1914 - The new, and at that time the largest Cunard ocean liner, RMS Aquitania weighing 45,647 tons, set sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City.

1954 - Diane Leather, of Birmingham University, became the first woman to run a mile in under 5 minutes. Her time was 4 min 59.6 seconds at the Midland Counties WAAA Championships at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium.

1951 - Crazy People, the first programme of what became The Goon Show, aired. The stars - Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine - were billed in the Radio Times as "Radio's own Crazy Gang 'The Goons'".

1852 - The opening of Grimsby Royal Dock. Grimsby once had the largest fishing fleet in the world. Albert, Prince Consort laid the first stone on 17th April 1849.

1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker was published. The town of Whitby in North Yorkshire, has associations with Bram Stoker as he based much of his Dracula novel here whilst staying in Whitby in 1890.

1967 - Glasgow Celtic Football Club, under the leadership of manager Jock Stein became the first British football club to win the European Cup beating Internacionale of Milan 2-1 at the Estadio Nacionale in Lisbon.

1819 - Princess Alexandrina Victoria was born at Kensington Palace in London, the only daughter of the Duke of Kent. Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in January 1901. Her reign lasted 63 years and 216 days.

1931 - The official opening of Whipsnade Zoo near Dunstable, in Bedfordshire. Animals began arriving at Whipsnade in 1928, with pheasants, llama, wombats and skunks among the first to arrive.

1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, was sentenced to life imprisonment after the judge described him as ‘an unusually dangerous man’. He was found guilty of killing 13 women and the attempted murder of 7 others.