On this day: British and French meet beneath Channel

On this day in 1990, teams from France and the UK met beneath the Channel as the tunnel link was completed. Picture: PA

National Day of Romania

772: Pope Adrian I was elected.

1640: Portugal regained independence folowing 60 years of Spanish rule.

1768: The first of three volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica appeared, edited by William Smellie and published in Edinburgh.

1768: The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London.

1787: The first lighthouse in Scotland, built at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson, went into operation.

1835: Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1887: Sherlock Holmes, the creation of Arthur Conan Doyle, made his first print appearance in A Study in Scarlet, which featured in Beeton’s Christmas Annual.

1903: The first western film, The Great Train Robbery, a 12-minute silent movie, was released.

1906: The Cinema Omnia Pathé, the world’s first purpose-built picture palace, opened in Paris.

1913: The Ford Motor Company introuduced a continuous moving assembly line, with one car produced every two minutes, 38 seconds.

1916: First road safety campaign opened in London.

1918: The Danish parliament passed an act to grant independence to Iceland.

1919: Lady Nancy Astor was sworn in as the first female member of parliament.

1925: The Summer Time Act was made permanent.

1929: The game of bingo was invented by Edwin S Lowe,

1942: The Beveridge Report on Social Security, which was the basis of the welfare state, was issued.

1953: Hugh Hefner published the first edition of Playboy magazine, featuring Marilyn Monroe as its first centrefold.

1959: The first colour photograph of Earth was received from outer space.

1966: Britain’s post offices issued the first special Christmas stamps, designed by children. They sold at threepence, and one shilling and sixpence.

1973: Jack Nicklaus became the first golfer to earn $2 million in a year.

1987: Department of Trade inspectors were ordered into the Guinness company to investigate allegations of misconduct which ended with four arrests, including the chairman, Ernest Saunders.

1988: Benazir Bhutto was named Pakistan’s prime minister, becoming first woman to lead a modern-day Muslim nation.

1990: At 11:12am in the Channel Tunnel, the British and French tunnelling teams joined by shaking hands and exchanging national flags.

1991: Ukrainians voted 9-1 in favour of independence from Soviet Union in a referendum.

1994: The Labour leader, Tony Blair, faced criticism over his decision to send his son to a grant-maintained school.

2009: The Treaty of Lisbon, which amended the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprised the constitutional basis of European Union, came into effect.

BIRTHDAYS

Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg), actor, writer, producer and director, 80; Bette Midler, singer and actress, 70; Kenny Milne, Scottish rugby player, 54; Emily Mortimer, actress, 44; Jeremy Northam, actor, 54; Gilbert O’Sullivan, singer, 69; Stephen Poliakoff CBE, playwright, 63; Sarah Silverman, comedian, 45; Lee Trevino, golfer, 76; Janelle Monáe, singer-songwriter, 30; Charlene Tilton, actress, 57; John Densmore, drummer (The Doors), 71; Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka politician and former Test cricketer, 52; Chuck Low, actor, 78; Billy Paul, soul singer, 81.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1081 Louis VI, king of France; 1761 Madame Marie Tussaud, who made death masks of the severed heads of the famous during French Revolution; 1895 Henry Williamson, novelist and author of Tarka the Otter; 1913 Mary Martin, actress, singer and Broadway star; 1930 Matt Monro, singer; 1940 Richard Pryor, actor and comedian; 1949 Pablo Escobar, Colombian drugs baron.

Deaths: 1135 King Henry I of England, reportedly due to “a surfeit of lampreys”; 1521 Pope Leo X; 1825 Tsar Alexander I of Russia; 1940 Mike Denness OBE, Scottish-born former England cricket captain; 1973 David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel; 1986 Lee Dorsey, R&B singer; 1997 Stéphane Grappelli, jazz violinist; 2007 Anton Rodgers, actor;