1943 - The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history between the forces of Germany and the Soviet Union, involving some 6,000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops, and 4,000 aircraft, ended in defeat for Germany.

2013 - A military funeral was held for 25-year-old Fusilier Lee Rigby at Bury Parish Church in Greater Manchester. He was killed on the 22nd May 2013 outside Woolwich Barracks by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.

1900 - Charlotte Cooper from Ealing in Middlesex won a gold medal in the women’s tennis singles tournament in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. She also won a gold medal in the mixed doubles, making her the first individual female Olympic champion.

1940 - World War II: The first in a long series of German bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which lasted three and a half months, began.

1984 - A significant fire, initiated by a lightning strike, caused substantial damage to York Minster, with estimated repair costs exceeding £2.25 million. The fire, which began in the early hours of July 9th, ravaged the south transept, requiring over four years for restoration.

1996 - A patent was filed by two British scientists to use genetically engineered mosquitoes to immunize their victims against malaria by transferring a protein in their saliva.

2013 - Andy Murray won his first Wimbledon title and ended Britain’s 77 year wait for a men’s champion with a victory over world number one Novak Djokovic. The Scot won 6-4, 7-5 and 6-4.

1988 - An explosion aboard the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha, off the coast of Aberdeen, resulted in the loss of 167 lives. It is the world’s deadliest ever oil rig accident.

2012 - The Shard, Western Europe’s tallest building to date standing at a height of 309.6 meters (1,016 feet) and ‘a gleaming feat of glass and gravity-defying engineering’, was officially unveiled in London.