It happened today – this day in history – September 24

1776: The oldest of the classic horse races, the St Leger, was first run at Doncaster.

1848: Branwell Bronte, brother of the Bronte sisters, died. He was the inspiration for the violent drunk, Hindley Earnshaw, in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (1847).

1852: The first hydrogen-filled airship, powered by a 3hp steam engine built by Henri Giffard, made its maiden flight at Versailles.

1853: The Northern Daily Times became the first provincial newspaper in England.

1896: American writer F Scott Fitzgerald was born.

1930: The first performance of Private Lives by Noel Coward took place at the New Phoenix Theatre, London.

1953: The Robe, the first film made in CinemaScope, was premiered in Hollywood.

1960: The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, was launched in Newport, Virginia.

1975: Everest was climbed by the south-west face for the first time by Dougal Haston and Doug Scott.

BIRTHDAYS: Brian Glanville, football writer and novelist, 88; Gerry Marsden, singer (The Pacemakers), 77; Helen Lederer, actress and writer, 65; Theo Paphitis, entrepreneur (Dragons’ Den), 60; Jack Dee, comedian and actor, 58; Ally McCoist, broadcaster and former footballer, 57; Victoria Pendleton, former track cyclist, 39; John Arne Riise, former footballer, 39.