ON THIS DAY
NATIONAL LIBERATION DAY (POLAND) 1298: The English used longbows for the first time, when they defeated the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk. 1376: The mass abduction of children from the town of Hamelin by the Pied Piper supposedly took place, according to a legend. 1478: Philip the Handsome of Spain was born. After his death his wife kept his corpse and continued to sleep with it beside her bed for three years. Her name was Joanna the Mad. 1812: The Battle of Salamanca took place in west Spain in which the Duke of Wellington was victorious over the French in the Peninsula War. 1844: The Rev William Spooner was born in London. He was an albino and suffered defective eyesight and it is thought that this caused some of his verbal confusions which were later dubbed “spoonerisms”. These included “it is kisstomary to cuss the bride” and “you hissed my mystery lecture”. 1932: Florenz Ziegfeld, the US impresario famed for his girls and staircases in his Follies shows, died. 1933: Wiley Post, one-eyed pioneer
George Clinton, left,75, and Rhys Ifans, 49 aviator, became the first to fly solo gave birth to her first child, Prince round the world. George. 1934: Movie-loving gangster John Dillinger – Public Enemy Number One – was shot dead by American federal agents outside the Biograph Cinema in Chicago. 1946: After a failed wheat harvest, bread was rationed in Britain. 1986: MPs voted to abolish the cane in state schools. 2005: Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by police as the hunt began for the bombers responsible for the 7/7 London bombings. 2013: The Duchess of Cambridge ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s was reached with the first trial evidence that progression of the disease can be held back. BIRTHDAYS: Terence Stamp, actor, 78; George Clinton, funk musician, 75; Don Henley, rock singer, 69; Willem Dafoe, actor, 61; Bonnie Langford, dancer/actor/singer, 52; Rhys Ifans, actor, 49; Selena Gomez, actress/singer, 24, Prince George of Cambridge, 3.