
On this day last year: Some schools were shut and thousands of people were without power after back-to-back storms battered parts of the UK.
Birthdays
Philip Glass, composer, 86; Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, 85; Phil Manzanera, guitarist (Roxy Music), 72; John Lydon, singer, 67; Anthony LaPaglia, actor, 64; Lloyd Cole, singer/songwriter, 62; Minnie Driver, actor, 53; Justin Timberlake, pop star/actor, 42.
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