On this day: Battle of the Clans on the North Inch

28 September 490BC: The original marathon was run by a messenger who hot-footed it to Athens from the Battle of Marathon, in which the Greeks defeated the Persians. “Rejoice, we conquer,” he gasped then dropped dead. 1347: Calais surrendered to the English in the Hundred Years War. 1396: Battle of the Clans on the North Inch at Perth, when the feuding Kay and Chattan clans chose 30 of their men to fight each other armed only with swords and bows and arrows. 1665: Thousands fled from London, as news broke that 7,000 had died in one week from bubonic plague in the worst epidemic since the Black Death. 1745: The anthem God Save the King was first performed at Drury Lane Theatre, London, when news reached the south of the Jacobites’ victory over the Hanoverian forces at the Battle of Prestonpans. 1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became Britain’s first practising woman physician and surgeon. 1894: The first Marks & Spencer’s shop in Britain opened in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. 1923: The Radio Times magazine was first published. 1924: Lieutenants Smith and Nelson, in US army Douglas aircraft, completed the first flight round the world, a total of 26,103 miles with 57 stops. 1948: The first British motor racing Grand Prix at Silverstone took place. 1961: Syria seceded from the United Arab Republic. 1978: Pieter Botha became prime minister of South Africa. 1989: The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Information Bureau announced it had discovered a cure for a hangover – celery. 1992: Lord Tebbit accused the Germans of a conspiracy to support the franc while allowing sterling to crash out of the ERM. 1994: More than 900 people drowned when the ferry Estonia sank in the Baltic. 1996: At Ascot, Frankie Dettori became the first jockey to ride all seven winners at a race meeting in Britain. 2000: Ariel Sharon visited the al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem. 2008: Spanish banking giant Santander announced it was to take over the £20 billion savings business and branch network of troubled Bradford & Bingley. BIRTHDAYS Brigitte Bardot, French actress and animal rights campaigner, 79; Peter Brookes, cartoonist, 70; Jim Diamond, Scottish singer, 60; Hilary Duff, American actress and singer, 26; Janeane Garofalo, actress, 49; Mika Hakkinen, racing driver, 45; Sir Jeremy Isaacs, general director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1988-97, 81; Ben E King, American soul singer (the Drifters), 75; Helen Shapiro, singer, 67; Jon Snow, broadcaster, 66; Mira Sorvino, actress, 46; Naomi Watts, actress, 44. ANNIVERSARIES Births: 1573 Caravaggio, artist; 1768 John “Gentleman” Jackson, pugilist; 1888 Herman Cyril McNeile (“Sapper”), creator of Bulldog Drummond; 1902 Ed Sullivan, American TV presenter; 1909 Al Capp, cartoonist; 1916 Peter Finch, actor; 1924 Marcelo Mastroianni, Italian film star; 1952 Sylvia Kristel, Dutch actress. Deaths: AD929 King Wenceslaus of Bohemia (martyred); 1582 George Buchanan, historian of Scotland, tutor of James VI; 1895 Louis Pasteur, chemist; 1953 Edwin Hubble, astronomer; 1959 Gerard Hoffnung, humorist, artist, musician; 1960 Sylvia Pankhurst, feminist; 1964 Arthur “Harpo” Marx, comic; 1966 Andre Breton, painter; 1973 WH Auden, poet; 1978 Pope John Paul I; 1989 Ferdinand Marcos, former president of Philippines.