1903 – The White Star Liner SS Ionic was launched at the Queen’s Island in Belfast.

1946 – George Best, former Northern Ireland and Manchester United football player was born. When he was once asked what happened to the money he had earned, Best replied – ‘I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.’

1970 – Under pressure from the Home Secretary James Callaghan, the Cricket Council reversed a decision to allow South African cricketers to tour England.

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.

1998 – Northern Ireland voted ‘Yes’ to a new peace agreement designed to end 30 years of violence between Protestants and Catholics.

2013 – British Army soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby was attacked and killed near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, British and of Nigerian descent, ran the off duty soldier down with a car, then used knives and a cleaver to hack him to death. The two men made no attempt to flee, encouraged people to take pictures of them and their victim and told passers-by that they had killed a soldier to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British armed forces.

2014 – More than 15 million British users of the auction site eBay and 233 million eBay users worldwide were warned that they could be at risk of identity theft after their personal data (passwords, names, addresses and telephone numbers) were stolen in the world’s biggest online security breach.

2017 – Twenty two people were killed and more than 200 injured when a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb was detonated as people were leaving Manchester Arena following a concert by the American singer Ariana Grande. The youngest victim, Saffie Roussos, was just eight years old. It was the deadliest terror attack on British soil since the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005.

2018 – An Australian court finds the Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, guilty of covering up sexual abuse in 1970s, the most senior Catholic priest to be convicted.

2019 – British Steel was placed in compulsory liquidation, putting 5,000 jobs at risk and endangering 20,000 in the supply chain.