1948 – Australian cricketer Don Bradman played his last Test match innings at the Oval Cricket Ground in London. After receiving a standing ovation, he was bowled out for nought – blinded, it’s claimed, by the tears in his eyes.

1948 – The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in London.

1960 – The birth of Sarah Brightman, English soprano and former wife of Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Her duet ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sold 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

1967 – All UK offshore pirate radio stations were declared illegal when the UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act became law at midnight On This Day, but Radio Caroline continued to broadcast until March 1968.

1969 – The first British troops were deployed in Northern Ireland to restore order.’ Operation Banner’, as it was named, was initially to be a limited operation but it lasted for 38 years.

1979 – John Stonehouse, the former government minister who faked his own death, was freed from prison.

1979 – The Fastnet Yacht Race was struck by tragedy when Force 10 gales and mountainous seas claimed the lives of 15 sailors and 3 rescuers. It was the worst disaster in the history of ocean yacht racing and the biggest rescue operation launched by UK authorities since the Second World War . 75 boats capsized, 5 sank and 24 crews abandoned ship. Only 85 yachts out of the 303 entries reached the finish line.

1984 – The death (aged 89) of J.B. Priestley, English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He was born in Manningham, Bradford and there is a statue to him outside the National Media Museum in Bradford.

1990 – A survey revealed that many people had yet to pay anything towards the new community charge – or poll tax. The tax replaced domestic rates in Scotland from 1989, prior to its introduction in England and Wales from 1990. In 1993 the charge was replaced by Council Tax, two years after the abolition of the ‘poll tax’ was announced.

2001 – The IRA said it was withdrawing a proposal it had made the previous week about putting its weapons beyond use.

2013 – Mark Sutton, the 42 year old British stuntman who parachuted into the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as James Bond, was killed in a wingsuit flying accident in the Swiss Alps. The 2012 stunt had shown ‘James Bond’ being summoned to the Palace before skydiving with the Queen (fellow stuntman Gary Connery) into the Olympic stadium with Union-Jack emblazoned parachutes.

2014 – After more than a century in business, Clyde based Ferguson Shipbuilders, Scotland’s last remaining commercial shipyard went into administration with the loss of around 70 jobs.

2019 – Stephanie Frappart of France is the first woman to referee a major match in a European men’s tournament – the UEFA Super Cup tie Chelsea vs Liverpool in Istanbul.