1963 - Scotsman Jim Clark became the youngest person to win the world motor racing championships, driving Colin Chapman’s Lotus. He was aged 27 and 188 days. The youngest winner to date is Sebastian Vettel (in 2010), aged 23 years and 134 days.

1981 - Comedy series ‘Only Fools and Horses’ starring David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, debuts on British television. The first episode was called “Big Brother”.

1940 - Germany began regular bombing of London (and other British cities) commonly known as ‘The Blitz’ beginning with the London Docks.

1997 - The funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, was held in Westminster Abbey, London. An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the service on television.

2013 - More than 130 vehicles were involved in a series of crashes in thick fog on the Sheppey crossing in Kent. The A249 bridge was closed for more than nine hours.

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.