On this day

1698 - Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.

1800 - Following a blockade by Admiral Horatio Nelson, French troops surrendered the Mediterranean island of Malta to Britain.

1997 - Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India, at the age of 87.

2003 - In London, magician David Blaine entered a clear plastic box and then suspended by a crane over the banks of the Thames River. He remained there until October 19 surviving only on water.

1620 - 149 Pilgrims, The Pilgrim Fathers, set sail from England in the Mayflower bound for America - the New World.

1666 - The Great Fire of London was finally put out after burning for four days - destroying more than 13,000 houses and almost 100 churches - including St Paul's Cathedral. A total of 6 people were killed.

1879 - The opening of Britain's first telephone exchange - at Lombard Street in London.

1907 - The Lusitania set sail from Liverpool for New York on her maiden voyage. She set a record, crossing the Atlantic in five days at an average speed of 23 knots.

1960 - Ten skeletons were found in 3800 year old graves at Stonehenge.

1997 - The funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, was held in Westminster Abbey, London. An estimated 2 billion people worldwide watched the service on television.

1533 - The birth of Elizabeth I, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. She was Queen of England from 1558 to 1603 and was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married, being too shrewd to share power with a foreign monarch. Her reign brought about innovations in almost every field, from exploration to the arts.

1888 - The first incubator for premature infants was used.

1940 - Germany began regular bombing of London during World War II - commonly known as 'The Blitz'. The bombing continued nightly until 2nd November.

1973 - Jackie Stewart became world champion racing driver for the third consecutive year.

1978 - Keith Moon, drummer with 'The Who', died of a drugs overdose.

1157 - King Richard I (the Lion Heart) was born.

1504 - Michelangelo's 13-foot marble statue of David was unveiled in Florence, Italy.

1866 - The first recorded birth of sextuplets took place in Chicago, USA. The parents were James and Jennie Bushnell.

1888 - Annie Chapman was found disembowelled in an East London street, the second victim of 'Jack the Ripper'.

1888 - The first English Football League matches were played.

1941 - Nazi Germany began its siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days. When the siege finally ended in January of 1944, Leningrad's population had been reduced to 600,000 people from 2,500,000 million.

1944 - The first German V2 flying bombs fell on Britain, exploding at Chiswick in London, killing 3 people.

1960 - Penguin Books were charged with public obscenity for publishing D.H Lawrence's controversial book - Lady Chatterley's Lover.

1966 - Queen Elizabeth II officially opened The Severn Bridge linking south Wales with south west England.1

490 B.C. - The Battle of Marathon took place between the invading Persian army and the Athenian Army. The marathon race was derived from the events that occurred surrounding this battle.

1543 - Mary Stuart became the infant Queen of Scotland.

1911 - The launch of the first airmail service in England, between Hendon and Windsor.

1997 - Sinn Fein, the IRA's political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland's future.

2008 - The iTunes Music Store reached 100 million applications downloaded.

2009 - The iTunes Music Store reached 1.8 billion applications downloaded.

1224 - The Franciscans, founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi, first arrived in England. They were originally called Grey Friars because of their grey habits.

1547 - The Duke of Somerset led the English to victory over the Scottish at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. The battle was sparked by English demands that Edward VI, aged 10, should marry 5 year-old Mary Queen of Scots.

1813 - The first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron in history. US Captain Oliver Hazard Perry led a fleet of nine American ships to victory over a squadron of six British warships at the Battle of Lake Erie.

1897 - George Smith, a London cab driver, became the first person to be convicted for drunken driving. He was fined £1.

1935 - Popeye was heard on NBC radio for the first time.

2002 - Switzerland became the 190th member of the United Nations.

1297 - Scottish hero William Wallace defeated the English at Stirling Bridge.

1777 - American troops led by George Washington were defeated by the British at the Battle of Brandywine Creek, in the American War of Independence.

1836 - Register Office marriages were introduced in Britain.

1962 - The Beatles recorded their first single 'Love Me Do' at the Abbey Road Studios in north London.

1997 - In a national referendum on devolution, the people of Scotland voted 'Yes' to creating their own Parliament, for the first time in more than 300 years.

2001 - In the U.S., four airliners were hijacked and were intentionally crashed. Two airliners hit the World Trade Center, which collapsed shortly after, in New York City, NY. One airliner hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Another airliner crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. About 3,000 people were killed.

1440 - Eton College was founded by Henry VI. Prefects were warned to look out for "ill-kempt heads and unwashed faces."

1609 - English explorer Henry Hudson sailed his ship 'Half Moon' into New York harbour and 150 miles further inland to Albany, along the waterway now called Hudson River.

1609 - English explorer Henry Hudson sailed his ship 'Half Moon' into New York harbour and 150 miles further inland to Albany, along the waterway now called Hudson River.

1936 - Britain’s Fred Perry won the US Tennis Championships against Donald Budge, the first non-US player ever to win.

1960 - Ministry of Transport (MoT) tests on motor vehicles were introduced in the UK.

1997 - Scotland voted decisively for home rule in a referendum on how they wanted the country to be governed.

2000 - Britain was brought to a standstill as fuel tax protesters, backed by tanker drivers, caused petrol shortages.

2005 - England took the Ashes from Australia for the first time since 1987.

122 - Building of Hadrian's Wall began.

1759 - British troops, under the command of General Wolfe, secured Canada for the British Empire after defeating the French at the Battle of Quebec. Wolfe was killed during the battle.

1902 - The first conviction in Britain using finger-prints as evidence was in the case against Harry Jackson by the Metropolitan Police at the Old Bailey. He had left his thumbprint in wet paint on a window sill and was tracked down through it. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years.

1959 - The Soviet Union's Luna 2 became the first space probe to reach the moon. It was launched the day before.

1976 - The Muppet Show premiered.

1989 - Britain's biggest ever banking computer error gave customers an extra £2 billion in a period of 30 minutes; 99.3 per cent of the money was reportedly returned.

2001 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks on the United States.

1752 - The 3rd of September became the 14th as the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into Britain. Crowds of people rioted on the streets demanding, 'Give us back our 11 days.'

1759 - The earliest dated board game in England was sold on this day by its inventor John Jeffreys, from his house in Chapel Street, Westminster. The game was called 'A Journey Through Europe', or 'The play of Geography'.

1812 - French emperor Napoleon entered Moscow, but found it deserted. After waiting a month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the onset of the Russian winter, was forced to order his starving army out of Moscow. The Grande Armée finally escaped Russia, having suffered a loss of over 400,000 men during the disastrous invasion.

1891 - The first penalty kick in an English League football game was taken by Heath of Wolverhampton Wanderers against Accrington.

1899 - In New York City, Henry Bliss became the first automobile fatality.

1936 - The first prefrontal lobotomy was performed in attempt to relieve depression and anxiety, by Dr. Walter Freeman in Washington, D.C.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco died at the age of 52 because of injuries she suffered the day before in a car crash. She was formerly actress Grace Kelly. She was truly beautiful - http://imagechunk.com/images/grace_kelly.jpg

1988 - A London taxi reached New Delhi with the meter showing a fare of £13,200. It was part of a six-man expedition on the way to Sydney.