ON THIS DAY
NATIONAL DAY OF NORWAY 1510: Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli, whose work included The Birth Of Venus, died.
1836: Sir Norman Lockyer, British astronomer who discovered helium, was born in Rugby.
1861: A group of holidaymakers set off from London for Paris on the first package trip arranged by Thomas Cook.
1890: The first weekly comic, Comic Cuts, was published in London by Alfred Harmsworth.
1899: Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
1900: Mafeking was relieved by British Forces in the Boer War after 217 days.
1960: The Kariba Dam on the Zambesi River was opened by the Queen Mother.
1969: Dubliner Tom McClean completed the first solo transatlantic crossing in a rowing boat.
1978: Compact discs were created by Philips.
1978: Charlie Chaplin’s coffin was found 10 miles from the Swiss cemetery where he had been buried, after it was stolen on March 2.
1990: The General Assembly of the World Health Organization ( WHO) eliminated homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
2004: The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. were performed in the state of Massachusetts.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Thousands of people departed on international flights after the ban on foreign holidays was lifted for people in Britain.
BIRTHDAYS: Sugar Ray Leonard, former boxer, 66; Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain), singer, 61; Trent Reznor, singer (Nine Inch Nails), 57; Jeremy Vine, journalist/presenter, 57; Hill Harper, actor, 56; Andrea Corr, singer, 48; Derek Hough, dancer/choreographer, 37.