On this day

1879: The discovery of saccharin was reported by chemists Constantin Fahlberg and Professor Ira Pemson in Baltimore. 1881: The British were defeated by the Boers at the Battle of Majuba.

1900: The British Labour Party was founded. Ramsay MacDonald was its secretary and later became leader and prime minister.

1902: John Steinbeck, author (The Grapes of Wrath), was born in California.

1933: The Reichstag building in Berlin was burned down – a ploy by the Nazis to suspend civil rights and press freedom. 1939: Britain’s most haunted house, Borley Rectory, was destroyed by fire. 1965: Goldie the Eagle escaped from London Zoo and settled in Regent’s Park. His freedom was followed by the media until his recapture on March 10. 1991: The Gulf War ended after Iraqi troops retreated and Kuwait was liberated.

2011: Frank Buckles, who lied about his age to fight in the First World War and lived to be the last surviving US veteran of the conflict, died at the age of 110.