1803 – The birth of Joseph Paxton, English gardener, designer, writer and creator of one of the most famous buildings of Queen Victoria’s reign, the Crystal Palace.

1805 – The first recorded cricket match between English public schools Eton and Harrow.

1856 – London was divided into postal districts, in order to speed up letter deliveries.

1858 – Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, was discovered by the explorer John Speke.

1867 – The birth of Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister from 1923-29. This term of office saw the General Strike of 1926, and during his third term, (1935-7), Edward VIII abdicated.

1887 – The birth of Rupert Brooke, the English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially ‘ The Soldier’ that begins ‘If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is forever England.’

1908 – The Post Office sent its first parcel mail to the US on the White Star liner, Teutonic

1916 – Sir Roger Casement, Irish nationalist, was hanged in London for treason, following his attempts to induce Germany to support the cause of Irish independence.

1926 – Britain installed its first traffic lights – at Piccadilly Circus, in London.

1946 – The birth of Jack Straw former Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and MP for Blackburn since 1979.

1957 – Footballer John Charles was transferred from Leeds to Juventus for a £65,000 fee. He was the first British footballer to be transferred to a foreign club.

1963 – The Beatles performed at The Cavern Club (on 10, Mathew Street, Liverpool), for the 292nd, and last time. They received a fee of £300 pounds for the performance.

1971 – Sanquhar Post Office in Dumfries and Galloway became a Category B Listed Building. It is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest post office in the world and has been in continuous service since 1712.

1978 – The Queen officially opened the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.

2001 – A bomb exploded in a busy west London street, injuring seven people. Dissident Irish republicans were blamed for the atrocity.

2002 – The death of Carmen Silvera, Canadian-born British comic actress who starred in the television programme, ‘Allo Allo!’ (written by David Croft & Jeremy Lloyd) as Edith Artois, wife of the cafe owner René.

2015 – The Athens Stock Exchange re-opens after a month and falls by 22%.

2017 – Brazilian footballer Neymar transfers from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record transfer fee of €222m on a 5-year deal. On the same day, Massachusetts woman Michelle Carter is sentenced to 2 1/2 years for urging her boyfriend to commit suicide and Rapper Kidd Creole is arrested and charged with stabbing a homeless man to death in New York City. Also, actor Robert Hardy dies aged 91.