1224 The Franciscans, founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi, first arrived in England. They were originally called Grey Friars because of their grey 'habits'.

1515 Thomas Wolsey was invested as a Cardinal. When Wolsey failure to secure Henry VIII's annulment to Catherine of Aragon it caused his downfall and arrest and he was stripped of his government office and property, including Hampton Court.

1547 The Duke of Somerset led the English to victory over the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, Musselburgh. It was the last full scale military 'pitched battle' confrontation between England and Scotland and is seen as the first modern battle in the British Isles.

1813 The first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron in history took palace when US Captain Oliver Hazard Perry led a fleet of nine American ships to victory over a squadron of six British warships at the Battle of Lake Erie.

1891 Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-E, the most popular song in Victorian England in the 1890s was written by former Canadian bandsman Henry J Sayers. Sayers later admitted to copying an Austrian song after hearing the tune being played in a brothel.

1897 George Smith, a London cab driver, became the first person to be convicted for drunken driving. He was fined £1.

1933 English tennis player Fred Perry became the first Briton to win the US Open men's singles championship since Laurence "Laurie" Doherty in 1903.

1939 World War II: The submarine HMS Oxley was mistakenly sunk by the submarine HMS Triton near Norway and became the Royal Navy's first loss. There were only two survivors.

1942 In a single raid, the RAF dropped 100,000 bombs on Dusseldorf.

1960 A goal-less draw between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers became the first English League game shown live on TV.

1963 American Express opened a credit card service in Britain.

1967 Almost 100 per cent of the voters of Gibraltar rejected Spanish rule in favour of retaining British sovereignty.

1973 Scotland Yard began hunting for a teenage suspect after two bombs at mainline stations injured 13 people and brought chaos to central London.

1987 Hypnotist Andrew Newton was permitted to perform on stage, as Westminster Council lifted a 35 year ban on acts of that type. Doctors raised objections to lifting the ban, but Newton was not allowed to demonstrate regression on stage (taking hypnotized people back to their childhood).

1998English football club Manchester United became the first club in the world to have its own TV channel - MUTV.

2001 Charles Ingram won one million pounds on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He was later accused of cheating by having his wife, Diana, and an accomplice, Tecwen Whittock, cough as Ingram announced the correct answer from the available choices. The Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock were convicted, on 7th April 2003, by a majority verdict of 'procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception'. All three were fined and given suspended prison sentences. In October 2004 Diana and Charles Ingram were declared bankrupt.

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