ON THIS DAY
■■ 1582: Pope Gregory XIII announced the new Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar. It was not adopted by Britain until 1752, when a “loss” of 11 days had to be made up.
■■1825: Thomas Bowdler, who took out the “naughty bits” in Shakespeare’s work, died. He gave the English language the word “bowdlerise”.
■■ 1848: France became a republic for the second time, following the abdication of King Louis Philippe.
■■1887: The first two cities to be linked by telephone were Paris and Brussels.
■■ 1905: The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps, 12.3 miles long, was completed.
■■1920: American-born Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons following her election as an MP two months earlier.
■■ 1923: The Flying Scotsman locomotive began hauling scheduled services between London and Scotland.
■■1932: Malcolm Campbell in Bluebird beat his own land speed record at Daytona Beach by reaching 253.96 mph.
■■ 1938: A nylon toothbrush, the first commercial nylon product, went on sale in New Jersey.
■■1991: In their first parliamentary elections under a genuine multiparty system, voters in Lithuania rejected Communist rule.
■■ ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Nearly a million people across the US were left without power following a severe winter storm. ■■BIRTHDAYS: Phil Knight, billionaire co-founder of Nike, 86; Denis Law, commentator/former footballer, 84, above; Paul Jones, blues singer/ broadcaster, 82; John Stapleton, journalist/TV presenter, 78; Alain Prost, racing driver, 69; Billy Zane, actor/director, 58; Lleyton Hewitt, former tennis player, 42.
The recycled paper content of UK newspapers in 2021 was 65.7%