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.

1982 - Erica Rowe became the first sports ‘streaker’ when she ran across the Twickenham ground at the England v Australia rugby match waving her bra in the air. She was arrested, with policemen covering her 40″ breasts with their woefully undersized helmets.

1999 - The Euro currency was introduced and adopted by 11 Member States - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

2017 - More than 1,300 cars were destroyed when the multi-storey car park at the Liverpool Echo Arena burst into flames during the final event of the Liverpool International Horse Show.

1999 - George Harrison is stabbed in the chest when an intruder breaks into his home in Henley-on-Thames. Wife Olivia fights the attacker off by hitting him over the head with a lamp.

1940 - London suffered its most devastating air raid when Germans firebombed the city. Hundreds of fires caused by the exploding bombs engulfed areas of London, but fire fighters showed a valiant indifference to the bombs falling around them and saved much of the city from destruction.

1915 - The British Cabinet decides to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones.

1977 - Thousands of people flocked to UK cinemas to watch the long-awaited blockbuster, Star Wars. Sadly, Carrie Fisher also died on this day in 2016 of a sudden cardiac arrest.