On this day

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan.

1932 - Al Capone, convicted of income tax evasion enters Atlanta Penitentiary.

2000 - Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London.

1760 - The first public hanging took place at Tyburn in London. Earl Ferrers was executed after being convicted of murdering his valet. He was the first to be hanged by the new 'drop' which had just been introduced in the place of the barbarous cart, ladder and medieval three-cornered gibbet.

1961 - Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1967 - The first ever all-British satellite, Ariel 3, was successfully launched into orbit from the United States.

1840 - The first postage stamps, the ‘Penny Black’ and two-penny ‘blues’, which were the brainchild of Roland Hill, officially went on sale in Britain.

1954 - Roger Bannister, a 25 year old British medical student, became the first man to run a mile in less than four minute (at the Iffley Road Sports Ground, Oxford). His time was 3 minute 59.4 seconds.

1999 - In an historic vote, electors in Scotland and Wales went to the polls to chose their representatives for the newly-devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.

1765 - HMS Victory, the ship which became the flagship of British Admiral Horatio Nelson, was launched at Chatham. The ship is now preserved at Portsmouth.

1915 - World War I - The Cunard liner Lusitania, bound for Liverpool, was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland with the loss of almost 1,200 lives. The loss of 128 US citizens brought the USA to the verge of war with Germany.

1945 - Germany signed an unconditional surrender in a small school in Rheims (France) when General Jodl, German Army Chief of Staff, signed his name on documents that formally ended six years of war in Europe.

1999 - The first Scottish Parliament for 300 years was elected.

1660 - Charles II was proclaimed King of England. This was the restoration of the monarchy after the English Civil War and the reign of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.

1701 - English pirate Captain Kidd went on trial at the Old Bailey in London. After being found guilty of piracy he was hanged on May 23rd, 1701.

1945 - VE Day in Europe. After five years, eight months, and five days of massive devastation, the end of the European phase of World War II was celebrated. Victory in Europe was commemorated with celebrations all around the world in recognition of the unconditional surrender of all German forces signed in Reims, France, the day before.

1662 - The first recorded Punch & Judy Show in Britain took place at Covent Garden in London.

1671 - Irishman Colonel Thomas Blood attempted to steal the British Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Despite being caught red-handed, he was pardoned by King Charles II.

1940 - The RAF began night bombing of Germany. In London, it was announced that Winston Churchill would lead a coalition government after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said that he was stepping aside.

1960 - Start of the sexual revolution of the 1960s when the birth control pill went on the market.

1307 - Scottish King Robert the Bruce defeated an English cavalry army at the Battle of Loudon Hill in Ayrshire.

1919 - The first scheduled commercial air service in Britain began. The flight from Manchester to Southport cost 4 guineas one way and was run by A.V.Roe.

1940 - German forces invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg by air and land. The invasion began at dawn with large numbers of aeroplanes attacking the main aerodromes and landing troops. Winston Churchill formed a coalition wartime Government. When he first met his cabinet on 13th May he told them - "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat".

1941 - World War II - The worst night of the Blitz in Britain. 550 German bombers dropped 100,000 bombs on London. More than 1500 people were killed and many thousands more were injured.

1924 - Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging the two companies.

1949 - Siam renames itself Thailand.

1959 - Elvis Presley's 1st entry on UK charts with "Heartbreak Hotel"

1820 - The birth of Florence Nightingale, who attended to the wounded during the Crimean War. ‘The Lady of the Lamp’ had over 10,000 under her care in appalling and unsanitary conditions. Determined to remedy the suffering she had experienced, she raised £50,000 to establish nurses’ training in Britain.

1607 - Captain John Smith landed on the coast of Virginia and began the first permanent English settlement in the New World, calling it Jamestown.

1787 - The first fleet of ships carrying convicts to the new penal colony of Australia left England. They arrived in January 1788. 'On This Day' in 1987 several sailing ships left Portsmouth, re-enacting the first voyage.

1949 - Britain’s first jet bomber, the Canberra, was given its first test flight at Warton in Lancashire and was flown by Wing Cdr. RP Beaumont.