28 JANUARY 1457: Birth of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty in England. He restored order after the Wars of the Roses. 1547: Death of Henry VIII, exactly 100 years after the birth of his father Henry VII. His only son, Edward VI, succeeded him. 1596: Death from dysentery of Sir Francis Drake. He died aboard his ship, off Porto Bello. 1706: Birth of John Baskerville, the English printer who gave his name to the 1763 edition of the Bible. 1807: London’s Pall Mall was the first street in any city to be illuminated by gaslight. 1833: Birth of General Charles George Hamilton Gordon, British defender of Khartoum. 1841: Birth in Wales of Sir Henry Morton Stanley (John Rowlands), explorer and journalist. The New York Herald sent him to search for Dr Livingstone, who had disappeared in Africa. 1853: Birth of José Marti, Cuban poet and revolutionary leader who fought against Spanish rule. 1863: Liverpool Central Relief & Charity Society formed. 1873: Birth of ‘Colette’ (Sidonie Gabrielle Claudine Colette), the French novelist and dancer. 1884: Birth of Auguste Piccard, the Swiss scientist who at various times was the joint holder of altitude records (in balloons) and the record for ocean descent. 1887: Birth in Poland of Artur Rubinstein, the pianist, who was made an honorary KBE at the age of 90. 1896: Walter Arnold of Kent was the first British motorist to receive a speeding fine, for exceeding 2 mph in a built-up area. He was doing 8 mph. 1896: Emile Grubbe of Chicago administered the first radiation treatment for carcinoma of the breast to Mrs Rose Lee. 1918: The Canadian army surgeon John McCrae was killed in action. His poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ inspired the use of poppies on Remembrance Day: ‘...If ye break faith with us who die/We shall not sleep, though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.’ 1928: Birth of (Leonard) James Callaghan, former Labour Party leader and British Prime Minister. 1930: End of Miguel Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship in Spain. 1932: The Japanese occupied Shanghai at the beginning of a full-scale invasion of China. 1953: 19-year-old Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison. On 2 November 1952, he and 16-year-old Christopher Craig were attempting to rob a confectioner’s warehouse in Croydon when they were caught by police. It was alleged that Bentley urged Craig to fire his gun, injuring one policeman and killing another. Both boys were found guilty of murder. Craig, too young to hang, was imprisoned, while Bentley was sentenced to death despite considerable public protest. 1983: Billy Fury, Liverpool born singer died. 1965: Crown Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands announced her plans to marry a German. The protests that ensued would mar her wedding day the following year. 1985: The Clive Ponting case opened in London. Ponting, a civil servant, was accused of leaking secret information on the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands war. He was found not guilty, ‘much to my surprise’. 1986: The US space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off from Cape Canaveral, killing five men and two women. The next shuttle would not fly until 29 September 1998. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.317 / Virus Database: 176 - Release Date: 21/01/02