1762King George IV was born.

1848The death of George Stephenson English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. This statue of George Stephenson (see  picture) is at the York Railway Museum

1851The Hundred Guinea Cup was offered to the winner of a yacht race around the Isle of Wight. It was won by the US schooner 'America', and the trophy became 'the America's Cup'.

1865Joseph Lister became the first doctor to use disinfectant during surgery.

1877British explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley reached the mouth of the Congo River.

1924The birth, in Todmorden, Yorkshire of Derek Shackleton, Hampshire and England bowler. He holds the record for the most first-class wickets taken by any Hampshire player and for the most first-class wickets taken by any player who began his career after World War II. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted of Shackleton, 'his bowling, like his hair, always seemed immaculate.'

1944The first PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) supplying fuel across the English Channel to the Allied forces in France, went into operation from the Isle of Wight. It could transfer up to 700 tons of fuel a day.

1949Big Ben ran at its slowest for 90 years as flocks of starlings took roost on the minute hands, slowing it by four and a half minutes.

1964A massive manhunt got under way across Britain after Charlie Wilson, one of the gang involved in the Great Train Robbery, broke out of the high-security Winson Green prison in Birmingham. He was on the run for four years, before being finally re-captured in Canada and returned to jail in Britain, where he served out the rest of his sentence. Wilson then moved to the Costa del Sol in Spain, was alleged to have become involved in drugs dealing and was shot dead by a hitman on 23rd April 1990 as he relaxed by his swimming pool.

1964The death of Ian Fleming, the English novelist best known for his James Bond series of spy novels.

1969The Royal Ulster Constabulary used tear gas for the first time in its history after nine hours of rioting in the Bogside area of Londonderry (also known as Derry) erupted after an Apprentice Boys of Derry march. The Apprentice Boys is a Protestant fraternal society that aims to commemorate the 1689 Siege of Derry when Catholic James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland laid siege to the walled city which was at the time a Protestant stronghold.

1991England defeated the West Indies in the fifth Test Match at the Oval, to draw the summer series 2 - 2.

1997The British Tourist Authority came under fire for dropping the Union Flag from its publicity material.

2000The families of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne were joined by friends and hundreds of members of the public for a memorial service.

2003BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan answered questions from the Hutton Inquiry over his report that the government 'sexed up' a weapons dossier on Iraq.

202122 year old Jake Davison killed five people, including his 51-year-old mother Maxine Davison in a six-minute mass shooting in the Keyham area of Plymouth. Police described it as a domestic incident which "spilled into the streets". Also killed were three year old Sophie Martyn and her father Lee. Davison later turned the gun on himself in what was the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010.

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