25 APRIL Anzac Day, commemorating the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 of the heroic Australian and New Zealand troops. It was first celebrated in 1916. Death of Able Seaman William Hughes, of Liverpool, who left a widow with a 2-year old son and a four week old daughter, later to be the mother of Marj. 1214: Birth of St Louis IX, King of France who led a crusade to Egypt. Defeated, he was captured and ransomed in 1250. Eventually he returned to France, where he reorganized the courts and authorized new laws before heading off on another crusade, in 1270, from which he would not return. 1284: Birth of King Edward II, who became the first heir-apparent to bear the title Prince of Wales. King from 1307, he ruled during a period of pestilence, famine, defeats at the hands of the Scots and intrigues, and was eventually murdered. 1559: Birth of Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England who led his ‘Ironsides’ in the English Civil War against the ‘Roundheads’ of King Charles I. Cromwell’s victories enabled him to have the King tried and beheaded, after which he established a republic. 1660: Ironically, on the 63rd anniversary of the birth of Oliver Cromwell, a Convention parliament in London voted for the restoration of Charles II. 1719: The publication in London of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. 1792: Although in use since the Middle Ages, Dr Guillotin much improved the device for beheading people. On this day, his new model was used in Paris to remove the head of a highwayman. 1848: The first Royal yacht, Victoria and Albert, was launched at Pembroke Docks, after suffering serious damage when first floated. 1859: Ferdinand de Lesseps saw his great plan initiated when work began on the 100-mile Suez Canal. He supervised the project until its opening on 16 November 1869. 1874: Guglielmo Marconi Born - radio pioneer 1900: Bishop Chavasse consecrated at York as Lord Bishop of Liverpool. 1920: Percy Toplis, who had led a mutiny in the British Army, and then deserted, shot and killed a taxi driver near Salisbury Barracks. He followed this crime with a succession of robberies, until he was finally captured after one of the biggest manhunts of its time, which ended with him dying in a hail of police bullets. 1926: Toscanini conducted the first performance of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot. The composer had died before completing his masterpiece, and it was left to Franco Alfano to write the final missing section based on the composer’s notes. 1945: The United Nations Organization (UNO) was planned at a meeting of 46 nations at the Paris Opera. 1952: Edward Devlin and Alfred Burns hung at Walton for murder of widow Mrs Rimmer. 1953: The British monthly magazine Nature published an article by US genetic researcher, James Dewey Watson, and an English geneticist, Francis H C Crick, introducing their work on DNA. 1956: Rocky Marciano, US world heavyweight champion since 1952, retired unbeaten. 1959: The St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, opens to shipping. 1964: The head of the famous Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbour was sawn off and stolen. 1969: The 21-year-old BBC radio serial Mrs Dale’s Diary ended. 1980: The US made a disastrous attempt to rescue hostages from the US Embassy in Tehran. A helicopter collided with a fuel tanker aircraft when they landed secretly near the city, and the covert mission had to be aborted. 1983: In Germany, Stern magazine published the first extracts from the so-called Hitler Diaries, which were also published by the Sunday Times in Britain. Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper said they were authentic, but they were later found to be forgeries by Konrad Kujau. 1988: In Israel, a monkey and his owner were arrested by police after they both got drunk on cocktails in a hotel bar. The owner bought the cocktails. 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the space shuttle Discovery and began sending back pictures on 20 May 1990. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.351 / Virus Database: 197 - Release Date: 19/04/02