1952 – The SS United States set sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship took the coveted Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary, until that date the fastest passenger liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

1954 – The end of food rationing in Britain – almost 9 years after the end of World War II. Smithfield Meat Market in London opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with the demand for beef.

1966 – Demonstrators in London were arrested after their protest against the Vietnam War turned violent.

1969 – Brian Jones, a founding member of the British rock group Rolling Stones, drowned in his swimming pool after taking a drug overdose.

1970 – 112 people died when a British Dan-Air charter, flying a Comet 4 turbojet from Manchester crashed into the sea near Barcelona. There were no survivors and the remains of the wreckage provided no clues as to the cause of the crash.

1973 – David Bowie announced from the stage of The Hammersmith Odeon in London that he was retiring his Ziggy Stardust persona along with his band The Spiders From Mars. Only guitarist Mick Ronson knew beforehand and it came as a complete shock, not only to the audience, but the rest of Bowie’s band and crew.

1974 – Don Revie was appointed manager of the England football team.

1984 – Derek Underwood (Kent’s left arm spin bowler) scored his first cricket century, after 22 years of playing in first-class cricket.

1986 – The government abandoned its water privatisation plans

1996 – It was announced that the Stone of Scone, the symbol of Scottish nationalism, stolen by Edward I of England in 1296, was to be returned to Scotland from Westminster Abbey where it has been used in the coronation of 30 British monarchs.

2000 – In his first speech as Mayor of London Ken Livingstone announced that he would stand up to the Government if they were not acting in the capital’s best interests.

2008 – Singer Kylie Minogue received an OBE for services to music from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

2014 – A 4m x 4m beach hut at Mudeford Spit near Christchurch in Dorset went on the market for £225,000. The hut has no bathroom, mains electricity or running water and only glimpses of the sea that “can be caught from inside, but the view directly in front of the hut is of (very nice) sand dunes and grass.