THIS DAY

1421: Henry VI, who inherited the throne at the age of nine months, was born at Windsor.

1774: Austria introduced the first state education system.

1877: Thomas Alva Edison recited Mary Had A Little Lamb into his phonograph – and made the world’s first recording of the human voice.

1888: Will Hay, British music hall and film comedy actor, was born in Stockton-on-Tees.

1921: Irish independence was granted for the 26 southern states which became known as the Irish Free State. Six coun- ties which formed Ulster (Northern Ireland) remained as part of the UK.

1963: Christine Keeler, model involved in the Profumo scandal, was jailed for nine months for perjury.

1991: Durham were admitted to first-class cricket, the first new county side for 70 years.

2012: A powerful typhoon that swept away emergency shelters and a military camp killed around 350 people with nearly 400 missing.