ON THIS DAY
1650: Nell Gwyn, orange seller who became a comedy actor and then mistress of Charles II, was born in London.
1709: The real Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk, on whom Daniel Defoe based his famous novel, was rescued after spending more than four years on the uninhabited islands of Juan Fernandez.
1852: Britain’s first Gents toilets opened in Fleet Street, followed on 11 February by the first Ladies, just off the Strand. They were dubbed “Public Waiting Rooms”.
1878: Greece declared war on Turkey.
1880: The first imported frozen meat from Australia arrived in Britain.
1882: Author James Joyce was born in Dublin. His masterpiece Ulysses was published on this same day in 1922.
1914: Cub Scouts were formed in England, the first pack was in Sussex.
1943: The last pockets of German resistance to the Russians finally crumbled in Stalingrad.
1972: A mob in Dublin burned down the British embassy in protest at the “Bloody Sunday” killings in Londonderry the previous weekend.
1979: Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, on bail charged with killing girlfriend Nancy Spungen, died of a heroin overdose in New York.
1986: New Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev blamed predecessor Leonid Brezhnev for years of stagnation and vowed to implement radical reforms.
1990: South African president FW de Klerk lifted the 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and 30 other anti-apartheid organisations.
2014: Oscar-winning US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died from “acute mixed drug intoxication” at his New York apartment.
On this day last year: The Duchess of Cambridge took over the Duke of Sussex's former roles as patron of the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League.
Birthdays
Sir Norman Fowler, politician, 85; David Jason, actor, 83; Graham Nash, singer, 81; Andrew Davis, conductor, 79; Libby Purves, broadcaster/author, 73; Ken Bruce, broadcaster, 72; Christie Brinkley, model, 69; Stephen McGann, actor, 60; Gemma Arterton, actor, 37.
PA
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