793Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne (see picture) in Northumbria. The event is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.

1042Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark, died. He was succeeded in England by his adopted heir, Edward the Confessor, and in Denmark by Magnus, King of Norway.

1376 The death of Edward of Woodstock known as Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III. He was the hero of Crecy and Poitiers and the upholder of the liberties of the English people. Although he had no connection at all to Leeds, this huge statue (see picture) is in Leeds City Square.

1405Richard le Scrope (Archbishop of York) and Thomas Mowbray (Earl of Norfolk) were executed in York on Henry IV's orders, accused of treason.

1536The English Parliament met and settled the succession on the future children of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate.

1652The birth of William Dampier, English explorer who turned to piracy. His exploits netted him £200,000 worth of treasure in only two voyages.

1724The birth of John Smeaton, considered the founder of English civil engineering. He built the Eddystone lighthouse, at the same time developing cement that could be used underwater. He had an extensive series of commissions including canals and Banff harbour (see picture) in Aberdeenshire.

1772Robert Stevenson, Scottish engineer, was born. He built Bell Rock lighthouse, the first in Scotland.

1901The opening of Cromer Pier (see picture), a Grade II listed seaside pier on the north coast of the county of Norfolk. There are records of a pier in Cromer dating back as far as 1391, although then it was in the form of a jetty. In 2000 and again in 2015 Cromer Pier was voted Pier of the Year by the National Piers Society. Its Pier Show is now the only 'End-of-the-Pier' summer variety show in the world. The present pier has been damaged by storms in 1949, 1953, 1976, 1978, 1990, 2005 and 2013.

1924The last sighting of English climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine; 800 feet from the summit of Mount Everest during the third attempt to become the first men to conquer the world's highest mountain. Their fate was unknown for 75 years, until Mallory's body was discovered in 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains. Whether or not Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.

1963Dr. Stephen Ward, a London osteopath and friend of 'call girl' Christine Keeler, was arrested and charged with living on immoral earnings.

1968James Earl Ray, wanted for the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, was arrested in London, travelling under an assumed name.

1982American President Ronald Reagan became the first American head of state to address a joint session of the British Parliament.

1982Up to fifty British servicemen were killed in an Argentine air attack on two supply ships in the Falklands. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were anchored at Bluff Cove when they were hit by missiles in a surprise raid by five Argentine Skyhawks.

1985All Ireland united behind Barry McGuigan as he won the world featherweight title at Loftus Road, London.

1999Ex-cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for 18 months after admitting he lied during a libel action.

2009Labour suffered its worst post-war election result after it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats in the European elections.

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