1942 – Freda Payne (83), American singer and actress best known for her 1970 hit single “Band of Gold”, born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.
1948 – Jeremy Irons (77), English actor (House of Gucci, Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Man in the Iron Mask, Lolita), born in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
1949 – Lesley Lawson “Twiggy” (76), English model, actress and cultural icon during the swinging ’60s, born in Neasden, London.
1952 – Nile Rodgers (73), American record producer, guitarist, composer and co-founder of “Chic” (“Le Freak”), born in New York, New York, United States.
1963 – Jarvis Cocker (62), English musician, co-founder, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (“Common People”, “Disco 2000”), born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
1963 – David Seaman (62) English former goalkeeper (Arsenal F.C., Manchester City, England National Team), born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
1974 – Victoria Silvstedt (51), Swedish model, actress, singer and television personality, born in Skelleftehamn, Sweden.
1946 – The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.
1952 – The United States prevented the English born film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to his Hollywood home until he was investigated by the Immigration Services.
1960 – Traffic wardens issued the first 344 parking tickets in London. Britain’s first parking ticket was issued to Dr. Thomas Creighton, who had parked his car outside a London hotel while treating a patient.
1970 – The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis’s farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex. The first festivals in the 1970s were influenced by hippie ethics and the free festival movement.
1975 – The first episode of Fawlty Towers titled “A Touch of Class,” aired on BBC2. Audiences were keen to see what John Cleese would do after Monty Python, but at first the situation comedy received some less than enthusiastic reviews. Only 12 half hour episodes were ever made.
1988 – Israel launched its first satellite, Ofek-1, from the Palmachim Air Base.
Ofek-1, or Horizon-1 in English, was Launched atop a Shavit rocket. The entire project, and all following Ofek satellites, were kept entirely top secret. Footage of the launch was kept from the public until 30 years later, in 2018.
1988 – Chancellor Gordon Brown rejected a 60-day deadline to reduce petrol tax set by fuel price protesters.
2022 – The State Funeral for Her Majesty The Queen took place at Westminster Abbey at 11:00am. Queen Elizabeth was the longest serving monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, with a reign that lasted 70 years and 214 days. It was the longest recorded of any female head of state in history, and the second-longest verified reign of any monarch of a sovereign country in history, the longest being Louis XIV. His reign lasted for 72 years and 110 days.
1969 – Creedence Clearwater Revival scored their only UK No.1 single with ‘Bad Moon Rising’.
1970 – Diana Ross started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart (No.6 in the UK) with ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’. Her first solo No.1 since leaving The Supremes.
1990 – Kylie Minogue’s ‘Better The Devil You Know’ gave producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman their 100th UK chart entry.
1992 – Radiohead filmed the video for their new single ‘Creep’ during a show at the Venue, in Oxford, England. During its initial release, ‘Creep’ was not a chart success. However, upon re-release in 1993, it became a worldwide hit.
1992 – The Shamen started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ebeneezer Goode’. One of the most controversial UK chart toppers due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of recreational drug use. The song was initially banned by the BBC.
1998 – Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with ‘Millennium’, taken from his from his second album, I’ve Been Expecting You.
2005 – Research published by Guinness World Records showed that Status Quo have had more hit singles than any other band in UK chart history. The band had scored 61 chart successes, dating from ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ in 1968 to ‘You’ll Come Around’ in 2004. Queen came second with 52 hits, with The Rolling Stones and UB40 with 51 hits each.
2008 – George Michael was arrested in a public toilet in the Hampstead Heath area of London for possession of Class A and C drugs. He was taken to a local police station and cautioned for controlled substance possession.
1356 – Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French, and captured the French king, John II at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years’ War. The battle resulted in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years’ War, the other two being Crécy, and Agincourt.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers sent aloft a balloon with a rooster, a duck, and a sheep aboard, rapidly advancing French aeronautics.
1839 – Birth of George Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer. A Quaker, he believed in taking care of the welfare of his workforce, and he created a model village for his employees at Bournville, Birmingham.
1851 – Birth of William Hesketh Lever. He changed the process of soap manufacture by using vegetable oils instead of tallow. Like George Cadbury he cared about the welfare of his workers, and established the new town of Port Sunlight in Merseyside, to house them.
1896 – Beginning of the Bombay bubonic plague epidemic when Dr. Acacio Gabriel Viegas detects the first case in Mandvi, Gujarat. By March 1897, hundreds of thousands of people had fled and the plague’s death toll stood at around 20,000.