1937 – The Coronation of George VI. The BBC televised the procession in its first ever outside broadcast. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became queen consort and was later known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

1945 – The publication of the first of the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ series by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. It was entitled ‘The Three Railway Engines’ and featured Edward, Gordon and Henry. The book quickly sold the initial print run of 22,500 copies and there were a further two print runs by the end of the year.

1967 – The Government gave the go-ahead to proposals to convert Stansted into an international airport.

1969 – The minimum voting age in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.

1994 – The Labour leader John Smith (aged 55) died in a London hospital after two serious heart attacks.

1997 – Guinness and Grand Metropolitan, two of Britain’s leading drinks companies, agreed to a £23 billion mega-merger that would create the world’s largest spirits group, GMG Brands.

2000 – Ford workers at its Dagenham plant reacted with shock and anger at the news that car production was to be transferred to Germany and Spain, with the loss of 3,000 jobs.

2001 – For the first time ever the FA Cup Final was held outside England when it took place at the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

2008 – More than 69,000 people lost their lives to a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in Sichuan, China.

2010 – Conservative David Cameron’s arrival in Downing Street as Prime Minister of a coalition government, marked the end of 13 years of Labour rule, with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister.

2014 – Gary Barlow from the pop group ‘Take That’ was facing calls to give back his OBE. It was claimed that, along with members Howard Donald, Mark Owen and their manager Jonathan Wild, Barlow had invested £66m in two partnerships that were styled as tax avoidance schemes. HM Revenue and Customs was expected to demand repayment of tens of millions of pounds.