On this day

August 18th

1906: Chile: The Port of Valparaiso, Paradise Alley is hit by a massive earthquake, leaving hundreds dead and two thirds of the city destroyed.

1917 - Washington: Food Minister Herbert Hoover suggests families should save 1lb of flour a week to aid the war effort.

1920 - London: The first two night time bus services are introduced.

1921 - Russia: The US agrees to start an immediate famine aid programme.

1925 - Britain: In front of a tiny Tuesday crowd at Taunton, Surrey's great opening batsman Jack Hobbs scores his second hundred in two days against Somerset - becoming the first to equal, and the second to surpass, W.G Grace's total of 126 career centuries, and at the same time record his 14th century on the season.

1926 - Britain: Miners reopen negotiations with the government to end their three-month old strike.

1929 - Vienna: The Austrian Army bans the hugely successful novel "All Quiet On The Western Front" by Erich Remarque.

1933 - Iraq: 600 Kurds and Syrians are reported killed in clashes along the Iraq-Syrian border.

1940 - Britain: The first German plane is brought down over London.

1946 - USA: Albert Einstein deplores the use of the atomic bomb and states that Roosevelt, would never have allowed it.

1948 - New York: The USSR vetoes Ceylon's entry to the UN.

1955 - Cyprus: A mob ransacks the British institute in Nicosia.

1965 - London: Photographer David Bailey marries French actress Catherine Deneuve, with Mick Jagger as his best man.

1968 - Britain: South African Cricketer Colin Bland is refused entry into the country because he has a Rhodesian passport.

1971 - Britain: George Best becomes one of the first victims of the "Referees Revolution" on player's conduct, when he is sent off for persistently arguing with the referee at Stamford Bridge during a 3-2 defeat for Man Utd against Chelsea.

1980 - France: French Fisherman block Channel ports in a protest over subsidies, trapping over 1,500 British tourists.

1984 - London: Clive Ponting a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence is charged with a breach of the Official Secrets Act, after he was believed to have sent Labour MP Tam Dalyell information regarding the sinking of the Argentinian Cruiser "General Belgrano."

1992 - London: Britain announces that 1,800 troops are ready to to be sent to Bosnia to help UN relief efforts.

2004 - Dublin: The Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed, and the first tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony takes place.

2007 - USA: A fire in the former Deutsche Bank building near New York's Ground Zero kills two firefighters.

August 19th

1903 - Switzerland: Delegates at the sixth Zionist Congress in Basel clash over proposals to set up a Jewish State in Uganda.

1905 - Russia: Russia takes a step towards a constitutional monarchy with the publication of a manifesto establishing a representative assembly called the "Duma" the Russian word for "deliberation."

1909 - Hungary: A decree imposes Hungarian as the official language of religious instruction in Rumanian schools.

1915 - Atlantic: A German submarine sinks the White Star liner "Arabic".

1925 - China: The government of Canton bans British and Japanese ships from entering and leaving the region's ports.

1934 - USA: Gangster Al Capone is taken on a prison train to the top security jail Alcatraz.

1937 - London: Britain offers to mediate in the Sino-Japanese War.

1940 - East Africa: British Somaliland falls to the Italians.

1945 - Manchuria: Russian forces occupy Harbin and Mukden, accepting the surrender of around 100,000 Japanese prisoners.

1946 - Britain: Footballers threaten strike action for a minimum weekly wage of £7.

1949 - Britain: 24 people are killed when a BEA DC-3 plane crashes in Yorkshire.

1959 - London: The Coal Board announces plans to close between 35 and 70 pits from 1960 and 1965.

1960 - London: Penguin Books is summonsed for planning to publish "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

1965 - West Germany: Auschwitz victims protest at light terms handed out to 16 ex-warders found guilty of murder. Only six get life sentences.

1969 - Northern Ireland: Lt-Gen. Sir Ian Freeland, the Ulster Army chief takes over control of the "B Specials" police reservists.

1970 - Britain: The 1,000th episode of Coronation Street is broadcast.

1974 - London: The FT share index slumps below 200 points for the first time in 16 years.

1976 - USA: Gerald Ford wins the Republican presidential nomination.

1978 - Iran: 377 people are killed when a fire started by Shi'ite extremists engulfs a cinema in Abadan.

1981 - Switzerland: Sebastian Coe runs the mile in 3minutes 48.53 seconds, breaking the world record by 0.3 seconds in Zurich.

1989 - Britain: A massive Shell oil leak in the Mersey threatens the lives of thousands of migrating birds.

1993 - Stuttgart: Britain's Sally Gunnell wins the 400-metre hurdles in the record time of 52.74 seconds at the World Athletics Championships.

1995 - USA: Boxer Mike Tyson returns to the ring after two years in prison to beat Peter McNeeley in just 89 seconds of the first round. The brevity of the fight provokes storms of protest from ringside fight fans who had paid up to $I,500 for a ticket.

1996 - Australia: Hundreds of demonstrators force their way into the Australian parliament in the capital Canberra, protesting over budget cuts.

2005 - Britain: Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam dies in Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury, Kent aged 55.

2006 - China: The death toll from Typhoon Saomai rises to 436, with 100 new deaths decleared in the east of the country.

August 20th

1912 - London: General William Booth founder of the Salvation Army dies at his home in Hadley Wood, aged 83.

1914 - Belgium: German troops overtake Brussels.

1917 - Budapest: Owing to food shortages throughout Hungary, all prisoners serving less than two years in prison are released.

1925 - India: Viceroy Lord Reading sets up a commission on Indian Currency and Finance.

1933 - India: Mahatma Gandhi is rushed into hospital on the fourth day of his latest fast.

1934 - Geneva: The US joins the International Labour Organisation.

1935 - USA: Scientists at the university of California announce the isolation of Vitamin E.

1944 - Warsaw: The Germans begin shelling the city with Tiger Tanks aiming to crush the Polish uprising under the command of General Borkomorowski.

1946 - Nuremberg: The prosecutors at the Nazi war crimes trial reject Rudolf Hess's plea of insanity.

1948 - Greece: Government troops defeat Communist rebels under the command of General Markos Vafiades.

1950 - London: A British Infantry force is sent to North Korea to join up with UN forces.

1955 - Algeria: Thousands of armed rebels stage simultaneous attacks on 25 French targets in the Constantine district, resulting in over 500 deaths.

1957 - New York: The UN rejects an Arab motion condemning the British role in the Oman rebellion.

1959 - South Africa: White-Liberal MP's set up the anti-apartheid Progressive Party.

1962 - West Berlin: Five thousand West Berliners protest over the shooting of 18 year-old East German boy Peter Fechter who was machine-gunned in the back trying to escape to the west while climbing the Berlin wall.

1967 - London: Three gunmen attack the US Embassy with automatic rifles.

1970 - Columbia: Three Columbian judges clear England soccer captain Bobby Moore of charges of stealing a bracelet from a hotel shop in Bogota.

1971 - Britain: Prince Charles "gets his wings" at RAF Cranwell.

1972 - Vietnam: Southern troops abandon the provincial capital of Queson.

1977 - USA: The Voyager 2 space probe is launched towards Jupiter and Saturn.

1981 - Belfast: Michael Devine becomes the tenth IRA hunger striker to die.

1983 - Britain: Radio Caroline returns to the air three years after its previous ship sank in the North Sea.

1985 - Britain: Amstrad launches its PCW 8256 word processor.

1988 - Northern Ireland: Six British Soldiers die when a land-mine explodes under their bus.

1991 - Estonia: The republican parliament votes for independence from the USSR.

1995 - Moscow: The body of a 3,000 year-old tattooed man found preserved in permafrost in Siberia is moved to the Mausoleum Institute in Moscow.

2005 - Holland: A handwritten manuscript of a paper by Albert Einstein, believed to be one of his last great breakthroughs entitled:
"Quanton Theory of the Monatome Ideal Gas" dated 1924, is found in the archives of Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics.

2010 - Australia: The worlds first solar-diesel power station opens in Marble Bar, Western Australia.

August 21st

1901 - USA: A new motor company is founded in Detroit named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.

1908 - Berlin: Liberal MP David Lloyd George visits the city to make a study of Germany's old-age pension system.

1915 - Rome: Italy declares war on Turkey.

1923 - USA: The city of Kalamazoo in Michigan, forbids dancers to stare into their partners eyes.

1924 - Pacific: Scientists announce they have discovered remains of an ancient civilisation in the Galapagos Islands.

1929 - India: Mahatma Gandhi is elected president of the Indian National Congress, but refuses to accept the post.

1936 - London: The BBC makes its first television broadcast from Alexandria Palace.

1940 - Mexico City: Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky is assassinated by an individual posing as a supporter who smashes Trotsky's head with an ice pick.

1941 - Paris: 5,000 Jews are rounded up and interned at Drancy, a holding camp for deportation.

1942 - Pacific: US forces raid the Japanese-occupied Gilbert Islands.

1948 - London: Britain warns that it will veto Israel's entry to the UN.

1951 - Jamaica: 132 people are reported to have died in a hurricane that hit the island thee days previously.

1959 - London: Floods cause chaos in the city as three-quarters of an inch of rain falls in one hour.

1964 - Congo: Government forces drive rebels out of Bukavi, and discover 300 dead bodies.

1965 - Britain: Charlton Athletic's Keith Peacock becomes the first substitute to appear in the Football League.

1973 - Londonderry: An Inquest returns an open verdict on 13 victims of "Bloody Sunday"

1975 - Britain: Unemployment in the UK stands at 1.25 million.

1977 - Rhodesia: 16 people are massacred by guerrillas in Umtali.

1979 - Britain: Essex become County Cricket Champions for the first time.

1984 - Manila: 900,000 Filipinos take to the streets to protest against the government of President Marcos.

1986 - Moscow: The report into the Chernobyl disaster blames the plants technicians for ignoring safety rules.

1988 - India: An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale kills around 500 people on the border with Nepal.

1991 - Moscow: Mikhail Gorbachev heads back to Moscow after the coup mounted against him disintegrates in the face of popular resistance led by Boris Yeltsin.

1996 - South Africa: Former South African President F.W. de Klerk apologises before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the "pain and suffering" caused by apartheid.

1997 - Britain: The new Oasis album "Be Here Now" is released selling a record-breaking 350,000 copies in its first day.

2007 - USA: The CIA releases a report critical of the agencys performance prior to the September 11 2001 attacks.

2008 - USA: The US Food and Drug Administration approves the irradiation of lettuce and spinach to kill E-Coli and other dangerous germs.

August 22nd

1909 - France: The first international air race meeting opens at Rheims.

1914 - North Sea: The British cruisers Cresy, Aboukir, and Hogue are sunk with the loss of 1,500 lives.

1919 - Budapest: Archduke Josef resigns as head of the Hungarian regime.

1922 - Cork: Michael Collins, the Irish warrior politician is killed by a ricocheting bullet during an ambush at Eal-na-Blath.

1927 - Los Angeles: Lita Grey wins her divorce from Charlie Chaplin along with $825,000.

1934 - London: Australia win the 5th test match by 562 runs to win the Ashes.

1939 - London: Britain and France reaffirm their pledge to assist Poland.

1942 - Rio de Janeiro: Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy after the sinking of several Brazilian ships.

1943 - Washington: The soviet ambassador to the US, Maxim Litvinov is replaced by Andrei Gromyko.

1944 - Italy: Allied forces capture Florence.

1947 - France: The refugee ship Exodus heads for Hamburg after the 4,400 Jews it is carrying are refused entry to France.

1952 - Britain: Surry win the County Cricket Championship outright for the first time since 1914.

1953 - East Berlin: East Germany announce they will cease reparations to the USSR from January 1st 1954.

1954 - Switzerland: Argentinian Juan Fangio wins the Swiss Grand Prix to become World Motor Racing Champion.

1956 - San Francisco: Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon are re-nominated by the Republicans to run for the White House.

1962 - France: Secret Army hitmen almost succeed in their fourth attempt in 12 months to assassinate President Charles de Gualle after ambushing and spraying his official car with sub-machine gun fire at a crossroads near Versailles.

1966 - London: Plans are announced for the building of a 385-foot, 34 floor skyscraper in the West End called Centre Point.

1968 - Bogota: Pope Paul VI arrives in Columbia on the first visit by a pope to Latin America.

1971 - Bolivia: Right-wing rebels seize power in an army coup.

1983 - Manila: President Marcos accuses his enemies of trying to spread panic throughout the Philippines.

1985 - Manchester: A British Airtours Boeing 737 bursts into flames when its pilot aborted a take-off at the last minute after an engine exploded. 80 people slid down chutes to safety while 54 were unable to escape the rear of the planes inferno.

1986 - USA: The Nuclear processing firm Kerr-McGee agree to pay $I.3 million to the estate of Karen Silkwood.

1990 - Amman: Overwhelmed by refugees, Jordan closes its border with Iraq.

2004 - Oslo: The Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and Madonna are stolen from the Munch museum by armed robbers.

2006 - USA: US sprinter Justin Gatlin accepts an eight-year ban from track and field after a positive drug test.

2009 - Chile: Two turkey farms in Valparaiso are quarantined over fears the birds have caught swine influenza from humans.

August 23rd

1902 - USA: Statistics show that from the verge of extinction the American Buffalo is thriving once again with two herds of more than 1,000 a head roaming Yellowstone Park and across Canada.

1906 - Spain: Martial law is declared in Bilbao, as a nationwide strike continues to spread.

1907 - Rumania: 80,000 political prisoners are granted amnesty.

1914 - Europe: The Germans are engaged along a 150-mile Belgium front from Mons to Luxemburg as Russian troops penetrate 50 miles into Prussia.

1921- Baghdad: Emir Feisal is crowned King of Iraq.

1925 - Cairo: Seven out of the Nine people found guilty of murdering Sudan Governor-General Sir Lee Stack are hanged.

1933 - India: Mahatma Gandhi is released from Sassoon hospital in Poona after five days of his latest "fast unto death" protest.

1939 - Brussels: Belgium restates its neutrality in the upcoming war.

1940 - France: The RAF bomb German gun installations along the French Coast.

1942 - USSR: The Germans cross the River Don, the last obstacle to their all-out assault on Stalingrad.

1949 - Britain: The Handley Page Hermes turbo-prop passenger plane makes its first flight from Radlett in Hertfordshire.

1951 - Iran: After talks break down in Tehran over British oil operations in the country, the Anglo Iranian Oil Company orders all British, Indian, and Pakistani employees to leave.

1961 - Berlin: The Western Powers place tanks and around 1,000 troops along the Berlin Wall.

1964 - Congo: 100 European Mercenaries fly in to support government troops against the rebels.

1966 - Britain: The Cotswolds are designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

1968 - Czechoslovakia: Czechs stage a one-hour general strike in protest of the Soviet invasion.

1977 - Britain: New smaller pound notes are introduced.

1979 - Iran: Fighting resumes between Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels, after the execution of 18 Kurds two days earlier.

1982 - Beirut: Christian militia leader Bashir Gemayel is elected President of Lebanon.

1990 - East Germany: MPs choose October 3rd as the date for reunification.

1998 - Budapest: Britain tops the European Athletics Championships Medal table for the first time since 1950 with a haul of 9 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze.

2007 - Russia: The skeletal remains of Alexei Nickolaevich the Tsarvithch of Russia and his sister Anastasia, are discovered near Yekaterinburg.

2009 - Greece: Thousands of people are evacuated as forest fires reach the outskirts of Athens.

August 24th

1905 - Japan: 127 Japanese troops returning from the Russian war are killed when their steamer collides with a British ship.

1906 - Toronto: Kidney transplants are performed on cats and dogs at a medical conference.

1915 - Paris: The newspaper "Le Figaro" launches a campaign denouncing press censorship.

1916 - Germany: Socialist leader Karl Liebknecht is sentenced to four years imprisonment for his part in peace protests.

1917 - USA: 17 people die when black soldiers riot after a white policewoman strikes a black woman in Houston, Texas.

1921 - Britain: 27 Britons and 16 Americans are killed when the airship ZR II explodes during a trial flight in Hull.

1927 - Britain: 12 people are killed in a train crash at Sevenoaks in Kent.

1931 - Moscow: The USSR and France sign a non-aggression pact.

1934 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler issues a "Ten Commandments" order for bodily purity when choosing a spouse.

1937 - Britain: The company GEC announces the availability of a new television receiver for under £50.

1938 - China: Japanese troops shoot down a Chinese airliner and then machine-gun 19 passengers who were trying to flee.

1947 - Edinburgh: The first International Festival of Music and Drama is launched playing host to 800 performers of 20 nationalities.

1949 - Britain: Essex and England pace-bowler Trevor Bailey takes all ten Lancashire first-innings wickets at Clacton.

1951 - Africa: Secret meetings by the Mau Mau are held in a forest just outside Nairobi at which Africans take an oath to drive the white man from Kenya.

1954 - Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian president Getulio Vargas resigns amid corruption allegations, then commits suicide.

1955 - Britain: A US airman runs amok in Broadstairs, Kent, shooting three people dead, and wounding nine others.

1958 - Portugal: Sterling Moss wins the Portuguese Grand Prix.

1970 - Britain: Part of Windscale nuclear power station is sealed off because of a radioactive leak.

1976 - Britain: James Callaghan puts Dennis Howell in charge of co-ordinating government drought measures.

1981 - New York: Mark David Chapman is jailed for life for the murder of John Lennon.

1991 - USSR: The Ukraine leads the other republics in a move to secede from the Union.

1992 - London: The stock market suffers its biggest one-day fall in more than a year.

1996 - Russia: The main Russian miner's union threaten nationwide strikes unless they receive wages that had not been paid for the previous six months.

2004 - Iraq: US marines and Shi'ite militia fight several battles around the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf.

2006 - Prague: The International Astronomical Union votes to strip "Pluto" of its status as a planet.

August 25th

1902 - New York: The intrepid French-born explorer Harry de Windt successfully completes his 248-day trek from Paris to New York via Siberia.

1903 - London: The Royal Commission into the Boer War, slams poor campaign planning, and reveals that British losses amounted to around 100,000.

1904 - Ireland: The first ocean-going turbine steamer, the "Victoria" is launched in Belfast.

1905 - Russia: Eight crew members of the "Potemkin" are sentenced to death after a court martial for mutiny.

1915 - Britain: Welsh miners refuse to sign a strike settlement.

1918 - Budapest: The Hungarian government expels Jews from the country and confiscates their assets.

1920 - London: David Lloyd George refuses to release Lord Mayor of Cork Tomas MacSwiney, from prison on hunger strike.

1924 - London: The government begins to look at the possibility of generating electricity from the tides of the River Severn.

1932 - Manchester: Noel Coward's play "Words and Music" has its premiere.

1935 - Addis Ababa: Abyssinia is put on a war footing in anticipation of an Italian invasion.

1941 - USSR: The Red Army evacuates Novgorod, 100 miles south of Leningrad.

1942 - France: Military service in the German army becomes compulsory for men in the annexed province of Alsace.

1944 - Bucharest: Following King Michael's armistice with the USSR on August 23, Rumania declares war on Germany.

1946 - Britain: The black market in nylons, chocolate, perfume and other scarce goods flourishes.

1949 - New York: A system for broadcasting colour television is announced by RCA.

1958 - London: The Midland Bank becomes the first bank to offer personal loans.

1962 - Havana: A sea raid takes place by US-based exiles opposed to Castro's government.

1963 - South Vietnam: 600 students are arrested for anti-government protests.

1967 - USA: George Rockwell, founder of the US Nazi Party is shot dead by a sniper.

1969 - London: Rupert Murdoch makes a bid to take over the Sun newspaper.

1973 - London: Doctors report the first use of the "CAT scan."

1978 - Turin: The ancient linen cloth revered by many Catholics as Christ's Shroud, goes on public display for the first time in 45 years on the high altar of St Johns Cathedral.

1987 - New York: The Dow Jones share index reaches a record 2,272 points.

1988 - Britain: The government's announcement of a £2.2 million trade deficit leads to an increase in interest rates.

1992 - Florida: Hurricane Andrew sweeps through the Miami area, killing 15 people.

1997 - Berlin: Egon Krenz, the last leader of Communist East Germany, is sentenced to 6 years in prison for his part in killing escapers attempting to cross the Berlin Wall.

2003 - USA: Pete Sampras announces his retirement from competitive tennis.

2009 - Afghanistan: 40 people are killed and 57 are injured in a car bomb explosion in Khandahar.

August 26th

1902 - London: The General Post Office and the American Express Company agree a deal to carry parcels between the UK and the US.

1906 - Hamburg: German Police discover a bomb factory run by Russian revolutionaries.

1912 - Britain: The worst August rainfall on record - six inches in 12 hours, causes floods that cut off Norwich and several other towns.

1920 - Washington: The 19th Amendment is ratified, giving women the vote in federal elections.

1934 - Irish Free State: Ex-IRA leaders begin recruiting a "Citizens Army" with the aim of setting up a workers state.

1936 - London: Around 7,000 people queue at Olympia to see the first ever talking pictures on television being transmitted from the BBC's new studios at Alexandria Palace. Male Announcer Leslie Mitchell makes his television debut.

1942 - France: A round-up of Jews begins in occupied France.

1945 - London: Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris announces his retirement.

1952 - Britain: The first Juvenile detention centre opens in Oxfordshire.

1954 - Britain: J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" is published.

1955 - Britain: Surrey become County Cricket Champions for the fourth year in succession.

1962 - USA: The US launches it's Mariner II space probe.

1966 - Vietnam: In a case of mistaken identity 20 US soldiers are killed in a napalm attack by their own planes.

1970 - Britain: The second Isle of Wight pop festival begins.

1976 - Lebanon: Figures released state over 40,000 people have been killed in the civil war.

1985 - Paris: A report clears the French government and secret service of involvement in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.

1986 - Cameroons: 1,500 are killed in the Cameroons when a deadly mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas escaped from a volcanic lake near the town of Wum.

1991 - USSR: Nikolai Kruchina who was involved in the coup to topple Mikhail Gorbachev, commits suicide.

2004 - Chile: The supreme court strips former military ruler Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution, allowing him to be prosecuted for alleged involved crimes of murder and torture.

2010 - Alberta: Heavy rain washes Red Argillite Sediment from old sedimentary rock into a river at Waterton Lakes National Park, which causes Cameron Falls to turn red.

August 27th

1905 - Ireland: Severe storms and flooding cause havoc across the country.

1910 - New Jersey: American inventor Thomas Alva Edison demonstrates talking motion pictures at his laboratory in West Orange. His process uses a device which is part camera and part phonograph, enabling picture and sound to be recorded simultaneously.

1916 - London: Thousands of trade unionists protest in Hyde Park against high food prices.

1918 - Washington: The Fuel Administration bans Sunday driving east of the Mississippi.

1923 - London: Neville Chamberlain takes over from Stanley Baldwin as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1928 - Paris: 15 countries meeting in the French Foreign Ministry sign a pact for the Renunciation of War.

1931 - New York: Bankers agree to give Britain £60 million in short-term credit.

1932 - Britain: Three-letter car number plates make their appearance: the first in London is AMY 1.

1936 - Rome: Italy announces plans to issue bonds to fund Abyssinian development.

1940 - Britain: The Luftwaffe carries out night raids on 21 towns and cities.

1942 - Holland: British and US bombers attack Rotterdam.

1944 - Poland: Polish and Soviet officials bring to light the atrocities made by the Nazi's at Maidenek concentration camp. An estimated 1.5 million people of every race and creed are believed to have been systematically killed at the camp.

1947 - Britain: The government announces its latest instalment of austerity cuts, including the meat ration down to one shilling's worth a week, and a ban on pleasure motoring.

1950 - Belgium: Britain wins eight gold medals at the European Games.

1953 - Britain: The De Havilland Comet II makes it's first test flight.

1958 - New York: The crew of the nuclear submarine "Nautilus" get a traditional ticker-tape welcome after their first undersea four day voyage across the North pole beneath the ice-caps.

1964 - Washington: The Government announce plans to send 5,000 US advisers to Vietnam.

1966 - Plymouth: Francis Chichester sets out on a lone round-the -world voyage.

1970 - Britain: Figures released show wages rose on average by 9.9% in the first seven months of the year.

1973 - Saudi Arabia: The Government announces cuts in oil supplies to the US in an effort to try to force a change in their attitude on Israel.

1979 - County Sligo: Lord Mountbatten (79), his grandson Nicholas (14) and a 15-year old boatman, Paul Maxwell are killed when an IRA bomb rips apart their fishing boat Shadow V at Mullaghmore.

1980 - East Germany: Steve Ovett sets a new 1500 metres world record of 3mins 31.4 seconds.

1981 - London: Moira Stuart is appointed the BBC's first black woman newsreader.

1983 - Manila: Crowds of mourners mob the hearse carrying the coffin of murdered opposition leader Benigno Aquino.

1984 - Washington: Ronald Reagan announces that the first ordinary citizen to go into space on the shuttle will be a schoolteacher.

1986 - Washington: A uncovered report alleges that the US accidentally dropped a 42,000-ton hydrogen bomb on New Mexico in 1957.

1992 - Iraq: USAF warplanes begin enforcing a "no-fly zone in southern Iraq aimed at protecting Shiite Moslems.

1996 - Australia: Ivan Milat is jailed for life for the murder of seven backpackers.

2000 - Moscow: The 1,772ft Ostankino Tower, catches fire, leading to the death of three people.

2003 - Outer Space: Mars makes its closest approach to earth for nearly 60,000 years, passing at a distance of 34,646, 418 miles.