1377At the age of 10, Richard II became King of England following the death of his grandfather Edward III, the previous day.

1535Cardinal John Fisher was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.

1611Henry Hudson, English navigator, was cast adrift with some of his crew after a mutiny in the bay that now bears his name. It was the last time they were seen alive.

1680 The 'Sanquhar Declaration' took place in the public square of Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, disavowing allegiance to Charles II and the government of Scotland. See picture of the monument. The symbolic demonstration, in a speech read by Michael Cameron in the presence of his brother, Covenanter leader Rev. Richard Cameron, was essentially a declaration of war. It was among the first of a series of events that led to the Glorious Revolution and the end of the reign of the House of Stuart.

1802Britain's Health and Morals of Apprentices Act limited children to a maximum twelve hour working day; whilst under nines were banned from the mills.

1814The Marylebone Cricket Club and Hertfordshire played the first match at England's Lord's Cricket Ground.

1893The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria near Tripoli, Lebanon. HMS Victoria sank, taking 358 crew with her, including the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.

1910The birth of John Hunt, English mountaineer and explorer. He led the 1953 expedition on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain (29,035 feet). He described the venture in his book The Ascent of Everest.

1911The Coronation of George V and Mary of Teck, the queen consort.

1921The first Northern Ireland Parliament was opened by King George V in Belfast. Sir James Craig was the first Prime Minister in a parliament that nobody wanted. Southern Irish leaders wanted a united Ireland.

1948The Empire Windrush ship arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex, bringing the first of hundreds of thousands of people who came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 to help rebuild the country after the war.

1959Directors of Harrods urged shareholders to vote for a £34m merger with the Debenhams department chain.

1984The first Virgin Atlantic flight left Gatwick for New York, with a planeload of passengers who had paid just £99 for their tickets.

1986The 'Hand of God' football match. England were beaten 2-1 by Argentina in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Mexico. Both Argentine goals were scored by Diego Maradona - the first with the deliberate use of his hand which went unseen by the referee. It was the first match between the two countries since the Falklands War in 1982.

1995John Major resigned as head of Britain's Conservative Party, but said that he would stay on as prime minister while he fought for re-election. He said he had been under attack for three years and told his critics to 'put up or shut up'.

2001The Parole Board decided that Venables and Thompson, the two schoolboy murderers of 2 year old James Bulger should be released, and their identities protected, after serving just 8 years for a crime that shocked the nation.

2010In his budget, Chancellor George Osborne increased VAT from 17.5% to 20% (to take effect from January 4th 2011) and cut welfare spending as he moved 'decisively' to tackle Britain's record debts.

2012The funerals of the six Philpott children who died in a house fire at their home in Allenton (Derby) in May. Their parents, Mick and Mairead Philpott were charged with their murder and were tried and convicted in 2013.

2012Torrential downpours brought more flooding to swathes of the country. Music fans at the Isle of Wight Festival spent the night in their cars after traffic became gridlocked when heavy rain turned the festival site into a mudbath. The Environment Agency issued around 140 flood warnings throughout Britain.

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