On this day

1356: The English, led by Edward, the Black Prince, defeated the French at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years’ War.

1839: George Cadbury was born in Birmingham. He expanded his father’s chocolate business and established a model village for his workers at Bourneville.

1876: The first carpet-sweeper was patented by Melville Bissell of Grand Rapids in Michigan.

1881: James Abram Garfield, 20th US president, died of wounds suffered when he was shot in July.

1888: The world’s first beauty contest took place in Spa, Belgium.

1928: The first cartoon talking picture, Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse, pictured above, was shown in New York. 1945: Wartime traitor William Joyce – Lord HawHaw, pictured – was sentenced to be hanged after his trial at the Old Bailey.

1960: Chubby Checker’s The Twist – a cover of an original Hank Ballard song – entered the US charts and launched a dance craze.

1975: The first episode of Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC.

1985: More than 20,000 people died when an earthquake devastated large areas of Mexico City. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: An artificial muscle that lifts 1,000 times its own weight could pave the way for lifelike robots that make Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator look puny, developers announced.