1980 - Nigel Short, age 14, from Bolton, Lancashire, became the youngest International Master in the history of chess. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989.

1985 - The C5 electric car, with a top speed of 15 mph (the fastest allowed in the UK without a driving licence) was demonstrated by its inventor, Sir Clive Sinclair. It retailed for £399 but only 17,000 were ever sold.

2016 - The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends.

2004 - The liner RMS Queen Mary 2, was named by Queen Elizabeth II. At the time of her construction in 2003 she was the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship ever built, and at 151,400 gross tons, she was also the largest.

1990 – The iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa leaned “too far,” which resulted in its closure. The tower’s bells were removed to reduce the weight, and it was reopened to the public on December 15, 2001.

1977 - The music publisher EMI ended its contract with the notorious punk rock group, Sex Pistols, after reports the band had vomited and spat their way on to a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport bound for the Netherlands.

1993 - The oil tanker ‘Braer’ was wrecked in hurricane force winds off the Shetland Islands, discharging large amounts of crude oil.

1967 - Donald Campbell, 46 year old son of Sir Malcolm Campbell, died in his attempt to break his own world water speed record on Coniston Water in the Lake District.

2014 - Along the whole of Wales’ coastline dozens of roads were closed and the rail network was also badly affected as storm surges brought flooding chaos around Wales’ coast.