1899 – Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.

1922 – Children’s Hour was first broadcast on the radio. It established a tradition of drama and story-telling and built up a devoted audience of over three million at its peak.

1928 – The RNLI Lifeboat Mary Stanford capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17 man crew, practically the whole male fishing population of the small town of Rye.

1932 – The birth of Petula Clark, singer, actress, and composer which a career spanning seven decades.

1942 – World War II: The first flight of the German Heinkel He 219 took place. Had it been available in quantity, it might have had a significant effect upon the strategic night bombing offensive of the Royal Air Force. Only 294 of all models were built by the end of the war and they saw only limited service.

1968 – The liner Queen Elizabeth completed her final passenger voyage when she landed at Southampton. She was sold to a US group who planned to moor her in Florida as a tourist attraction. She was replaced by the new liner the QE2.

1969 – ATV (Midland) screened the first colour TV commercial in Britain; for Birds Eye Peas. It cost £23 for the off peak 30 second slot.

1977 – The birth of Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.

1985 – Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years. Unionists accused Mrs. Thatcher of treachery.

1990 – Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian held a press conference to confirm the rumours that the two members of the group Rob and Fab had not sung on any of their hit records.

1991 – In the wake of increased sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, Britain called up 1,400 reserve troops for full-time active duty.

1994 – The launch of Britain’s first Internet newspaper, The Electronic Telegraph.

1998 – Britain and America called back their fighter planes after Iraq agreed to allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country.

2001 – Microsoft entered the video game market with the launch of its first game console, the Xbox. Much of the first Xbox’s success came down to the game it was launched alongside, Halo. The Xbox sold more than 1.5 million units in the US alone by the end of the year.

2002 – Moors murderer Myra Hindley, the woman who came to personify evil , died in prison, aged 60.

2014 – Pensioner Kelvin Sibthorpe got his hopes up when he discovered he’d been the victim of pension mis-selling, which meant he could be entitled to a ‘windfall’. The windfall entitled him to only an extra 18p a month in pension payments. It would consist of seven years of back payments, coming to a grand total of £10.08.