Today in history - April 16th

As life finally returns to something resembling normality, the queues return outside Primark, Harry returns to the UK for his grandfather’s funeral and political sleaze returns to the front pages of the newspapers, here’s a quick look at a few other returns from history that occurred today - April 16th.

On April 16th, 1912, American aviation pioneer and movie screenwriter Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel. She returns to a hero’s welcome – and with 200 duty-free Benson & Hedges Gold for her cousin Vinny, a litre of Smirnoff for her uncle Buck and a bottle of Calvin Klein’s Obsession for herself.

On April 16th, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD when he inadvertently absorbs a small amount of it through his fingertips. He returns to Earth 12 hours later after a trip around the solar system on the back of a pink elephant.

On April 16th, 1945, the United States Army liberates the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz), meaning that everybody can return home to their families. Notable inmates of the notorious castle include British fighter ace, double leg amputee and subject of the film Reach for the Sky Douglas Bader, future Conservative MP Airey Neave and Desmond Llewelyn, who played tech whizz Q in 17 Bond films between 1963 and 1999. Neave famously became the first British prisoner-of-war to succeed in escaping from Colditz when he exited via a trap door beneath the stage during a theatrical production. Llewelyn’s attempts at escape - which included the use of false fingerprints, a spike umbrella, a ring camera, shark-inflating pellets, a bagpipe flamethrower, a submarine Lotus Esprit, a cigarette and toothpaste bomb, a wrist-mounted dart gun, a broom radio, a trick briefcase and even a jetpack - all resulted in failure.

On April 16th, 1947, American financier and statesman Bernard Baruch first applies the term ‘Cold War’ to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The stand-off between the two world superpowers lasts for over 40 years, only ending in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent return of most of Eastern Europe to the democratic fold and America's sphere of influence. Aware that his country’s iron-fisted control over its satellite states is coming to an inevitable end, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev nevertheless succeeds in extracting some concessions from U.S. President George Bush, who agrees to exchange Bulgaria and Romania for a pair of 36-inch waist Bootcut 501s, Hungary and Poland for a year’s supply of Wrigley’s spearmint gum and East Germany and Czechoslovakia for a signed photo of Mariah Carey.

On April 16th, 2008, a Pope returns to Washington as Benedict XVI is welcomed by commie-beating George Bush’s son - the imaginatively named George W. Bush -, becoming only the second pontiff to visit the White House (after John Paul II), and the first in 29 years. It also happens to be His Holiness's 81st birthday. The large crowd of well-wishers, rubberneckers and nothing-better-to-doers sings ‘Happy Birthday’, Dubya presents him with a birthday cake in the Oval Office and, between discussions about the Iraq War, illegal immigration into the country and Islamic fanaticism, they manage to have a celebratory game of Pass the Parcel on the White House South Lawn.

Other notable birthdays on April 16th include Rafael Benítez (b. 1960), architect of the most famous return from the dead since Lazarus when his Liverpool team came from 3-0 down at half time to beat AC Milan in the final of the 2005 Champions League in Istanbul, Claire Foy (b.1984), who portrayed the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first season of the hit Netflix series The Crown (and then returned for the second series) and American actor, comedian, producer, talk show host, writer and handy boxer Martin Lawrence (b. 1965). Lawrence’s most famous movie, Big Momma’s House, grossed over $117 million at the U.S. box office and $174 million worldwide, not a bad return for a film with a $30 million budget, a 5.2 IMDB rating and 1 joke (he's a young man who's pretending to be an old woman; return, return, return...).