On this day: US golfers win Alfred Dunhill Cup

1651: Charles II escaped from Cromwell’s army across the English Channel.

1850: James Young obtained a patent for the extraction of paraffin from shale, start of the paraffin industry in West Lothian.

1855: Henry Bessemer patented his process for making steel.

1860: The first professional golf tournament was held at Prestwick, and won by Willie Park.

1899: Boers defeated by British troops at Glencoe, South Africa.

1912: Millie and Christine, American Siamese twins, died aged 60. They had been continually exhibited and danced in a freak show chorus line.

1918: Republic of Yugoslavia was established formally.

1931: US gangster Al Capone was jailed for 11 years for tax evasion.

1945: Colonel Juan Peron staged coup in Buenos Aires and became absolute dictator of Argentina.

1956: Calder Hall in Cumbria, Britain’s first large-scale atomic energy station, was opened by the Queen.

1970: Anwar Sadat succeeded Gamal Nasser Egypt’s president.

1972: The Queen became the first reigning monarch to visit a communist country when she arrived in Yugoslavia.

1977: West German commandos stormed hijacked Lufthansa airliner at airport in Somalia and freed all 86 hostages aboard.

1990: The Pope allowed two married men to be ordained as priests on condition they gave up sex and live forever as brother and sister with their wives.

1991: Four ITV companies, TV-am, Thames, TVS and TSW lost their licences under changes announced by the Independent Television Commission.

1993: US golfers beat England, the holders, in Dunhill Cup.

1995: Report by the Scottish Constitutional Convention envisaged a Scottish parliament of 129 members elected by proportional representation.

2000: Four died and more than 100 were injured when a GNER King’s Cross to Leeds express was derailed at over 100mph at Hatfield, in Hertfordshire.

2001: New guidelines to prepare for terrorist attacks using bubonic plague, smallpox and botulism were sent to doctors and hospitals throughout Britain.

BIRTHDAYS

Matthew Macfadyen, actor, 40; Ernie Els, golfer, 45; Aravinda de Silva, cricketer, 49; Eminem (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III), rapper, 42; Alan Garner OBE, author, 80; Wyclef Jean, rapper (Fugees), 45; Sir Cameron Mackintosh, musical producer, 68; Ziggy Marley, reggae singer, 46; Kimi Raikkonen, Formula One champion 2007, 35; Jim Smith, football manager, 74; Mark Gatiss, actor, comedian, novelist, 48; Gregg Wallace, TV presenter, 50; Patrick Lambie, South African rugby union internationalist, 24; Rob Marshall, director and choreographer (Chicago), 54; Peter Stringfellow, nightclub owner, 74; George Wendt, actor (Cheers), 66.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1727 John Wilkes, political agitator; 1918 Rita Hayworth, actress; 1920 Montgomery Clift, actor; 1921 George Mackay Brown, Orcadian poet and story-teller; 1925 Harry Carpenter OBE, sports commentator; 1938 Evel Knievel, stuntman; 1960 Bernie Nolan, actress and singer.

Deaths: 532 Pope Boniface II; 1586 Philip Sidney, poet, courtier and soldier; 1849 Frédéric Chopin, pianist and composer; 1998 Joan Hickson, actress.