On this day: Strachan resigns at Celtic National day of Jordan. 1768: Captain Cook set off on his first voyage, to explore the Antipodes. 1840: The first drama school in Britain, Miss Kelly's Theatre (later the Royalty) was opened in Dean Street, London. 1871: The House of Commons passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating public holidays on Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Christmas Day. 1878: Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore was premiered at Opera Comique, London. The Daily Telegraph critic wrote that it was "a frothy production destined soon to subside to nothingness." 1907: The first 24-hour motor race, called the Endurance Derby, was held in Philadelphia. The winning car covered a distance of 791 miles. 1911: President Porfirio Diaz was overthrown in Mexican revolution. 1914: The House of Commons passed Irish Home Rule Bill. 1915: Second Battle of Ypres ended. 1923: Independence of Transjordan under Amir Abdullah was proclaimed. 1935: Jesse Owens, American athlete, set six world records within 45 minutes at Ann Arbor in Michigan. 1951: The spies Burgess and McLean escaped from Britain en route to Moscow. 1953: Chris Chataway set a two-mile run record of eight minutes and 49.6 seconds. 1962: Coventry's new cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, was consecrated, after six years of building. 1967: Celtic, managed by Jock Stein, became the first British football club to win the European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon. 1979: American Airlines DC-10 lost an engine and nose-dived to ground at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, killing all 272 aboard. 1982: Destroyer HMS Coventry was sunk by Argentine Exocet missiles in Falklands war. 1989: Chinese premier Li Peng denied that troops surrounding Peking were deployed to crush student protests. 1994: Camelot, won the contract to run the National Lottery. 2000: Israel withdrew its army from most of the Lebanese territory 22 years after its first invasion in 1978. 2002: A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 broke apart in mid-air and plunged into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people. 2009: Gordon Strachan resigned as manager of Celtic a day after his team lost the Scottish Premier League title to Rangers. Mike Myers, actor, 50; Audrey Baxter, managing director, Baxter of Speyside, 43; Pat Bonner, footballer, 53; Alastair Campbell, journalist and former spin doctor, 56; Julian Clary, comedian and actor, 54; Sir Malcolm Innes of Edingight, Lord Lyon King of Arms 1981-2001, and president, Heraldry Society of Scotland, 75; David Jenkins, athlete, 61; Sir Ian McKellen, actor and director, 74; Paul Weller, musician (The Jam), 55; Johnny Wilkinson, rugby player, 34. Births: 1713 John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Edinburgh-born Prime Minister 1762-63; 1803 Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher; 1881 Béla Bartók, composer; 1892 Josip Tito, Yugoslavia's president; 1913 Richard Dimbleby, broadcaster; 1926 Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter and composer. Deaths: 1934 Gustav Holst, composer; 1954 Robert Capa, war photographer (killed in Vietnam); 2005 Ismail Merchant, producer; 2008 Sydney Pollack, director.