On this day: Harry S Truman elected US president

Harry S Truman raised his arms in triumph when he learned he had been elected president of the USA. Picture: Getty

3 November

1493: Columbus, on his second expedition, sighted the island of Dominica in the West Indies.

1534: The Act of Supremacy was passed, making the king head of the English Church.

1843: The legs of Nelson were hoisted to the top of the column in Trafalgar Square, London. The 17ft statue had been carved in the square by EK Baily.

1942: Montgomery’s Eighth Army broke through Rommel’s front line in Africa. Within a day the Germans were in full retreat.

1948: Harry S Truman won the US presidential election.

1957: Laika, a Samoyed dog, became the first space traveller. Her oxygen in Russia’s sputnik II ran out after ten days and she died in space.

1968: Graham Hill became world motor racing champion when he won the Mexico Grand Prix.

1988: Koo Stark was awarded £300,000 libel damages over allegations in the Sunday People that she had an adulterous affair with Prince Andrew after her marriage.

1989: Peter Brooke, Northern Ireland secretary, indicated that the government might enter negotiations with Sinn Fein if the IRA declared a ceasefire.

1990: Sarah Brightman accepted a £6m pay-off in her divorce from Andrew Lloyd Webber plus the value of one of his properties.

1990: A World Climate Conference of 700 scientists issued a warning of global warming catastrophe.

1991: In New York, Liz McColgan won her first marathon, in record time.

1992: Bill Clinton was elected United States president.

1994: The government, under pressure from Conservative backbenchers, ditched plans to privatise the Post Office.

2007: President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution, sacked the chief justice, took TV and radio off the air and arrested hundreds of opposition leaders and activists.

2008: Donald Trump, the American tycoon, said he was “greatly honoured” after his £1 billion golf resort plan in Aberdeenshire was approved.

2011: Three Pakistan cricketers, including former captain Salman Butt, were jailed over the conspiracy to bowl deliberate no-balls in a Test match in 2010 against England.

BIRTHDAYS

Lulu (Marie Lawrie OBE), Glasgow-born singer and actress, 66; Adam Ant (born Stewart Goddard), singer, 60; Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, home secretary 1990-92, 80; Kate Capshaw, actress, 61; Larry Holmes, boxer, 65; David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, furniture designer, 53; Jacqui Smith, Labour politician, 52; Ian Wright MBE, footballer and broadcaster, 51; Anna Wintour OBE, fashion icon and editor-in-chief of Vogue, 65; Dylan Moran, Irish comedian, 43; Evgeni Plushenko, Olympic and world champion figure skater, 32; Diego Alessi, Italian racing driver, 43; Marilyn, singer-songwriter, 52; James Prime, keyboard player (Deacon Blue).

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1919 Sir Ludovic Kennedy, broadcaster and campaigner; 1921 Charles Bronson, actor; 1933 John Barry OBE, film composer and conductor; 1933 Jeremy Brett, actor; 1943 Bert Jansch, Glasgow-born folk musician.

Deaths: 1926 Annie Oakley, Wild West Show markswoman; 1954 Henri Matisse, painter and sculptor; 1998 Bob Kane, artist, creator of Batman; 1999 Ian Bannen, Airdrie-born actor; 2002 Lonnie Donegan, musician.