1936 - Edward VIII signed to abdicate the British throne. Edward VIII signed his Declaration of Abdication (in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent) so that he could marry Wallis Simpson.

2012 - The death of the British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore, aged 89. He was the presenter of the BBC’s Sky At Night for over 50 years, from its first airing on 24th April 1957.

1864 - The Clifton Suspension Bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon was finally opened. It was from this bridge that the first modern bungee jumps were taken.

1941 - Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Imperial Japanese Navy used 353 planes to attack the US fleet at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor Naval Base. The attack killed 2,403 people.

2017 - Scientists discovered the most distant supermassive black hole. It’s estimated to be 13 billion light-years away and 800 million times the mass of our Sun.

1958 - Prime Minister Harold Macmillan opened the Preston bypass in Lancashire. It was the first stretch of motorway in Britain and is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.

1952 - A lethal fog began to cover London, lasting for five days, causing the term “smog” to be termed – a combination of smoke and fog.

1926 - Agatha Christie disappeared from her Surrey home and was discovered on the 14th December staying under an assumed name at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. She said she had no recollection of how she came to be in Yorkshire.

1697 - The rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral, the work of Sir Christopher Wren, was opened. The previous cathedral had been destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.