Birthdays |
| 1830 | Emily Dickinson, American poet |
| 1851 | Melvil Dewey, Devised the library classification system |
| 1885 | Vincent Lopez, Leader of first orchestra to play a live radio broadcast |
| 1930 | Rt Hon Michael Joplin, Conserative MP & former government minister |
| 1954 | Geoff Deane, Of the Pop group 'Modern Romance' |
| 1957 | Paul Hardcastle, Singer best known for his hit No. 1, '19' |
| 1960 | Kenneth Branagh, Actor and director, of stage and screen |
Events |
| 1768 | The Royal Academy of Arts was founded, Joshua Reynolds becoming its first President |
| 1845 | The first pneumatic tyres were patented, by the Scottish civil engineer, Robert Thompson |
| 1868 | Londons first traffic lights came into operation near Parliament Square |
| 1896 | The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who invented Dynamite and founded the Nobel prizes, died in San Remo, Italy |
| 1903 | Marie Curie became the first woman to receive a Nobel prize |
| 1919 | The Smith brothers became the first pilots, to complete a flight from Britain to Australia |
| 1987 | In Leicestershire, two dangerous prisoners escaped by helicopter from the Gartree maximum security prison |
| 1998 | The Caribbean island of Cuba became independent from Spain |
