It happened today – this day in history – August 1

30BC: Marc Antony (Marcus Antonius) commits suicide aged 53.

10BC: Birth of Emperor Claudius (Tberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus).

527: Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

1485: Henry Tudor’s (future King Henry VII) army sails to England.

1498: Christopher Columbus lands on “Isla Santa” (Venezuela).

1714: Georg Ludwig becomes King George I of England on the death of Queen Anne.

1717: Nicholas Rowe is appointed Poet Laureate by George I.

1774: Chemist Joseph Priestly discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state.

1781: The British army under general Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, Virginia.

1793: France becomes the first country to use the metric system.

1798: The Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta .

1819: Birth of author Herman Melville in New York City.

1820: London’s Regent’s Canal opens.

1831: London Bridge opens to traffic.

1834: Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire.

1842: The Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames opens.

1870: The Irish Land Act gives rights to tenants of landlords in Ireland.

1886: Britain annexes Kermadec-Island near New Zealand.

1893: Henry Perky and William Ford patent shredded wheat.

1903: Death of Calamaty Jane (Martha Jane Canary) aged 51.

1909: François Faber of Luxembourg becomes the first foreigner to win the Tour de France.

1914: Kaiser Willhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

1918: British troops enter Vladivostok.

1936: The Olympic Games are opened by Adolf Hitler in Berlin.

1941: The first Jeep is produced.

1942: Race riots in Harlem, New York.

1943: Another race riot in Harlem, New York.

1944: The Polish Underground Army begins the battle to liberate Warsaw from the Nazis. On the same day, Anne Frank makes her last diary entry.

1950: King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, Baudouin becomes king.

1953: Fidel Castro is arrested in Cuba.

1954: The South African Natives Resettlement Act comes into being, empowers the Government to remove Africans from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg.

1960: Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France. On the same day, Islamabad is declared as the federal capital of Pakistan.

1962: Failed assassination attempt on President Nkrumah of Ghana.

1963: Arthur Ashe becomes first African-American tennis player to be named in the US Davis Cup team.

1965: Lotus driver Jim Clark wins the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

1966: Sniper Charles Whitman kills 16 and wounds 31 at the University of Texas before being shot by police. On the same day, Yakubu Gowon becomes Nigerian Head of State after a military coup.

1969: The three-day Atlantic City Pop Festival began with acts including B.B. King, Janis Joplin, Santana, Dr John, Procol Harum, Iron Butterfly, Little Richard, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Byrds and The Mothers of Invention. Joni Mtchell ran off crying during her third song because the crowd were not paying attention. On the same day, Mariner 6 sends close-up photos of Mars.

1970: The film Performance, starring Mick Jagger in his acting debut, had its UK premiere in London.

TV on this day:

1971: Apollo 15 astronauts uncover a rock which may date back to the origin of the Moon. On the same day, the Concert For Bangladesh, organised by George Harrison to aid victims of famine and war in Bangladesh took place at New York’s Madison Sq Garden featuring Harrison, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton.

Singles chart:

1. Get It On – T Rex
2. Never Ending Song Of Love – The New Seekers
3. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep – Middle Of The Road
4. Devil’s Answer – Atomic Rooster
5. Co Co – The Sweet
6. Me And You And A Dog Named Boo – Lobo
7. Tom Tom Turnaround – New World
8. I’m Still Waiting – Diana Ross
9. Monkey Spanner – Dave And Ansell Collins
10. Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who

1972: The first article exposing the Watergate scandal by Woodward and Bernstein appears in The Washington Post.

1976: Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda is badly burned and left in a critical condition when his Ferrari crashes during the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. On the same day, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton divorce for the second time.

1983: Actor Peter Arne is bludgeoned to death in London aged 62.

1985: Russian KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko defects to the US in Rome, naming Americans Ronald Pelton and Edward Lee Howard as KGB agents.

1986: Tennis ace John McEnroe marries actress Tatum O’Neal.

1987: Mike Tyson outpoints Tony Tucker in 12 rounds in a heavyweight boxing unification matchup in Las Vegas. Tyson is the first to own all three major belts WBA, WBC and IBF at the same time. On the same day, In New Zealand, the Maori Language Act comes into force, making te reo Māori an official language of New Zealand. Also, actress Pola Negri dies aged 92.

1989: Charlotte Marion Hughes from Cleveland became Britain’s oldest person as she celebrated her 112^th birthday.

1990: UB40 are deported from the Seychelles after police discover marijuana in their hotel rooms. On the same day, Iraq pulls out of talks with Kuwait.

1992: Linford Christie, 32, becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold medal in Barcelona.

1993: England wins the women’s cricket World Cup for the first time since the inaugural event in 1973 with a 67 run victory over New Zealand at Lord’s.

Album chart:

1. Promises and Lies – UB40
2. Zooropa – U2
3. Automatic For The People – REM
4. Bigger, Better, Faster, ore? – 4 Non Blondes
5. Pocket Full Of Kryptonite – The Spin Doctors
6. Always – Michael Ball
7. Take That & Party – Take That
8. Emergency On Planet Earth – Jamiroquai
9. Unplugged And Seated – Rod Stewart
10. Evolution – Oleta Adams

1996: George R R Martin publishes the epic fantasy novel “A Game of Thrones”, the first in his series “A Song of Ice and Fire”. On the same day, Michael Johnson wins the 200m at the Atlanta Olympics in a world record 19.32 seconds to become the first man to complete the 200m-400m double.

1997: The World Athletics Championships open in Athens, Greece.

1999: Petronas Towers officially opened in Kuala Lumpur as the world’s tallest building at the time.

2003: The Hutton Inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly begins.

2012: Eight female badminton doubles players are disqualified from the Olympics in London for attempting to manipulate the draw by throwing matches. On the same day, Great Britain collects its first ever Olympic gold medal in women’s rowing with Heather Stanning and Helen Glover in the coxless pairs. Also, Bradley Wiggins’ Olympics cycling time trial victory gives him the most aggregate medals (7) of any British Olympian (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze).

2015: Entertainer Cilla Black died at her holiday home near Marbella, Spain, aged 72. On the same day, Declan Donnelly marries manager Ali Astall at St Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Elswick, Tyne and Wear.

2018: The Swedish crown jewels are stolen from Strängnäs Cathedral, Stockholm.

2019: Death of documentary film maker D A Pennebaker aged 94.

BIRTHDAYS: Paddy Moloney, musician (The Chieftains) 82; Robert Cray, guitarist/singer, 67; Trevor Berbick, boxer, 65; Adrian Dunbar, actor, 62; Paul Gray, bassist (Eddie and the Hot Rods) 62; Joe Elliott, singer (Def Leppard) 61; Chuck D, (Carlton Ridenhour) rapper (Public Enemy) 60; Suzi Gardner, guitar/vocals (L7) 60; Coolio (Artis Ivey Jr) rapper, 57; Amber Rudd, politician, 57; Adam Duritz, singer-songwriter (Counting Crows) 56; Sir Sam Mendes, director, 55; Graham Thorpe, cricketer, 51; Kenwyn House, guitarist (Reef) 50; David James, goalkeeper, 50; Nwankwo Kanu, footballer, 44; Jason Momoa, actor, 41; Honeysuckle Weeks, actor, 41; Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer, 36.