1423 The Battle of Cravant, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces. The French army contained a large number of Scots under Sir John Stewart. When the French began to withdraw, the Scots refused to flee. Over 3,000 of them fell and over 2,000 were taken prisoners, including John Stewart, leading to a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies.

1703English novelist Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory as punishment for offending the government and church with his satire 'The Shortest Way With Dissenters'. Bystanders pelted him with flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and drank to his health.

1910Dr Crippen was arrested aboard the SS Montrose as it was docking at Quebec. He was charged with the murder of his wife and was the first criminal to be caught by the use of radio.

1917The third Battle of Ypres (World War I) commenced as the British attacked the German lines.

1941World War II: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to 'submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.' The demand led to the Holocaust and the genocide of approximately six million European Jews.

1942The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (later called Oxfam) was founded.

1944Jonathan Dimbleby, broadcaster and TV presenter was born.

1950Britain's first self-service store, (Sainsbury's) opened in Croydon.

1956Yorkshire born cricketer Jim Laker (who played for Surrey) became the first man to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings as he returned figures of 10 wickets for 53 runs against Australia's in the second innings at Old Trafford, Manchester. His match figures for the two innings gave him an incredible 19 wickets for a mere 90 Australian runs.

1959Cliff Richard had his first British No.1 with 'Living Doll'.

1968The first episode (entitled The Man and the Hour) of Dad's Army, a British comedy about the Home Guard in the Second World War. The TV series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers during the 1970s and is still repeated today.

1969 The pre-decimal half penny ceased being legal tender. It had been a regular feature of British coinage since the 13th century.

1970Black Tot Day occurred On This Day. It was the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy that dated back to 1665. It was poured as usual at 6 bells in the forenoon watch (11am) after the pipe of 'up spirits'. Some sailors wore black armbands, tots were 'buried at sea' and in one navy training camp there was a mock funeral procession complete with black coffin and accompanying drummers and piper.

1973Militant Protestants, led by Rev Ian Paisley, disrupted the first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast.

1990In the England v India Test Match at Lords, a total of 1603 runs were scored, in exactly 1603 minutes.

1992The death of Leonard Cheshire, the British pilot and philanthropist who created the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity.

1998The British Government announced a total ban on landmines, a month before the first anniversary of the death of Princess Diana.

2009 The death (aged 76) of Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson CBE, English footballer and football manager. He was manager of Ipswich for 13 seasons during which time the club won the FA Cup and UEFA Cup. He was also manager of Newcastle from September 1999 to 30th August 2004. See the picture of his statue outside St James Park, Newcastle.

2013Magdelena Luczak and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek were found guilty of murdering her four-year-old son Daniel Pelka. Daniel died from a head injury in March 2012 after being left alone in his unheated room for 33 hours. Detectives said that Daniel had been beaten, poisoned with salt and starved and he had had to resort to stealing food from fellow pupils and from school dustbins. During the nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the boy's emaciated body was likened by a doctor to that of a concentration camp victim.

2022England's women's football team won their first ever championship with a 2-1 Euro 2022 victory over Germany during extra time, at Wembley Stadium. The total of 87,192 spectators became the highest total recorded in both men’s and women’s editions of the tournament. The record was previously held by a men’s game in 1964, when an audience of 79,115 watched the final between Spain and the Soviet Union at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.

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