1944 – World War II: the first German V1 flying bomb, or ‘doodlebug’ landed in Britain – killing three people in a house in the coastal city of Southampton. Only four of the eleven bombs hit their targets.

1951 – Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) laid the foundation stone for what was to become the Royal National Theatre.

1970 – ‘The Long and Winding Road’ became the Beatles’ last Number 1 single in the United States. McCartney originally wrote the song at his farm in Scotland saying ‘I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration.’ The released version of the song was very successful, but the post-production modifications to the song by producer Phil Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, McCartney cited the treatment of ‘The Long and Winding Road’ as one of six reasons for doing so.

1974 – Prince Charles made his maiden speech in the House of Lords. It was the first such royal speech in 90 years.

1981 – 17 year-old Marcus Sarjeant was arrested for shooting a replica gun at the Queen as she rode past crowds in London during the Trooping the Colour ceremony. Sarjeant was prosecuted under the Treason Act 1842 and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

1987 – Princess Anne was given the title Princess Royal.

1996 – French and British researchers injected material from cows suffering from BSE into the brains of macaque monkeys and found the same disease patterns as in patients suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

2013 – Dale Cregan was given a whole life sentence for killing PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, father and son David and Mark Short and the attempted murders of three others.

2013 – A man was given a warning after he dialled 999 to complain about a prostitute’s looks. A police spokesperson said “The caller claimed that the woman had made out that she was better looking than she actually was and he wished to report her for breaching the Sale of Goods Act.” The Sale of Goods Act 1979 gives consumers legal rights, stipulating goods which are sold must be of satisfactory quality, be fit for purpose and must match the seller’s description.

2014 – Retired bus driver Frederick Smith, aged 94 was jailed for twelve months after admitting he sexually abused a schoolgirl over a 10-year period nearly four decades previously. He become the oldest sex offender jailed in Britain.