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This Day in History - 3rd November


1534 England's Parliament met and passed an Act of Supremacy which made King Henry VIII head of the English church, a role formerly held by the Pope.

1718 The birth of John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich who gave his name to the Sandwich Islands, and (allegedly) to the 'sandwich' as a result of his reluctance to leave the gaming tables but requiring a quick and easy to eat snack.

1783 The highwayman John Austin was the last person to be publicly hanged at London's Tyburn gallows.

1838 The Times of India was founded, as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world,

1843 The statue of English Admiral Horatio Nelson was raised to the top of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London. The operation was completed on the 4th when the statue’s two sections were assembled. (Note:- Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe - Norfolk. 

1919 The birth of Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Scottish born journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author, also known for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United Kingdom.

1930 The birth, in Huddersfield, of Brian Robinson, former road racing cyclist of the 1950s and early 1960s. He was the first Briton to finish the Tour de France and the first to win a Tour stage. His successes paved the way for other Britons such as Tom Simpson.

1941 English broadcaster Roy Plomley conceived the idea for 'Desert Island Discs'. The programme was first broadcast on BBC Radio in January 1942.

1942 World War II: The Battle of El Alamein. The British Eighth Army, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, broke through the German front line having taken 9000 prisoners and destroyed 300 tanks.

1948 Lulu (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) the British actress and singer was born, in Glasgow.

1949 The BBC purchased the Shepherd's Bush Studios from the Rank Organisation.

1975 Queen Elizabeth II opened the North Sea pipeline - the first to be built underwater - bringing ashore 400,000 barrels a day to Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

1976 The first £100,000 Premium Bond was won, by an anonymous person in Hillingdon.

1985 Two French agents in New Zealand pleaded guilty to sinking the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior and to the manslaughter of a photographer on board. They were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

1996 The death of Conservative MP Barry Porter narrowed to one seat the majority held by the Conservative Party in Parliament.

2002 Lonnie Donegan, singer, musician, and legendary skiffle king, died at the age of 71.

2014 Will Cornick, aged 16, who murdered Ann Maguire while she was teaching a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds, showed no emotion as he was handed a minimum of 20 years in custody. Ahead of the killing in April 2014, he had also planned to murder two other teachers, including one who was pregnant.