1891 – SS Utopia collided with HMS Anson (a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy) in the Bay of Gibraltar and sank in less than 20 minutes, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

1899 – The first-ever radio distress call was sent, summoning assistance to a merchant ship aground on the Goodwin Sands, Kent.

1912 – The death of Lawrence Oates, a member of Scott’s ill-fated South Pole expedition who was suffering serious frostbite and hampering the progress of his companions. He had left his tent the previous night saying ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ Scott recorded ‘A very gallant gentleman.’ Oates’ body was never found. Date of birth 17th March 1880 – Died 17th March 1912.

1939 – The birth of Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail single handed, non stop around the world.

1951 – The comic strip character Dennis the Menace appeared in the Beano for the first time. His red and black striped jumper did not feature until a few weeks later and his pet dog Gnasher did not make an appearance until 31st August 1968.

1957 – British European Airways withdrew their Viscount 701s from service after one of them crashed at Manchester Airport 4 days previously, killing 21 people.

1968 – More than 200 people were arrested after demonstrators clashed in an anti Vietnam war protest outside the US embassy in London.

1973 – London Bridge, designed by Lord Holford, was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

1978 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground on the coast of Brittany. Over 220,000 tons of crude oil seeped out of the crippled ship, causing serious pollution in Britain and France.

1984 – The 130th Boat Race was postponed (for 24 hours) an hour before the start, after the Cambridge boat was in collision with a barge and sank.

1993 – The death of Charlotte Hughes, aged 115 at St David’s Nursing home in Redcar, Cleveland. At the time of her death she was not only the oldest person in Britain, but the second oldest person in the world.

1995 – Gangster Ronnie Kray died in Broadmoor hospital. He was serving a life sentence for heinous crimes after being arrested by Superintendent Leonard “Nipper” Read.

1996 – The Queen visited Dunblane – Scotland following the massacre on 13th March of 16 children and their teacher at the local school.

2013 – The last TV network news from Television Centre in west London was broadcast on BBC One. Mishal Husain presented the programme from studio N6 at 22:00 GMT, signing off nearly 45 years of bulletins after the Centre had been sold for redevelopment.

2015 – The UK’s first Bio-Bus, nicknamed ‘the poo bus’ was officially launched in Bristol as Service Number 2. Powered entirely on gas generated by human and food waste it went into regular service on 25th March.