1906The opening of the Piccadilly tube line on London's Underground. It was the longest underground line at the time, running from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith.

1913Suffragettes caused a dynamite explosion at Holloway Prison where Emmeline Pankhurst and Lady Constance Lytton were detained.

1942The birth, in Tottenham, of Dave Clark, English musician with 'The Dave Clark Five'. Their single 'Glad All Over' knocked The Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' off the top of the UK singles charts in January 1964. They had 12 Top 40 UK hits between 1964 and 1967 and disbanded in late 1970. I still have their 1978 vinyl LP (see picture). In 2008, marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the band, The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the shore of Lake Erie in the United States.

1958Crewe Works built its last steam engine, a Class 9 freight locomotive, engine number 92250. It was their 7,331st locomotive since the works were built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway.

1961In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann, one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including war crimes, charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1974New speed limits were introduced. Speed limits on motorways would remain at 70mph , but on dual carriageways they would become 60mph and on all other roads 50mph as the government tried to curb fuel use.

1982Reputed to be Robin Hood's tree, the 'Major Oak' in Sherwood Forest, was fitted with a fire alarm.

1982There were scenes of jubilation as the gates isolating the people of Gibraltar from Spain were opened for the first time in 13 years. There were tight restrictions, which included a ban on any British or foreign tourists crossing.

1984'Do They Know It's Christmas' by Band Aid entered the chart at No.1 and stayed at the top for 5 weeks. At the time it was the biggest selling single ever in the UK, with sales of over three and a half million.

1987A company in Bedford became the first to be fined (£500) for failing to register personal computer records under the Data Protection Act.

1993The British and Irish prime ministers John Major and Albert Reynolds signed the historic Joint Declaration for Peace which they hoped would end 25 years of bombing and murder in Northern Ireland.

1994Former 800m Commonwealth gold-medallist Diane Modahl was found guilty of taking a banned drug, but was cleared a year later on appeal.

2004The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, resigned after an email implicated him in using his Government position to grant favours to his ex-lover.

2013Andy Murray was awarded the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. Earlier in the year Murray had become the first Briton in three quarters of a century to win the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon.

2014Jonathan Paul Burrows, a London hedge fund manager who regularly avoided buying a train ticket on his commute to the City, was banned for life from working in any regulated financial industries. In total, Mr Burrows was believed to have dodged £42,550 in fares.

2015Forty three year old astronaut Major Tim Peake became the first Briton to serve a mission on the International Space Station. He took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 11:03am GMT, alongside Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko.

2022For the first time in its 106 year history, members of the Royal College of Nursing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland took take part in industrial strike action, with a further strike on 20th December.

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