Events: In 1215 at Runnymede, King John set his seal to the Articles of the Barons, resulting in Magna Carta; in 1825 the Lord Mayor of London laid the foundation stone of a new London Bridge; in 1844 Charles Goodyear patented vulcanised rubber; in 1896 a 110ft tsunami struck Sanriku, Japan, sweeping more than 170 miles of coastline and killing thousands; in 1989 the Queen appointed Ronald Reagan an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

Births: Edward the Black Prince, eldest son of Edward III who won a reputation for courage during the 100 Years War, born in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, 1330; Thomas Randolph, poet and dramatist, born in Daventry, 1605; Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, statesman, born in Helston, Cornwall, baptised this day, 1645; Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), illustrator, born in Kennington, 1815; Edvard Grieg, composer, born in Bergen, Norway, 1843; Ion Antonescu, Romanian military leader and Fascist dictator whose participation in the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union resulted in the fall of his regime, born in Pitesti, 1882; Harry Langdon, silent film comedian, Council Bluffs, born in Iowa, 1884; Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB, 1967–82, and General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, 1982-84, born in Nagutskaya, Russia, 1914.

Deaths: Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, killed in London, 1381; Thomas Campbell, poet, Boulogne, 1844; James Polk, 11th American President (1845-49) whose term was marked by the establishment of the 49th parallel as the country’s northern border, died in Nashville, Tennessee, 1849; Mihail Eminescu, poet, Bucharest, 1889; Carl Wernicke, German neurologist who related nerve diseases to specific areas of the brain, best known for his descriptions of the aphasias (disorders interfering with the ability to communicate in speech or writing), died in Thüringer Wald, Germany, 1905, Charles Francis Bush, inventor of the arc lamp, Cleveland, Ohio, 1929; Percy George Herbert Fender, Surrey and England cricketer, Exeter, 1985.