At the age of 87

• 25-January-1981 : Chiang Ching ('Madame Mao') is sentenced to death in the People's Republic of China.
• 09-March-1967 : Joseph Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defects to the USA via the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
• 25-July-1959 : The SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Bleriot's first crossing by heavier than air craft.