1739 - At Curry's Point in Whitley Bay (Tyne and Wear), Michael Curry was executed for the murder of the landlord at the Three Horseshoes Inn, Hartley. His body was afterwards hung in chains from a gibbit at this spot within sight of the scene of his crime.

1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile at over 300 mph.

1945 - World War II officially ended when Japanese officials, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, surrendered on behalf of their country.

1939 - At dawn on 1st September, Germany made a massive invasion of Poland and bombed Warsaw at 6am, beginning World War II in Europe.

1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul are killed when their car crashes in a Paris underpass while being pursued by paparazzi.

1939 - The great evacuation of children from British cities began. With the Second World War four days away, thousands of youngsters were moved to the country to avoid anticipated German bombing.

2020 - Caeden Thomson, aged 7, who was born 12 weeks early and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, climbed to the top of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain. His parents had previously been told that Caeden would never sit, walk or talk.

2004 - British athlete Kelly Holmes secured a place in Olympic history by winning the 1500m gold in Athens. Holmes also won the 800m earlier and thus became the first Olympic Briton in 84 years to achieve the middle-distance double.

1955 - The first edition of “The Guinness Book of Records” is published (compiled by student twins Norris and Ross McWhirter) in Great Britain; it quickly proves to be a hit. It also holds it's own record as the world's most sold copyrighted book.