1904 – The birth of Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion and portrait photographer, writer and theatrical designer. He was a photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines, often photographed the Royal Family for official publications and was a major influence on the work of photographer David Bailey.

1937 – The first Gallup Opinion Poll was conducted in Britain. It was the invention of the American George Horace Gallup who founded the Gallup Institute in 1935.

1943 – World War II: Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt met in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss their strategy for the next phase of the war.

1947 – Covent Garden Opera Company opened with Karl Rankl’s production of Carmen, in the newly renovated theatre which had been a dance hall during the war.

1969 – Football legend Sir Matt Busby announced that he would retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season. Formerly a Scottish football player and manager he was most noted for his time as managing Manchester United between 1945 and 1969. His manager records and longevity at the helm of Manchester United are only surpassed by Sir Alex Ferguson.

1975 – 17-year-old heiress, Lesley Whittle, was kidnapped from her home in Shropshire. Her body was found on 7th March, 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of a drain shaft in Bathpool Park, Staffordshire. Donald Neilson, also known as the Black Panther, was convicted of her murder (and three others) in July 1976.

1978 – The Sex Pistols play their last chaotic show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco with Johnny Rotten yelling to the crowd as the band fell apart on stage, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” On the same day, Olympic althlete Harold Abrahams dies aged 78.

1989 – Muslims in Bradford ritually burned a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in the first serious protest in Britain. The book had been banned in some Muslim countries.

1994 – The Duchess of Kent becomes the first member of the Royal Family to convert to Catholicism for more than 300 years.

2002 – After three months of no cases being reported, the United Kingdom was finally declared free from the ‘Foot and Mouth’ infection, after a crisis that started in 2001 in which millions of cows and sheep were destroyed.

2004 – The country of Georgia officially adopted the Five Cross Flag after more than five hundred years since its last use. The last time the Five Cross Flag, Georgia’s current national flag, was used was during the time of the Kingdom of Georgia. The flag, which is made up of four small crosses and one large red cross, closely resembles the flag of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

2013 – Music and DVD chain HMV appointed an administrator, making it the latest casualty on the High Street and putting 4,350 jobs at risk. Quote from retail analyst Neil Saunders – “In the digital era, where 73.4% of music and film are online …. there is no real future for physical retail in the music sector.”

2014 – Justin Bieber was questioned by police over the egging of his neighbour’s house in Calabasas, California.

2014 – Monkeys at Paignton Zoo in Devon were banned from eating bananas. Keepers said – “Giving monkeys bananas that have been cultivated for humans is like giving them cake and chocolate. Reducing the sugar in their diets has calmed them down and made their group more settled.”