1333Wars of Scottish Independence: The English won a decisive victory over the Scots at the Battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick-upon-Tweed. In England the victory, the first for many years, brought a great boost to the morale of the nation. Bannockburn had finally been avenged.

1545The Mary Rose, the pride of Henry VIII's battle fleet, sank in the Solent with the loss of 700 lives. (The ship was raised on 11th October 1982 to be taken to Portsmouth Dockyard where she is undergoing conservation in the Mary Rose Hall. See picture of the Hall, close to Nelson's Victory. See also a picture of the ship's bell and cannon salvaged from the Mary Rose.

1553Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I as Queen of England after having the title for just nine days.

1832The British Medical Association was founded, as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, by Sir Charles Hastings, at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.

1837Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 236 ft steamship, the Great Western, was launched at Bristol. She was the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and was also the largest vessel in the world. On the same day in 1843, Brunel's 'SS Great Britain', (see picture) the first Atlantic liner built of iron, was also launched. She is now restored and can be viewed at the Great Western Dockyard in Bristol.

1918The end of World War I approached as the German army began retreating across the Marne River in France.

1919Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen, unhappy with unemployment and other grievances, rioted and burn down Luton Town Hall. During the riot people broke into Farmers Music Shop and dragged pianos into the streets for dancing and singing, including, ironically 'Keep the home fires burning'. The mayor at the time, Henry Impey was smuggled out of Luton never to return.

1941Winston Churchill introduced his 'V for Victory" campaign which rapidly spread through Europe. The BBC took the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which matched the dot-dot-dot-dash Morse code for the letter V, and played it before news bulletins.

1969British rower John Fairfax arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after becoming the first person to row across the Atlantic alone. He had left the Canary Islands on January 20th in a 24’ rowing boat and after 180 days and 4000 miles he had finished his journey. Three years later, with his girl friend, he rowed the 8000 miles from San Francisco to the Hayman Islands off the Queensland Coast.

1970The SS Great Britain was finally welcomed home, back to Great Western Dockyard in Bristol (see picture) where she was built, exactly 127 years to the day after her launch in 1843. See 57 minutes of footage from the 1970 BBC archive. (Note - Since 1937 the SS Great Britain had lain, scuttled in the shallow waters of Sparrow Cove, close to Port William in the Falkland Islands).

1972 The Battle of Mirbat, arguably the finest moment in SAS history. The battle was fought in the Gulf state of Oman, with British troops supporting the Sultan of Oman. Just nine Special Forces soldiers overcame 300 Communist guerrillas, known as the Adoo.

1976British fishermen urged the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Crosland, to secure a 50-mile fishing zone around the UK.

1986English boxer Frank Bruno was beaten in a heavyweight world championship contender fight by American Tim Witherspoon.

1990MPs voted in favour of permanent televising of the House of Commons.

1997The Irish Republican Army (IRA) restored its cease-fire (broken on 9 February 1996) in order to participate in talks on the future of Northern Ireland.

1999An academic study revealed that four million children in Britain were living in poverty.

2001Former Tory MP, Jeffrey Archer, was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and sentenced to four years in prison.

2013Comic actor and writer Mel Smith died of a heart attack, aged 60. He was known for the sketch shows 'Alas Smith and Jones' and 'Not The Nine O'Clock News'. Smith formed a lasting partnership with co-performer Griff Rhys Jones with whom he set up the independent television company, Talkback Productions.

2021The Meteorological Office issued its first ever extreme heat warning under its new service (launched in June), with temperatures possibly reaching 33C in western areas and likely to remain high for another five days.

2022The UK recorded temperatures of over 40C (104F) for the first time. 40.3C was recorded at Coningsby in Lincolnshire, one of 34 locations to exceed the previous high of 38.7C that was set as recently as July 2019. Scotland also recorded its hottest day ever, with a temperature of 34.8C at Charterhall in the Borders. London's fire service had its busiest day since World War Two. In Wennington, east London, two rows of terraced houses, four other homes, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by multiple fires and 15 areas around the UK declared major incidents.

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