2011 - 8,734 people in fancy dress assembled on Penzance promenade at 13:00 BST. The Guinness World Records later confirmed that Penzance now held the title for the largest gathering of pirates in one place.

2005 - The Glastonbury Festival eventually got under way after suffering serious disruption when storms tore across its site at Pilton, Somerset. Heavy rain flooded parts of the site, with dozens of tents lost under water.

2013 - The RSPB told householders to stop weeding and let the garden grow messy, in its biggest ever campaign to save wildlife by building “homes for nature”.

1948 - The Empire Windrush ship arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex, bringing the first of hundreds of thousands of people who came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 to help rebuild the country after the war.

1996 - Britain and other members of the EU reached an agreement for the phased lifting of the ban on British beef. French farmers, however, blockaded two channel ports.

1996 - English cricket umpire Harold 'Dickie' Bird received a standing ovation by players and spectators at Lords when he took the field to officiate in his final Test Match.

1978 - Ian Botham takes eight wickets against Pakistan. Captain Mike Brearley called him a 'colossus' after a third Test century in England's 364 and 8-34 in Pakistan's second innings.

1963 - Henry Cooper knocked Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) to the floor in round four at Wembley Stadium, London, but by the sixth, with Cooper badly cut, the fight was stopped and Clay remained world heavyweight boxing champion.

1982 - Manchester United footballer Norman Whiteside became the youngest player to appear in the World Cup finals - playing for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia in Spain.