On this day: Battle of Iwo Jima ended

The battle of Iwo Jima, during which American forces captured the island from Japan, ended. Picture: Getty

EVENTS, birthdays and anniversaries on March 26.

1495: Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian appealed to German princes at Diet of Worms to check progress of French in Italy.

1780: The first Sunday newspaper in Britain was published: the British Gazette and Sunday Monitor.

1793: Holy Roman Empire declared war on France.

1820: Individual liberties were curtailed in France.

1839: The Henley Rowing Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, was inaugurated.

1885: The first cremation in Britain took place at Woking Crematorium in Surrey.

1923: Regular daily weather forecasting began on BBC radio.

1925: Paul von Hindenburg became president of Germany.

1926: Romania and Poland formed an alliance.

1931: Treaty of friendship was signed between Iraq and Transjordan.

1934: Driving tests were introduced in Britain.

1937: Popeye the Sailor Man became the first cartoon character to have a statue erected. The residents of Crystal City, Texas, raised one to him because the principal crop grown in the area is his favourite spinach.

1942: Nazis began deportation of Jews to Auschwitz.

1945: Battle of Iwo Jima ended.

1953: In the United States, Doctor Jonas E Salk announced new vaccine to immunise against polio.

1971: Pakistan was reported on verge of civil war as President Yahya Khan outlawed rebellious Awami League.

1972: Britain and Malta signed new seven-year agreement on use of strategic military facilities on the island.

1973: Mrs Susan Shaw became the first woman to set foot on the floor of the 171-year-old London Stock Exchange.

1981: The “Gang of Four” Labour dissidents started the Social Democratic Party with the Limehouse Declaration.

1986: Libyan radio called for Arab suicide squads to strike American embassies and other interests “wherever they may be.”

1988: Iran and Iraq battled for mastery over Kurdistan mountains, just east of Iraqi oil fields.

1989: Muslim guerrillas bombarded Jalalabad in Afghanistan with rockets and artillery shells.

1990: Police fired on demonstrators in Sebokeng, South Africa, killing 11 people and wounding hundreds.

1992: The former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was jailed for six years for raping a beauty queen, Desiree Washington.

1996: Mel Gibson’s film about William Wallace, Braveheart, won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the Oscars in Hollywood.

1997: Thirty-nine members of the Heavens Gate cult committed mass suicide near San Diego.