On this day
■ 1498: Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, southern India, after discovering a route via the tip of southern Africa.
■ 1506: Christopher Columbus, Genoese explorer, died in Valladolid, Spain.
■ 1799: Honore de Balzac, French novelist, who produced 85 novels in 20 years, was born at Tours.
■ 1840: York Minster was badly damaged by fire.
■ 1867: The foundation stone of the Royal Albert Hall was laid.
■ 1903: Kew Bridge over the river Thames was opened by Edward VII. Its real name is Edward VII Bridge.
■ 1932: Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo air crossing of the Atlantic.
■ 1941: Germany began an aerial invasion of Crete.
■ 1956: America dropped its first hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
■ 1991: In the USSR, the government passed a new law allowing Soviet citizens to leave the country of their own free will.
■ ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke of Cambridge announced he’d received his first Covid jab, as the vaccine rollout across the country continued.
■ BIRTHDAYS: Lynn Davies, Olympic gold medallist, 80; Keith Fletcher, cricket coach, 78; Cher, singer and actress, 76; Greg Dyke, former BBC director general, 75; Annabel Giles, TV presenter, actress and author, 63; Nick Heyward, singer, 61; Owen Teale, actor, 61; Louis Theroux, broadcaster, 52.