1605 – Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament. The plot is discovered before Fawkes can light the gunpowder. Immediately before his execution on 31 January, Fawkes fell from the scaffold where he was to be hanged and broke his neck, thus avoiding the agony of being hanged, drawn and quartered.

1912 – The appointment of a British Board of Film Censors. They decided on only two classifications – ‘Universal’ and ‘Not Suitable for Children’.

191 – Vivien Leigh, British actress who won an Oscar for ‘Gone With the Wind’ was born.

1914 – World War I: Britain and France declared war on Turkey.

1927 – Britain’s first automatic traffic lights were installed at Princess Square road junction in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands.

1932 – Gillespie Road London Underground station, which also served Arsenal Football Club’s Highbury ground, had its name changed to Arsenal after representations by the club.

1935 – Lester Piggott, champion jockey, was born. Aged 18, he rode his first Derby winner. Piggott had 4,493 career wins, including nine Epsom Derby victories and is one is one of the most well-known English flat racing jockeys of all time. In 1987 he was convicted of tax fraud, jailed for three years and was stripped of his OBE that had been awarded in 1975.

1950 – Korean War: British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade successfully halted the advancing Chinese 117th Division during the Battle of Pakchon in North Korea.

1967 – At least 40 people were killed and 80 hurt after a train derailed near Hither Green, south-east London. Survivors included Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees who died on 20th May 2012, at the age of 62, from liver and kidney failure.

1971 – Princess Anne was voted ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ by the British Sportswriters’ Association.

1979 – The trial began in Dublin, of the two men accused of the murder of Lord Mountbatten.

1991 – Millionaire publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell was found dead at sea, several hours after mysteriously disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.

2006 – Following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by a coalition of countries including Britain and America, Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq was sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for his role in the massacre of 148 Shi’as in 1982. His execution was carried out on 30th December 2006.

2013 – The village of Wool, in the Purbeck district of Dorset, reported that at least 160 sheep had been stolen from nearby fields, sometime between 1st and 3rd November.