1842 – The death of the English army officer Henry Shrapnel, inventor of the shrapnel shell which is named after him. The shell was a hollow cannon ball filled with shot which burst in mid-air and was used as an anti-personnel weapon.

1873 – Eight clubs met to form the Scottish Football Association. They were Queen’s Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Third Lanark, Eastern, Granville and Kilmarnock.

1926 – Alan Cobham landed at Croydon Aerodrome, near London, after a 16,000-mile flight to Cape Town and back to establish a commercial air route across Africa. Formerly a member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, he became a test pilot for the de Havilland aircraft company, and was the first pilot for the newly formed de Havilland Aeroplane Hire Service. In 1932 he started National Aviation Day displays which toured the country and was generally known as ‘Cobham’s Flying Circus’.

1927 – The lance ceased to be an official weapon in the British Army.

1935 – Voluntary driving tests were introduced in Britain and became compulsory in June of the same year.

1961 – Three men and two women went on trial at the Old Bailey charged with plotting to pass official secrets to the Russians. All 5 were found guilty and sentences were passed, up to 25 years. An official report blamed lax security at the Admiralty for the spy ring.

1961 – Black and white Bank of England five pound notes ceased to be legal tender.

1961 – Three men and two women go on trial at the Old Bailey charged with plotting to pass secrets to the Russians.

1970 – Conservatives celebrated a record majority in the Bridgwater by-election. It was the first time 18-year-olds had been allowed to vote since the age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18 in January. Susan Wallace became the first 18-year-old to cast her vote.

1972 – Britain and China resumed full diplomatic relations after a break of 22 years.

1982 – The Ice Dance Championship at Copenhagen is won by Britain’s Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

1996 – Thomas Hamilton, a lone gunman carrying 4 handguns killed 16 children and their teacher at a school in Dunblane, Scotland. The killer fired randomly around the school gym in an attack that lasted just three minutes, but caused carnage in the class of five and six year olds. He then turned the gun on himself. Hamilton had been a scout master briefly before being sacked by the Scout Association. The event became a rallying point for anti-gun legislation. Two days after the shooting, a vigil and prayer session was held at Dunblane Cathedral and on Mothering Sunday, the Queen and Princess Anne attended a memorial service at Dunblane Cathedral.

2015 – Lesley Simpson became the first female Guizer Jarl (chief Viking) in the 130-year history of Shetland’s world famous fire festivals. The event is one of several Viking-themed torchlit processions that are held on Shetland every year.

2015 – Former Granada TV weather presenter Fred Talbot was jailed for five years for indecent assault in connection with two schoolboys during his former career as a biology teacher in the 1970s. Talbot (65) was known to millions for his forecasts on a floating weather map for ITV’s This Morning show.