ON THIS DAY
1669: Henrietta Maria, French wife of Charles I of England, died near Paris. Henrietta Street, London WC2, is named after her.
1771: Scottish explorer Mungo Park was born near Stirling.
1855: The Russian Black Sea base of Sebastopol fell to Anglo-French forces after an 11-month siege. 1891: Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-E, the song which rocked Victorian England in the 1890s, was written by a Canadian ex-bandsman named Henry J Sayers and copyrighted in New York. But it was not original - more than 80 years before a tune called Ta-Rada-Boom-Di-E had been published in Austria. Sayers admitted he had borrowed it - he heard it played in a brothel in Missouri.
1897: Marlborough Street Police Court in London fined taxi driver George Smith £1, making him the first person in Britain to be convicted for drink-driving. He drank three glasses of beer and drove his electric taxi on the pavement in Bond Street.
1945: Vidkun Quisling, the “Puppet” Premier of Norway during the Second World War, was sentenced to death for > Birthdays: Carol Decker, left, and Siobhan Fahey
collaboration with the Nazis and was executed on October 24. 1965: Yale University published a map purporting to show that the Vikings discovered America in the 11th century.
1981: Picasso’s anti-war mural Guernica returned to Spain after 40 years custodianship in the US. Picasso refused to allow the painting to be shown in Spain until the restoration of democracy. 1988: German tennis player Steffi Graf became only the fifth person to complete the Grand Slam, winning the four top women’s tennis tournaments in the same
calendar year when she beat Argentinian Gabriella Sabatini to win the US Open.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: When it comes to speaking to aliens, men are more enthusiastic than women, a survey revealed. BIRTHDAYS: Jose Feliciano, singer/guitarist, 75; Judy Geeson, actress, 72; Joe Perry, rock musician (Aerosmith), 70; Amy Irving, actress, 67; Carol Decker, singer, 63; Siobhan Fahey, singer, 62; Colin Firth, actor, 60; Guy Ritchie, director, 52; Tim Stimpson, rugby union player, 47; Ryan Phillippe, actor, 46.