ON THIS DAY IN ...1567: Mary Queen of Scots Mary Queen of Scots (Mary Stuart), 1542–87, only child of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Through her grandmother Margaret Tudor, Mary had the strongest claim to the throne of England after the children of Henry VIII. abdicated after defeat by the Protestants at Carberry Hill. 1704: Admiral Sir George Rooke captured Gibraltar from the Spanish.1802: Alexandre Dumas, French creator of The Three Musketeers, was born near Soissons. 1824: The first public opinion poll was conducted in Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. , on voting intentions in the forthcoming US presidential election. 1883: Matthew Webb Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. , the first man to swim the English Channel in 1875, was drowned attempting to swim the rapids below Niagara Falls. 1908: Some 56 runners began the London Marathon from the east lawn of Windsor Castle. An extra 385 yards was added to the 26-mile course so that they finished in front of the Royal Box at White City Stadium. 1925: Six-year-old Patricia Cheeseman was the first person successfully treated with insulin, at Guy's Hospital in London. 1935: Greetings telegrams were introduced by the GPO. If they were in a gold envelope they cost an extra threepence. 1980: Peter Sellers died in hospital, two days after suffering a heart attack attending a reunion lunch with fellow Goons Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. |
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