On this day
■ 1760: The first hanging took place at Tyburn in London. Earl Ferrers was executed for murdering 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, efficient way to recreate the early structure of the human embryo from stem cells in the laboratory.
■ BIRTHDAYS: Lance Henriksen, actor, 82; Michael Palin, actor and presenter, 79; John Rhys-Davies, actor, 78; Richard E Grant, actor, 65; Ian McCulloch, singer (Echo & The Bunnymen), 63; James Cracknell, rowing champion, 50; Craig David, singer, 41; Henry Cavill, actor, 39; Adele, singer, 34.