ON THIS DAY

1428: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the “Kingmaker” who was the power behind the throne during the Wars Of The Roses, was born.

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He died at the Battle of Barnet in 1471.

1497: The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in his search for a route to India.

1718: Edward Teach, the English pirate who sailed under the name Blackbeard, was killed off the coast of North Carolina.

1808: Thomas Cook, who pioneered the package holiday, was born in Derbyshire.

1819: Mary Ann Evans, who took the pseudonym George Eliot and wrote The Mill On The Floss, was born in Arbury, Warwickshire.