On this day
1567: The first state lottery was held in England - 40,000 lots at 10 shillings each were available from St Paul’s Cathedral. 1753: Sir Hans Sloane, British physician and naturalist, whose collection formed the nucleus of the British Museum, died. 1857: Fred Archer, champion jockey who had 2,748 wins including five Derbys, was born.
1858: H Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London Department Store, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin.
1917: A patriotic appeal was launched for the nation to subscribe to the new War Loan, to finance the staggering cost of the conflict (£5.7 million a day).
1922: Insulin was first used successfully in the treatment of diabetes.
1928: Thomas Hardy, English poet and novelist, died in his native Dorset aged 87.
1973: The Open University awarded its first degrees.
1974: The first surviving sextuplets were born in South Africa.
1989: The second Battle of Naseby was lost when judges refused to halt the M1-A1 link across a field where Cromwell was defeated by Royalists in 1645.
1993: Richard Branson won a legal victory after British Airways apologised for a”dirty tricks campaign” against Virgin Atlantic Airways.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Gay and lesbian veterans who served under a ban
on homosexuality reflected on their experiences on the 20th anniversary of the policy’s end.