1688The birth of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender to the British throne and son of the deposed James II of England (James VII of Scotland).

1719The Battle of Glen Shiel, in the West Highlands of Scotland took place 'On This Day' between British government troops and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the government forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland Great Britain.

1829The Oxford team won the first-ever Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

1864Cricket authorities in England legalised over-arm bowling.

1921Prince Philip, the former Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth was born; as Philippos Schleswig- Holstein Soenderburg-Glücksburg on the Greek island of Corfu. On his death (9th April 2021) the title passed to Prince Charles.

1923The birth of Robert Maxwell, Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament. His unexplained death (at sea, around the Canary Islands) revealed huge discrepancies in his companies' finances, including the Mirror Group pension fund, which Maxwell had fraudulently misappropriated.

1931Chester Zoo opened its doors to the public for the first time. It was the boyhood dream of George Saul Mottershead from Sale, who vowed to build a 'zoo without bars' when he grew up.

1936 At a special meeting of Skegness Council, John Hassell, one of the greatest of all poster artists and the painter (in 1908) of the famous poster of the Jolly Fisherman (see picture) was '.... henceforth entitled to free access to all municipal undertakings in the town during his lifetime.' It has been said that Skegness rose to fame on the poster and its accompanying slogan 'Skegness is SO bracing'. It is possibly the most famous holiday advertisement ever drawn.

1940World War II: Italy officially declared war on Britain and France.

1942World War II: The Czech village of Lidice was destroyed and every man in it killed in reprisal for the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich. Women and children were deported.

1965A de Havilland jet airliner made the first automatic landing, relying entirely on instruments, at Heathrow Airport.

1977An elusive goldfish eating perch with a prodigious appetite was finally netted after two years on the rampage in a Kent pond. The fish, nicknamed Jaws, was caught by two Southern Water Board engineers equipped with a rowing boat, a fishing net and a 240v stun rod. Jaws was accused of eating 3,000 goldfish in a breeding lake near Canterbury.

1986Patrick Joseph Magee was found guilty of planting the Brighton bomb which had killed five people two years previously.

1986Bob Geldof, the Irish-born singer and charity fund raiser and US citizen John Paul Getty II, were both made honorary knights by Queen Elizabeth II.

1989After an era of 157 years, Britain's last manned lightvessel (Planet LV23, built 1959) was towed away from her position north-west of the Channel Island of Guernsey. She became a cafe / bar and museuum in Liverpool docks and in 2014 Planet became the base for a re-creation of Radio Caroline North, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Radio Caroline pirate radio station. In 2016 she was repossessed by bailiffs for non-payment of mooring fees and was towed from Liverpool to a mooring in Bristol.

1990A British Airways pilot survived after being partly sucked out of the cockpit at 23,000 feet above London.

1993The death of Manchester born comedian Les Dawson. He is remembered for his deadpan style, grumpy on stage personality, and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife. There is a statue of him (see picture) in his home town of Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire.

2000London's new Millennium Bridge was closed for safety checks after large crowds caused it to sway violently.

2012Hundreds of tourists were left to survey the wreckage of their holiday homes after floodwater devastated campsites and villages around Aberystwyth. The heavy rain continued throughout the summer, making 2012 the second wettest year in the UK since records began in 1910 and the wettest ever in England. Scotland fared much better as it was only their 17th wettest.

2013A Dornier 17 German World War II bomber was raised from the bottom of the English Channel. The aircraft was shot down off the Kent coast during the Battle of Britain and is believed to be the only intact example of its kind in the world.

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