It happened today – this day in history – January 3

1431: Joan of Arc is handed over to Bishop Pierre Cauchon.

1496: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.

1521: Martin Luther is excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

1543: Death from gangrene of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Portuguese/Spanish conquistador who conquered central America and discovered California.

1777: General George Washington’s revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.

1795: Death of pottery designer and manufacturer Josiah Wedgewood.

1833: Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands.

1861: Delaware rejects a proposal to join the Confederacy.

1889: Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche suffers a mental breakdown after supposedly witnessing a horse flogging.

1892: Birth of author J R R Tolkien in South Africa.

1910: British miners strike for an eight hour working day.

1911: The Turkestan city of Almaty is destroyed by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake.

1921: Turkey makes peace with Armenia.

1925: Benito Mussolini proclaims himself dictator of Italy.

1945: Allies land on west coast of Burma.

1946: William Joyce (Nazi propaganda broadcaster Lord Haw Haw) is hanged for treason.

1956: Fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.

1962: Pope John XXIII excommunicates Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

1967: The Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson refused to be sworn in to the US Army, saying he was a conscientious objector. On the same day, Jack Ruby, who shot and killed JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies in prison of a pulmonary embolism.

1976: Former Beatles roadie Mal Evans is shot and killed by police in LA.

1977: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc.

1980: Naturalist and author Joy Adamson is murdered by her servant.

1987: Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1990: Panama’s leader General Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities.

1991: Eight Iraqi embassy officials are expelled from the UK.

2000: Luciano Pavarotti agreed to pay the Italian authorities £1.6 million after losing an appeal against tax evasion charges.

2002: Zak Foley, bassist with EMF died aged 31 of a drug overdose.

2009: Israeli ground forces invade the Gaza strip.

2010: Phil Taylor successfully defends his PDC World Darts title with a 7–3 victory over Simon Whitlock of Australia.

2014: Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, died of complications from lung disease aged 74.

BIRTHDAYS: Van Dyke Parks, composer/arranger 77; Stephen Stills, musician, 75; John Paul Jones (Baldwin) musician (Led Zeppelin) 74; Victoria Principal, actress, 70; Mel Gibson, actor/director, 64; Guy Pratt, musician (Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets) 58; Michael Schumacher, Formula One legend, 51; Thomas Bangalter, musician (Daft Punk) 45; Lee Bowyer, former footballer, 43; Jonny Evans, footballer, 32; Florence Pugh, actress, 24.