ON THIS DAY
1695: Henry Purcell, English composer, died of tuberculosis, aged 36. It is said that a friend asked him if he had made his peace with God, and he replied: “We’ve never quarrelled.”
1783: Man’s first free-flight was made by Jean de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes in the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon. They flew above Paris and, after 25 minutes, landed a few miles south.
1787: Sir Samuel Cunard, shipowner, was born in Nova Scotia. He came to Britain in 1838 and, with two partners, established what became the Cunard Line. 1843: Thomas Hancock patented vulcanised rubber.
1918: The German battle fleet surrendered to the Allies at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys.
1934: Cole Porter’s Anything Goes opened in New York and made a star of Ethel Merman.
1936: The first television gardening programme was broadcast by the BBC - In Your Garden with Mr Middleton.
1953: The discovery of The Piltdown Man skull by Charles Dawson in Sussex in 1912 was
finally revealed as a hoax.
1974: IRA bombs in two Birmingham public houses killed 19 people.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Two metal detectorists have been convicted of stealing a £3 million Viking hoard of coins and priceless jewellery - much of which was still
missing.
BIRTHDAYS: Juliet Mills, actress, 79; Goldie Hawn, actress, 75; Lorna Luft, actress, 68; Bjork, singer, 55; Andrew Caddick, former cricketer, 52; Alex James, musician (Blur) and writer, 52; Justin Langer, former cricketer, 50; Carly Rae Jepsen, singer, 35.