On this day:
1756 Black Hole of Calcutta: 146 British soldiers, Anglo-Indian soldiers and Indian civilians are imprisoned in a small dungeon in Calcutta, India where most die from suffocation and heat exhaustion
1837 Victoria becomes Queen of the United Kingdom
Born on this day:
1952 Vikram Seth, Indian poet and novelist of ‘A Suitable Boy’
Gone on this day:
1966 Georges LemaƮtre, Belgian priest, astronomer, cosmologist