On This Day - 19th September
1356 Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French, and captured the French king, John II at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War. The battle resulted in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War, the other two being Crécy, and Agincourt.
1839 Birth of George Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer. A Quaker, he believed in taking care of the welfare of his workforce, and he created a model village for his employees at Bournville, Birmingham.
1851 Birth of William Hesketh Lever. He changed
the process of soap manufacture by using vegetable oils instead of tallow.
Like George Cadbury he cared about the welfare of his workers, and established
the new town of Port Sunlight (see 
picture) Merseyside, to house them.
1879 The famous illuminations in Blackpool (see 
picture) were switched on for the first
time, a month before electricity was generally available in London. The first display was known as 'Artificial sunshine', and consisted of just eight Arc lamps which bathed the Promenade.
1905 Thomas John Barnardo, British philanthropist (Barnardo's Children's Homes), died.
1934 The birth of Brian Epstein, best known for being the manager of The Beatles until his death in 1967. Decca declined to sign the Beatles to a contract and after approaching nearly all of the major recording companies in London and being rejected, Epstein met a record producer, George Martin, who offered a contract on behalf of EMI's small Parlophone label.
1945 The Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was sentenced to hang for treason.
1946 The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.
1949 The birth of the model Twiggy. She became an icon of the 'swinging sixties' and in 1966 was voted British Woman of the Year.
1952 The United States prevented the English born film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to his Hollywood home until he was investigated by the Immigration Services.
1960 The new traffic wardens issued the first 344 parking tickets in London. Britain's first parking ticket was issued to Dr. Thomas Creighton, who had parked his car outside a London hotel while treating a patient.
1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex. The first festivals in the 1970s were influenced by hippie ethics and the free festival movement. Glastonbury Tor (see 
picture) is at the focal point of the many mysteries that have surrounded the area for millennia.
1975 The first episode of comedy show Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC.
1986 Two passenger trains crashed in Staffordshire, killing two people and injuring almost a hundred more.
1997 An Intercity 125 ploughed into a freight train in Southall, west London, killing six and injuring more than 150.
1998 Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with Millennium.
2000 Chancellor Gordon Brown rejected a 60-day deadline to reduce petrol tax set by fuel price protesters.
2014 Alex Salmond stood down as Scotland's First Minister and Scottish National Party leader after Scotland voted 'No' to becoming an independent country.
2021 The death of Jimmy Greaves (James Peter Greaves), English professional footballer. the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football (357 goals). He also scored more hat-tricks (six) for England than any other player. After retiring as a player, Greaves went on to enjoy a successful career in broadcasting, most notably working alongside Ian St John on Saint and Greavsie from 1985 to 1992.
2022 11:00 am The state funeral, at Westminster Abbey, of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, with viewing areas and big screens in London, Windsor and in a number of cities throughout the United Kingdom. Coverage also in some cinemas across the UK and on BBC One, ITV and Sky, all showing the funeral, followed by a national two-minute silence at 11.55am and a public procession beginning at 12.15pm of Her Majesty’s coffin travelling from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch in London. Queen Elizabeth was the longest serving monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, with a reign that lasted 70 years and 214 days. It was the longest recorded of any female head of state in history, and the second-longest verified reign of any monarch of a sovereign country in history, the longest being Louis XIV. His reign lasted for 72 years and 110 days.