On this day: Andy Murray becomes Wimbledon champion

Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in 2013 to become the first male British Wimbledon champion in 77 years. Picture: Getty Images

1456: A retrial verdict acquitted Joan of Arc of heresy, 25 years after her death.

1550: Chocolate, native to Mexico, central and South America, was introduced to Europe for the first time.

1548: The Treaty of Haddington, between Scotland and France, confirmed the betrothal of Mary, Queen of Scots and Dauphin of France.

1559: John Knox became the first Protestant minister appointed in Edinburgh.

1575: The Raid of the Redeswire, skirmish between Scottish and English borderers.

1814: Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley was published.

1890: The first electric chair execution took place in New York.

1891: The first travellers cheques were issued by American Express.

1911: Dorothea Chambers set a record for the shortest match at Wimbledon, defeating Dora Boothby 6-0, 6-0 in the ladies singles final, the latter becoming the first to lose a ladies final without winning a game.

1913: House of Commons passed Irish Home Rule Bill.

1925: Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall was destroyed by fire.

1928: Sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri, described as “the best thing since bread was wrapped”.

1929: The Vatican became a sovereign state.

1941: Nazis executed 5,000 Jews at Kovono, Lithuania.

1944: RAF Bomber Command dropped 2,572 tons of bombs on Caen, France.

1947: Reported sightings of a flying saucer over Roswell, New Mexico sparked the biggest extra-terrestrial investigation in history.

1976: David Steel was elected leader of the Liberal Part.

1972: Seven people were killed in separate incidents across Northern Ireland. On the same day, Gerry Adams arrived in London as a member of an IRA delegation for talks with the British government.

1973: Iraq executed 23 people accused of having attempted to overthrow government.

1978: Martina Navratilova won the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon for the first time.

1981: Solar Challenger, piloted by Steve Ptacek, became the first solar-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel.

1990: Martina Navratilova, 33, won a record ninth Wimbledon women’s singles title, beating Zina Garrison.

1991: IRA terrorist suspects Nessan Quinlivan and Pearse McAuley escaped from Brixton Jail, London.

1994: Unions said they would fight the government decision to close Rosyth naval base with the loss of 1,800 jobs.

2005: Fifty-six people died and over 700 were injured when four British suicide bombers attacked three London Tube trains and a bus in the rush-hour.

2007: Live Earth, a series of charity concerts to promote environmental awareness, took place in various cities around the world.

2008: The General Synod of the Church of England voted in favour of the consecration of women bishops.

2011: Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, the News of the World, announced it would close due to the ongoing damaging allegations against it relating to the phone-hacking scandal.

2013: Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 to win the mens singles final at Wimbedon and become the first British male champion for 77 years.

BIRTHDAYS

Ringo Starr MBE (born Richard Starkey), Beatles’ drummer, 75; Dr Sir Ian Wilmut OBE, Dolly the sheep cloning scientist, 71; Jeremy Guscott, rugby player and broadcaster, 50; Michael Howard, MP, Conservative Party leader 2003-5, 74; Hamish MacInnes OBE, Scottish mountaineer and writer, 85; William David Mungo James Murray, 8th Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield, 85; Bill Oddie OBE, actor and ornithologist, 74; Jeremy Kyle, TV presenter, 50; Shelley Duvall, actress, 66; David McCullough, author and historian, 82; Michelle Kwan, former world champion figure skater, 35.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1860 Gustav Mahler, composer; 1887 Marc Chagall, painter and designer; 1903 Sir Steven Runciman, historian; 1909 Gottfried von Cramm, tennis player; 1921 Ezzard Charles, world heavyweight boxing champion.

Deaths: 1307 King Edward I, “the Hammer of the Scots”; 1647 Thomas Hooker, clergyman, father of American democracy; 1764 William Pulteney, First Earl of Bath; 1791 Thomas Blacklock, Edinburgh-born poet; 1890 Henri Nestlé, founder of Nestlé; 1901 Johanna Spyri, author of Heidi; 1919 Jon Pertwee, actor; 1930 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes; 1965 Moshe Sharrett, second prime minister of Israel; 1970 Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin paperbacks; 1973 Veronica Lake, actress; 22006 Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd founder and songwriter.