It happened today – this day in history – February 5

1649: The Prince of Wales is proclaimed King Charles II of Great Britian by Covenanter Parliament of Scotland.

1788: Birth of Robert Peel, founder of the Conservative Party and founder of the modern police force.

1811: Prince George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, is appointed as Prince-Regent after his father King George III is recognized as insane due to mental illness.

1865: Battle of Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, in the American Civil War.

1870: The first motion picture is shown to a theatre audience in Philadelphia.

1887: Guiseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello” premieres at La Scala in Italy.

1900: The US and the UK sign a treaty for the Panama Canal.

1914: Birth of author William S Burroughs.

1922: Reader’s Digest magazine is first published.

1931: Malcolm Campbell sets world land speed record speed of 246.08 mph driving his Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach, Florida.

1936: “Modern Times”, silent film directed by, written by and starring Charlie Chaplin is released.

1940: Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record “Tuxedo Junction”.

1945: US troops under General Douglas MacArthur enter Manilla.

1953: Sweet rationing imposed in WWII ends in Britain.

1957: Bill Haley and The Comets arrive at Southampton from the US.

1968: A fishing trawler from Hull sinks off the coast of Iceland.

1971: Apollo 14 lands on the moon. Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell walk on Moon for four hours.

1974: British miners strike in reaction to the three-day week.

1976: Comets saxophonist Rudy Pompilli died of lung cancer aged 52.

1982: Laker Airways collapses owing £270million.

1991: A Michigan court bars Dr Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.

1997: O J Simpson is found liable in the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in a civil court action.

2004: Twenty-three Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay.

2013: The House of Commons votes in favour of same-sex marriage.

2015: Gary Glitter is convicted of child sex abuse charges in London.

2017: Black Sabbath play their last concert in their home town Birmingham.

2019: Pope Francis admits for the first time that clerics have sexually abused nuns.

BIRTHDAYS: Barrett Strong, songwriter, 79; Michael Mann, director, 77; Al Kooper, musician, 75; Charlotte Rampling, actress, 74; Christopher Guest, actor/director, 72; Barbara Hershey, actress, 72; Sven-Göran Eriksson, football manager, 72; Tom Wilkinson, actor, 72; David Sullivan, co-owner West Ham Utd, 71; Jennifer Jason Leigh, actress, 58; Duff (Michael) McKagan, bassist (Guns n Roses) 56; Laura Linney, actress, 56; José María Olazábal, golfer, 54; Bobby Brown, singer, 51; Michael Sheen, actor, 51; Sir Ben Ainslie, Olympic sailor, 43; Jo Swinson, housewife, 40; Carlos Tevez, footballer, 36; Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer, 35; Neymar, footballer, 28.