1932 – Four branches of Methodism in England united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland. These were the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, the United Methodist Free Churches and the United Methodists.
1967 – The liner Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) was launched at Clydebank, Scotland by Queen Elizabeth II. The ship’s anchor was donated to Southampton by Cunard in March 2010.
1978 – Police launched a massive manhunt for the killers of 13 year old paperboy Carl Bridgewater. He had been shot in the head at close range at an isolated farmhouse near Stourbridge in Staffordshire.
2000 – Neversoft’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was released for the PlayStation. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 has a legendary status among skaters and gamers alike and is the second-highest-rated video game of all time on Metacritic.
2004 – Legendary former Nottingham Forest and Derby County boss Brian Clough died from stomach cancer at the age of 69.
2012 – Apple’s new mapping service for iPhone users was launched, with many errors. It relocated London – England to London – Ontario, Paddington station vanished and Dublin was gifted a previously undiscovered airport on a 35 acre working farm. Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, was nowhere to be found while the Welsh town of Pontypridd was transplanted six miles north-west and placed where Tonypandy should have been.
2013 – The final mission for the RAF’s Vickers VC10s. Two VC10 tanker aircraft took off from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, at 10:00 BST to perform their last air-to-air refuelling sortie before landing around 14:30 BST to mark the end of the aircraft’s service life after 47 years.
2019 – The climate change rally led by activist Greta Thunberg saw millions of protesters worldwide standing up for urgent action.
1957 – Buddy Holly released the single ‘Peggy Sue’ with ‘Everyday’ as the B-side. The song was originally entitled ‘Cindy Lou’, after Holly’s niece, but was later changed to ‘Peggy Sue’ in reference to Peggy Sue Gerron the girlfriend (and future wife) of Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, after the couple had temporarily broken up.
1969 – Based on the comic-book TV series Archie and his friends The Archie’s started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with Sugar Sugar. It became the longest running One Hit Wonder in the UK after spending eight weeks at the top of the charts.
1980 – Kate Bush scored her first UK No.1 album with ‘Never For Ever.’ It was the first ever album by a British female solo artist to top the UK album chart as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at No.1.
1986 – Huey Lewis and the News started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Stuck With You’, a No.12 hit in the UK.
1997 – Elton John started a six week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Something About The Way You Look Tonight’, and ‘Candle In The Wind 97.’ A re-write of his 1974 hit about Marilyn Monroe. This version was raising funds for the Diana, Princess of Wales charity, following her death in Paris. It went on to become the biggest selling single in the world ever.
1066 – The Battle of Fulford, Yorkshire. Harald III Hardrada of Norway defeated the Northern Saxon Earls Edwin and Morcar.
1258 – The consecration of Salisbury Cathedral. The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom at 123m/404 ft. It also has the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain, the world’s oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and the best surviving of the four original copies of Magna Carta.
1643 – The First Battle of Newbury (English civil war). King Charles I’s forces were beaten by a parliamentary army led by the Earl of Essex and Philip Stapleton.
1854 – The Russian army was defeated by the British and French at the Battle of Alma, considered to be the first battle of the Crimean War. The first six Victoria Crosses to be awarded to the British Army for acts of bravery during the fighting were won at this battle.
1860 – The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) visited the United States. It was the first tour of North America by an heir to the British throne. The four-month tour throughout Canada and the United States considerably boosted Edward’s self-esteem, and had many diplomatic benefits for Great Britain.