1908 – The birth of Ian Fleming, English author of the James Bond novels.

1920 – The death of Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, a Church of England clergyman, poet, hymn writer and conservationist. He worked for the protection of the countryside and was also one of the founders of the National Trust.

1937 – Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister of a coalition government following the retirement of Stanley Baldwin.

1945 – World War II: the English broadcaster of Nazi propaganda, William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was captured near Hamburg. He was later tried for treason, found guilty, and hanged.

1951 – BBC radio broadcast the first edition of The Goon Show, starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

1967 – Sir Francis Chichester arrived in Plymouth on his yacht, Gipsy Moth IV, after completing his solo voyage around the world.

1974 – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapsed following a general strike by loyalists.

1982 – Falklands War: British troops re-captured Port Darwin and Goose Green, taking almost 1500 Argentine prisoners.

1984 – Comedian Eric Morecambe dies after suffering a heart attack immediately after walking off stage following a Q&A session with Stan Sennett.

1990 – ‘The Maiden’ arrived in Southampton, completing the Whitbread around-the-world yacht race. The first ever all-woman crew was skippered by Tracy Edwards.

1999 – Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” is put back on display in Milan after 22 years of restoration work.

2007 – Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, were both attacked during a march against a ban on gay rights in Moscow.

2014 – The death, in Florida, of Malcolm Glazer (85), the American billionaire who led a controversial takeover of Manchester United. The Glazer family purchased United for £790m in May 2005 amid protests from many of the Premier League club’s fans.