1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issued his ‘Nero Decree’ ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed in order to prevent their use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. 

1958 – Britain’s first planetarium opened at Madame Tussaud’s, London.

1964 – Three new cities – Milton Keynes, Havant and Basingstoke – are proposed for south east England as part of the largest regional expansion plan in Britain.

1965 – The Tailor And Cutter Magazine ran an article asking The Rolling Stones to wear ties to save tie makers from financial disaster.

1969 – British troops landed on the Caribbean island of Anguilla, after the island declared itself a republic. They were well received, and the island remained a UK dependency.

1969 – The 1,263 ft. tall TV-mast at Emley Moor in Yorkshire collapsed due to a build up of ice. The current Emley Moor transmitting station, built in 1971 is the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom and is a Grade II listed building.

1982 – A group of Argentines landed at South Georgia (a dependency of the disputed Falklands Islands which Britain claimed in 1833) and planted their nation’s flag. The provocation led to war between Britain and Argentina.

1986 – Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Exactly six years later it was announced that they were to separate.

1988 – Two British soldiers, in civilian clothes, blundered into an IRA funeral in Northern Ireland and were kicked and beaten to death.

2003 – British troops were poised to invade Iraq as Saddam Hussein defied a final United States ultimatum to leave the country or face war.

2015 – Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond rejected an offer to present the season’s last three shows without the suspended star, Jeremy Clarkson. On 25th March the BBC’s director general confirmed that Jeremy Clarkson’s contract would not be renewed, after an ‘unprovoked physical attack’ on a Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon

2015 – Margaret Aspinall and Trevor Hicks, who campaigned for 20 years to secure fresh Hillsborough inquests, received their CBE medals from the Queen. Britain’s worst sporting tragedy took place at the Hillsborough Stadium, in Sheffield on 15th April 1989. 96 people died as a result of the crush on the terraces at the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest football match.