1515Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, were officially married at Greenwich.

1568In the Battle of Langside, the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, were defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, who was her half-brother.

1607Riots took place in Northamptonshire and other Midland counties of England in protest at the widespread enclosure of common land.

1607Captain John Smith landed on the coast of Virginia and began the first permanent English settlement in the New World, calling it Jamestown.

1660Diarist Samuel Pepys witnessed the removal of the Irish Harp from the Union Flag, on the Restoration of Charles II. The cross of St Patrick was not added until 1801.

1787The first fleet of ships carrying convicts to the new penal colony of Australia left England. They arrived in January 1788. 'On This Day' in 1987 several sailing ships left Portsmouth, re-enacting the first voyage.

1828The birth of Josephine (Elizabeth) Butler, English social reformer who campaigned for women’s rights in the 1860s and 1870s, promoting education for women and the Married Women’s Property Act.

1842Arthur Sullivan, English composer and collaborator with W.S. Gilbert, was born.

1868A team of Aboriginal cricketers arrived in England to play 47 matches. They preceded a white Australian team by more than ten years.

1907The birth of novelist Daphne du Maurier (Lady Browning), granddaughter of novelist George Browning and best known for her novel Rebecca.

1912The Royal Flying Corps, (now known as the Royal Air Force), was established.

1949Britain’s first jet bomber, the Canberra, was given its first test flight at Warton in Lancashire and was flown by Wing Cdr. RP Beaumont.

1957The BBC began its regular television programmes for schools.

1995A British mother (Alison Hargreaves, aged 33) became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

1977England captain Tony Greig was fired for recruiting players to Australian Kerry Packer's rival World XI team in what was seen as a 'breach of trust'.

1978 The death of Eric Treacy, railway photographer and Bishop of Wakefield. The Treacy Collection of 12,000 photographs forms part of the National Railway Museum's archive of over 1.4 million images. Treacy died at Appleby Railway Station (see plaque) on the Settle-Carlisle Railway. The LMS Black Five locomotive (number 45428) was named Eric Treacy in his memory.

2007 The first episode of 'Gavin & Stacey', a romantic situation comedy. Filmed mainly in South Wales, locations included Boofy’s Chip Shop (see picture) and Island Leisure Amusement Arcade (see picture), both at Western Shelter on Barry Island. It ran for a total of 20 episodes.

2009Health minister Phil Hope agreed to repay £41,709 in second home allowances following further media revelations about MPs expenses.

2013Former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce were released from prison and electronically tagged, having served a quarter of their eight month jail sentences for perverting the course of justice. The ex-energy secretary had asked Pryce to take his speeding points after his BMW car was caught by a speed camera on the M11 between Stansted Airport and London in March 2003.

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