1917 – The birth of the comedian Frankie Howerd, famous for his risqué double entendres whose career spanned six decades. He hid his potentially career-destroying homosexuality from both his audience and his mother, as acts between consenting males was illegal in England and Wales until 1967 and illegal in Scotland until 1981. Howerd died on 19th April 1992, one day before fellow comedian Benny Hill.

1957 – Ghana became independent, the first British colony to do so.

1961 – The death of Lancashire born entertainer George Formby, ‘king of the ukulele’. Formby, was one of the UK’s best-paid stars during his heyday in the 1930s and 1940s.

1970 – The British Government announced a ban on the importation of domestic pets following the death from rabies of a dog imported from Pakistan.

1974 – British coal workers called off a four-week strike following a 35% pay offer from the new Labour government.

1984 – The National Coal Board announced a plan of massive job cuts & pit closures. (Additional note – On 18th December 2015 miners at Kellingley Colliery worked their final shifts. It was the end of an era; the closure of the UK’s last deep coal mine.)

1985 – The Conservative MP Ivar Lawrence made the longest speech of the 20th century in the House of Commons. He spoke for 4 hours and 23 minutes on the subject of the fluoridation of drinking water.

1987 – The British-owned cross-channel ferry the ‘Herald of Free Enterprise’ left Zeebrugge, Belgium, with its bow doors open. The ferry capsized killing 193 passengers.

1988 – Three IRA terrorists were shot dead by SAS men in Gibraltar.

1992 – Thousands of computers around the world were infected with a computer virus called Michelangelo. 6th March is the anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth.

1996 – Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams warned the public that the IRA was prepared for another 25 years of war.

1997 – A £650,000 Picasso was stolen from a London art gallery. The thief escaped in a taxi.

1998 – With a break in tradition, it was decided that the Union Flag would be flown over Buckingham Palace when the monarch was not in residence, but would make way for the Royal Standard when she was there.

2015 – Research from the University of Oxford estimated that the migrant population in England had increased by more than half a million in three years.