1932 - Scottish aviator Jim Mollison made the first westbound solo transatlantic flight in a light aircraft when he arrived in New Brunswick after leaving Portmarnock in Ireland 30 hours earlier.

1979 - “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, & John Cleese, premieres in the US (8th November 1979 in the UK). "Wait till Biggus Dickus hears of this!"

2004 - Flash floods devastated the north Cornwall coastal village of Boscastle after the area’s average August rainfall fell in just two hours.

1988 - Glasgow passport office started to issue the new EEC passports. It was the first office to be computerised to dispense the burgundy coloured documents, which replaced the traditional blue ones.

1971 - Kevin Keegan makes his League debut for Liverpool at Anfield, scoring after 12 minutes against Nottingham Forest.

1910 - The death of Florence Nightingale, English nurse who came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers.

1964 - A massive manhunt got under way across Britain after Charlie Wilson, one of the gang involved in the Great Train Robbery, broke out of the high-security Winson Green prison in Birmingham.

2016 - A Greenland shark is declared the oldest vertebrate animal in the world at 392 years by an international team of scientists.

1895 - The first Promenade Concert (The Proms) was held at the Queen’s Hall, London, conducted by Henry Wood.