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 - Scientists discovered the oldest living Greenland Shark, with an estimated age of 392 years old. The international team of scientists declared the shark the longest-living vertebrate in the world.

2017 - A century-old fruit cake was discovered in Antarctica that was “almost edible.” The cake was found wrapped in paper inside a tin, and it is believed to have been made by the British biscuit company Huntley & Palmers.

1984 - Daley Thompson of Great Britain scores 8,797 points to win the Olympic decathlon in Los Angeles and broke the world record for the event four times. He was unbeaten in competition for nine years.

1940 - The German Luftwaffe began a series of daylight air raids on Britain and so began The Battle of Britain which would continue into the following October.

1995 - British athlete Jonathan Edwards twice broke his own world triple jump record, becoming the first man to clear 18 metres - whilst winning the gold medal in the World Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.

2012 - Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory died, aged 98.

1996 - It was reported that the long running UK TV music show "Top Of The Pops" had hit rock bottom with it's lowest audience ever - only two and a half million viewers. In its heyday the show attracted over 17 million viewers each week.