1995 - A bill which would ban hunting with hounds in England and Wales became the first such proposal to get a second reading in parliament.The Hunting Act 2004 came into force on February 18, 2005.

1969 - Concorde's first flight took place when the 001 prototype took off from Toulouse in France. When the French test pilot landed Concorde for the first time, he simply said 'The big bird flies…'. The British-made prototype 002 flew from Bristol's Filton Airfield in the UK a few weeks later.

1998 - James Cameron’s Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, became the first film to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. It was the highest-grossing film of all time until Avatar (2009) surpassed it.

1975 - In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.

1939 - Built in 1862, the Borley Rectory in Essex which was famously described as the “most haunted house in England” was badly damaged by fire. It was finally demolished in 1944.

1935 - Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detection and ranging) at Daventry, Northamptonshire. This significantly contributed to winning the Battle of Britain and changed the outcome of World War Two.

1939 - The first Anderson air raid shelters appeared. Between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

1989 - An X-ray examination of a 150 million-year-old fossil egg discovered in Utah has revealed the outlines of what probably is the oldest dinosaur embryo ever found in the Northern Hemisphere.

1965 - The death of Stan Laurel, film comedian, born in Ulverston (which was then in Lancashire but now lies in Cumbria) in 1890. In 1961 Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy.