1957 - The Soviet Union sent a dog into space aboard spacecraft Sputnik II. The dog called Laika was the first living organism to be sent into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

2012 - It was announced that more than 100 post boxes, painted gold to celebrate the success of Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes, would remain gold on a permanent basis.

1611 - William Shakespeare had his first known performance of “The Tempest.” The performance was at the Whitehall Palace and performed for James I and his English Royal Court.

The Halloween holiday has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”), a pagan religious celebration to welcome the harvest at the end of summer, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

1990 - English and French tunnellers met for the first time underneath the English Channel during the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

2013 - The Lonely Planet Guide named Yorkshire as one of the top places in the world to visit. It put the area third in the top 10 world regions, behind destinations in India and Australia.

2014 - 105 year old Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 children, most of them Jews, from the Nazis was awarded the Czech Republic’s highest state honour, the Order of the White Lion. He died a year later at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough aged 106.

2016 - A letter John Lennon wrote to the Queen explaining why he was returning his MBE was found tucked in a record sleeve from a £10 car boot haul. It was later valued at £60,000.

1918 - Stonehenge was given over to the British Government by its private landowner. Cecil Chubb donated the monument to the government and was the last private individual to own Stonehenge.