On this day
1732: Sir Richard Arkwright, English inventor of the“spinning frame”, was born. 1888: Vincent Van Gogh, suffering severe depression which historians claim was increased by his companion Gauguin’s decision to leave their lodgings at Arles to escape winter, cut off his ear.
1905: The Aldwych Theatre in London opened.
1953: In the USSR, Lavrenty Beria and six others were executed for treason.
1972: Managua, capital of Nicaragua, was destroyed by an earthquake which killed many thousands of people.
1981: Geoffrey Boycott took his score to 86 not out against India at Delhi to become the (then) most prolific run-scoring batsman in Test history. 1986: The US plane Voyager completed the first non-stop flight round the world without refuelling.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A dispute over a child’s haircut reportedly ended with a barbershop worker being shot three times in Texas.