2000 - The Enigma machine, used by the Germans to encrypt messages in the Second World War, was stolen from Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire and a ransom was demanded for its return.

1972 - The CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) organises a four day demonstration against nuclear arms including a march to Aldermaston.

2002 - Queen Elizabeth, later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, died peacefeully in her sleep aged 101. Elizabeth Bowes Lyon was the daughter of the future Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She was descended from the Royal House of Scotland and married the Duke of York, second son of King George V, in 1923.

1848 - Niagara Falls waterfall stopped flowing due to an ice jam in Lake Erie. The flow stopped for 30 to 40 hours, and it’s the only time it’s recorded to have happened.

1917 - The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was founded. They were Britain’s first official service women. It was the first time women had served in the British Army other than as nurses. The corps was eventually disbanded in 1921.

1966 - The stolen Jules Rimet Trophy (the original World Cup trophy) was found by a dog named Pickles in South London, wrapped in newspaper, after being stolen from an exhibition.

2015 - Richard III (1452 – 1485), the only English monarch without a marked grave, was reinterred at Leicester Cathedral after much wrangling, including High Court action over his final resting place.

1969 - John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono staged their ‘Beds in Peace’ at the Amsterdam Hilton. It lasted until 31st March and each day they invited the world's press into their hotel room, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

1989 - The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil. The ecologically sensitive location, season of the year, and large scale of this spill resulted in one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history.