On this day: Richard Waghorn won the Schneider Cup

In 1929 Flying Officer Richard Waghorn won the Schneider Cup race in his Supermarine S6 in 39 minutes, 42 seconds. Picture: Getty

The Glorious Twelfth. Start of the grouse shooting season.

1291: The Great Cause lawsuit on Scottish succession was adjourned at Berwick.

1332: At the Battle of Dupplin Moor, near Perth, Edward Bailliol, a claimant to the Scottish throne, defeated the Regent, Earl of Mar.

1480: Ottoman troops beheaded 800 Christians who refused to convert to Islam at the Battle of Otranto.

1492: Christopher Columbus arrived at the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.

1530: Florence was restored to Medici family in Italy by Holy Roman Empire troops.

1746: Highland dress prohibited by parliament.

1851: The first Hundred Guinea Cup was offered by the Royal Yacht Squadron of Great Britain for a race around the Isle of Wight. It was won by the United States yacht America, which beat the British Aurora. It became known as the America’s Cup.

1851: Isaac Singer patented the sewing machine.

1865: Joseph Lister performed the first surgery using antiseptic.

1877: Thomas Edison drew the sketch of his cylinder with stylus and sent it to a mechanic with the message “Make this”. It came back as the first phonograph recording machine.

1883: The last quagga, a sub-species of the zebra, died at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.

1898: Hawaiian Islands in Pacific were transferred to United States.

1908: The first Model T Ford, affectionately known as the “Tin Lizzie”, was produced, replacing the Model A.

1918: The Allies defeated Germany at the Battle of Amiens, the last great battle on the Western Front.

1929: Flying Officer Richard Waghorn won the Schneider Cup in his Supermarine S6.

1933: Cuban dictator Machado y Morales fled after a military coup.

1936: In a demonstration baseball game at the Olympic Games in Berlin, the Rest of the World defeated USA 6-5.

1940: The Lutwaffe lost 31 aircraft during a bombing raid on British radar stations.

1941: French Marshal Henri Philippe Petain called on his countrymen to give full support to Nazi Germany.

1942: British prime minister Winston Churchill arrived in Moscow to meet Joseph Stalin.

1953: British yachtswoman Ann Davison became the first woman to single-handedly sail across the Atlantic in her boat Felicity Ann.

1953: Soviet Union exploded its first hydrogen bomb in the Pacific – confirmed by a Moscow announcement on 20 August.

1953: The Ionian Islands were struck by a heavy earthquake, resulting in 435 deaths.

1981: IBM introduced its first personal computer, heralding a revolution in small business and home computing.

1990: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein offered to link Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait to Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and other conditions.

2000: The Russian submarine, Kursk, exploded and sank during an exercise in the Barents Sea.

2012: The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games took place in London.

2012: Golfer Rory McIlroy recorded a score of 275 to win the USPGA Championship at Kiawak Island.

BIRTHDAYS

Mark Knopfler OBE, Glasgow-born singer, songwriter and guitarist (Dire Straits), 66; Casey Affleck, actor, 40; Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer, 25; Michael Brunson OBE, television political journalist, 75; Bobby Geddes, footballer and coach, 55; Simon Groom, former Blue Peter presenter, 65; George Hamilton, actor, 76; Pete Sampras, seven-times Wimbledon singles champion, 44; Tanita Tikaram, singer, 46; Lizzie Webb, television fitness expert, 67; François Hollande, president of France, 61; Tyson Fury, boxer, 27; Kid Creole, musician, 65; John Poindexter, former US National Security Advisor, 79.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1753 Thomas Bewick, wood engraver, illustrator and naturalist; 1762 George IV, King of UK; 1881 Cecil B DeMille, film producer; 1910 Jane Wyatt, actress; 1915 Michael Kidd, dancer, choreographer and actor; 1918 Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC, leader of the Dam Busters’ raid; 1920 Peter West, TV presenter and sports commentator; 1922 Fulton McKay, actor; 1925 Ross and Norris McWhirter twins, co-founders of Guinness Book of Records.

Deaths: 1689 Innocent XI, Italian pope; 1827 William Blake, poet and artist; 1848 George Stephenson, engineer who constructed the Rocket and first railway; 1865 Sir William Jackson Hooker, botanist; 1875 Louis II, king of Italy and Roman emperor; 1955 Thomas Mann, author; 1964 Ian Fleming, author and creator of James Bond; 1982 Henry Fonda, actor; 1988 Jean-Michel Basquiat, artist; 1992 John Cage, composer; 2000 Loretta Young, actress; 2014 Lauren Bacall, actress.