1879 Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was born in St Helens. On this same day in 1895, another outstanding conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent, was born in Ashford, Kent.

1885 Women were first admitted to Oxford University examinations.

1899 Duke Ellington, jazz composer, bandleader and pianist, was born in Washington, DC.

1909 In a revolutionary Budget, Chancellor David Lloyd George introduced a "supertax" of sixpence in the pound for anyone earning more than £5,000 a year to pay for old age pensions and rearmament.

1930 The Academy Award-winning war film classic All Quiet On The Western Front opened in America. Twelve years later, its star Lew Ayres refused to fight in World War 2, declaring himself a conscientious objector.

1980 Film director Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, died aged 80.

1990 Stephen Hendry, at 21, became the youngest world snooker champion by beating Jimmy White 18-12 in the final at Sheffield.

1991 A 145mph cyclone devastated the port of Chittagong in Bangladesh, killing more than 100,000 people and making millions homeless.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Diane Pretty, the terminally ill motor neurone disease sufferer who wanted her husband to be allowed to help her "die with dignity" without fear of prosecution, lost her bid for the backing of the European Court of Human Rights.

BIRTHDAYS: Jeremy Thorpe, former Liberal Party leader, 74; Baroness Chalker, former overseas development minister, 61; Cheryl Kennedy, actress, 56; Anita Dobson, actress, 54; Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, 49; Daniel Day-Lewis, actor, 46; Michelle Pfeiffer, actress, 46; Phil Tufnell, cricketer, 37; Chris Bailey, tennis player, 35; Howard Donald, ex-Take That, 35; Andre Agassi, tennis player, 33; Uma Thurman, actress, 33; Jo O'Meara, pop singer (S Club), 24.