International Parity at Work Day and International Thank You Day

Who? I hear you asking… Alexander Hamilton’s birthday

Have you heard of the Broadway smash hit Hamilton? That production is based on the story of this man…

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) was born in the British West Indies. He was a founder of the United States who favored a strong central government and co-authored the Federalist Papers, a series of essays in defense of the new Constitution. He was selected by George Washington to be the first Secretary of the Treasury. He died from a gunshot wound received during a duel with Aaron Burr.

• the US Surgeon General Dr Luther Terry publishing a landmark report saying smoking caused lung cancer (1964)

• the death of New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary (2004)

Also:

• 1922 Insulin first used on humans to treat diabetes, on Canadian Leonard Thompson, aged 14

Anniversary of author J.K. Rowling completing the final Harry Potter book in an Edinburgh hotel room (2007)