On this day
1540: The first recorded horse racing meeting in Britain was held at the Roodeye Field, Chester.
1855: The “Devil’s Footprints” appeared in snowbound South Devon - 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
1865: Mrs Patrick Campbell, actress with an abrasive wit, was born in London. She created several famous roles, including Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1914), and had a welldocumented relationship with George Bernard Shaw.
1891: Ronald Colman, English actor who became a romantic star in Hollywood, was born in Richmond, Surrey. His films included The Prisoner Of Zenda.
1893: The world’s first public striptease took place at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.
1942: Soap rationing began in Britain. 1949: Robert Mitchum was jailed in Los Angeles for smoking marijuana. 1961: The Beatles made their first appearance at the Cavern during a lunchtime session.
1964: Beatlemania gripped America as around 70 million tuned in to see the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan Show. 1981: Rock ‘n’ roller Bill Haley died. He spearheaded the 1950s rock revolution with Rock Around The Clock.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Solar Orbiter, a spacecraft designed and built in the UK, prepared for launch on its journey to unlock the secrets of the Sun.