1932 - American Amelia Earhart landed in Derry, Ireland, after taking off from Newfoundland the previous day. It was the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.

1913 - The first Chelsea Flower Show was held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, attracting around 200,000 visitors. The show started in 1827, moving to larger venues until it settled in Chelsea.

2014 - Britain's longest-serving postmistress retired, after 61 years in the job. Esther Brauer, 83, ran the business, first from her home in Kylesku in Sutherland, and for the last 31 years from a wooden shed in her garden.

1991 - Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield was the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission.

1899 - Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the newly named Victoria & Albert Museum, and proclaimed, "I trust it will remain for ages a monument of discerning liberty and a source of refinement and progress".

1943 - The famous ‘Dam Busters’ raid by the 617 Squadron of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson breached the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany using the ‘bouncing’ bombs developed by Dr Barnes Wallis.

1921 - The formation of the British Legion by Earl Haig (known as 'Butcher of the Somme').. It brought together four National Organisations of ex-Service men that had established themselves after the Great War.

1894 - Blackpool Tower first opened to the public who paid a 6d (six pence) entrance fee, six pence more for a ride in the lifts to the top, and a further six pence for the circus.

1949 - Britain’s first jet bomber, the Canberra, was given its first test flight at Warton in Lancashire and was flown by Wing Cdr. RP Beaumont.