1939 - Germany's invasion of Poland at dawn, marked by air attacks on Warsaw around 6:00 AM, initiated World War II in Europe. This event, which saw German forces using their new Blitzkrieg tactics, also triggered declarations of war against Germany by France and Great Britain.

1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed, and their driver were killed in a car crash in the Place de l'Alma underpass in Paris, France. Her death sparked an outpouring of public grief in the United Kingdom and the world, and her televised funeral was watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people.

1939 - The great evacuation of children from British cities began. With the Second World War four days away, thousands of youngsters were moved to the country to avoid anticipated German bombing.

2012 - Paralympian Margaret Maughan lit the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in London at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

2016 - The last remaining 22 branches of BHS closed, bringing an end to 88 years of British retail history. The department store’s collapse in April led to the loss of 11,000 jobs.

1883 - Four enormous explosions almost completely destroy the island of Krakatoa (Indonesia) and cause years of climate change. The biggest explosion the world has ever known, it was an estimated 13,000 times greater than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

2017 - Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets of Barcelona due to a terrorist attack. The attack happened on August 17, when a van smashed into nearby walkers. Thirteen people were killed, while over 100 were injured.

1997 - Nintendo released the first-person shooter, GoldenEye 007, for the Nintendo 64. The game opened the FPS genre to the console market. It’s often credited for paving the way for the popularity of the Halo and Call of Duty franchises.

2016 - Astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-like planet named Proxima b. The planet orbits the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, 4.22 lightyears away.