On this day: Hugh Grant was arrested in Hollywood

1693: The Ladies’ Mercury, the first magazine for women, was published.

1778: The Liberty Bell was moved back to Philadelphia after the British Army left.

1857: Massacre of Cawnpore, India, where British soldiers and male residents were executed after promise of safe conduct. 1858: Treaty of Tientsin ended war between Britain and China, whereby China opened additional ports to British commerce and legalised opium trade.

1937: Duke of Windsor married Mrs Wallis Warfield Simpson in France.

1941: The BBC adopted the opening four notes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony as a Morse message of victory to give hope to Nazi-occupied Europe.

1945: Charter establishing United Nations was signed in San Francisco by 50 nations.

1954: The world’s first atomic power station, at Obninsk near Moscow, went into production.

1967: Britain’s first cash dispenser was opened by Barclay’s Bank in Enfield.

1971: The first national Scrabble competition was held in London and won by a teacher, Stephen Haskell.

1970: Alexander Dubcek was expelled from Czechoslovak Communist Party.

1982: Israel called for surrender of 6,000 Palestinian guerrillas trapped in West Beirut as death toll of invasion reached 10,000 Lebanese and Palestinians.

1990: The European Commission ordered British Aerospace to repay £44.4 million of “sweeteners” tied to the sale of the Rover Group.

1991: Tanks and helicopters clashed in first fighting of Yugoslav civil war as federal army units invaded Slovenia.

1993: The US launched a missile attack on Iraqi intelligence posts in Baghdad in retaliation for an alleged plot to assassinate President George Bush. Eight people died.

1996: Actor Hugh Grant was arrested in Hollywood and charged with indecent conduct with a prostitute in a public place.

1996: John McCallion, MP, resigned from Labour’s front bench in protest over the party’s proposed referendum on a Scottish Parliament.

2007: On his first day as prime minister after taking over from Tony Blair, Gordon Brown promised a “politics of change”, made sweeping Cabinet changes in which the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, and the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, lost their jobs, and started a radical reorganisation of Whitehall.

2009: Two Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary groups announced they had completed decommissioning. The UVF and Red Hand Commando said their weapons and explosives were “totally and irreversibly beyond use”.

2012: The Queen and Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness shook hands for the first time. The meeting took place during the monarch’s two-day visit to Northern Ireland as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour.

BIRTHDAYS

Wendy Alexander, former Labour MSP 1999-2011, 51; Isabelle Adjani, French film actress and singer, 59; Michael Ball, British actor and singer, 52; Tommy Cannon, British comedian, 76; Bruce Johnston, American pop singer (Beach Boys), 72; Mary McAleese, eighth president of Ireland 1997-2011, 63; Tobey Maguire, actor, 39; Baron (Ian) Lang of Monkton, secretary of state for Scotland 1990-5, 74; Kevin Pietersen, English cricketer, 34; Eric Richard, British actor, 74; Meera Syal MBE, British writer and actress, 53; Vera Wang, American fashion designer, 65; Hugh Wood, British composer, 82; Jo Frost, English nanny and TV personality (Supernanny), 43; Nico Rosberg, German-Finnish F1 racing driver, 29.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1846 Charles Parnell, leader of the Home Rule movement in Ireland; 1880 Helen Keller, American blind and deaf scholar and writer; 1888 Antoinette Perry, American actress who gave name to “Tony” awards; 1924 Michael Evan Victor Baillie, 3rd Baron Burton; 1937 Robin Hall, folk singer; 1938 Alan Coren, journalist and broadcaster; 1945 Catherine Walker, French fashion designer.

Deaths: 1816 Samuel Hood, admiral; 1829 James Smithson, English scientist whose bequest established Smithsonian Institute in Washington; 1843 John Murray, publisher; 1844 Joseph Smith, founder, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (murdered); 1947 Richard Bennett, Canadian Conservative prime minister 1932-5; Cubby Broccoli, Bond film producer; 2001 Jack Lemmon, actor; 2001 Joan Sims, actress; 2002 John Entwistle, rock musician (The Who); 2006 Robert Carrier, chef and cookery writer.