On this day

[greasemonkey]

"1756 John Loudon McAdam, the engineer who invented and gave his name to macadamised (tarmac) roads, was born in Ayr, Scotland."

I knew the story, but didn't realise he was born so long ago.

[K.H]

22nd September
1515 Anne of Cleves, 4th wife of Henry VIII, was born.

1598 The English playwright Ben Jonson, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, killed an actor in a duel and was put on trial for manslaughter. Jonson pleaded guilty but was released by benefit of clergy, a legal ploy through which he gained leniency by reciting a brief bible verse, forfeiting his 'goods and chattels' and being branded on his left thumb.

1692 The last people were hanged for witchcraft in Britain's North American colonies.

1735 Sir Robert Walpole became the first prime minister to occupy 10 Downing Street.

1761 The coronation of George III. In the later part of his life, George III suffered from mental illness. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and George III's eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent until his father's death in 1820.

1791 Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist, was born. He was the inventor of the dynamo, the transformer and the electric motor. The Unit of capacitance - Farad - was named after him.

1896 Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.

1910 The Duke of York's Picture House opened in Brighton. It is now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.

1914 Three British cruisers, Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy, were torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats, killing more than 1,400.

1934 The worst pit disaster in Britain for 21 years killed more than 260 miners in an explosion and fire at the Gresford Mine in Wales.

1955 Independent Television (ITV) began operating. Only six minutes of advertisements were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted. The first advertisement screened was for Gibbs SR toothpaste.

1967 The liner Queen Mary began her 1000th and last Atlantic crossing. A New York docks strike meant that passengers had to carry their own luggage aboard.

1986 Surgeons at Harefield Hospital performed a heart & lung transplant operation on the world's youngest patient - a10 week old baby.

1989 An IRA bomb attack on the Royal Marines School of Music killed 11 people, (10 of them young soldiers) and injured twelve of the bandsmen.

1991 Bryan Adams made chart history when his song - Everything I Do, I Do It For You, had its twelfth consecutive week as the UK No.1.

1999 Screaming Lord Sutch's Official Monster Raving Loony Party honoured his memory with a two minute scream at a pub in Ashburton, Devon. The singer, born David Sutch, hanged himself on 16th June 1999.

1999 Singer Diana Ross was arrested on Concorde after an incident at Heathrow Airport. The singer claimed that a female security guard had touched her breasts when being frisked, and she retaliated by rubbing her hands down the security guard.

2013 Sir Bradley Wiggins added the Tour of Britain title to his collection after sealing an emphatic victory in London. Wiggins, who won the Tour de France and Olympic time trial in 2012, had led since winning the third stage and began stage eight with a 26-second advantage.

[K.H]

23rd September
1338 The first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War between England and France took place On This Day. It was the first naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christofer had three cannons and one hand gun.

1459 In the first major 'Wars of the Roses' battle, the Yorkists, in spite of being heavily outnumbered by 2 to 1, defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Blore Heath, Staffordshire.

1641 The Merchant Royal, a 17th century English merchant ship was lost at sea off Land's End. On board were at least 100,000 pounds of gold (nearly one billion pounds in today's money), 400 bars of Mexican silver and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins, making it one of the most valuable wrecks of all times. The wreck remains undiscovered.

1779 During the American Revolution, John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard beat British forces at the Battle of Flamborough Head (Yorkshire). It became one of the most celebrated naval actions of the American War of Independence.

1817 Spain signed a treaty with Britain to end slave trade.

1940 The George Cross and the George Medal for civilian acts of courage were instituted.

1951 Crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace for news of King George VI following an operation to remove part of his lung.

1952 The star of the silent movies, Charlie Chaplin, returned to his native England after 21 years in the US.

1955 Quizmaster Michael Miles first invited contestants to 'Open the box' in the long running show Take Your Pick.

1961 The Shadows debut album 'Shadows' started a four week run at No.1 on the UK charts.

1974 The world's first Ceefax teletext service was begun by the BBC.

1976 A fire on one of the Royal Navy's latest guided missile destroyers (HMS Glasgow) killed eight men.

1986 England and Yorkshire batsman Geoff Boycott was controversially sacked from Yorkshire Cricket Club after playing for the county side for 24 years.

1987 An Australian court lifted the ban on the publication of Peter Wright's autobiography, Spycatcher.

1987 Britain ended arms sales to Iran.

1996 London police raided several suspected IRA hideouts across the city, seizing around 10 tons of homemade explosives and killing one suspected IRA member.

2000 British rower Steve Redgrave won his fifth consecutive gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games, a feat surpassed only by Sir Chris Hoy at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Redgrave is the third most decorated British Olympian with six medals, after the seven of Hoy and the seven of cyclist Bradley Wiggins.

[K.H]

24th September
1564 The birth, in Gillingham, of William Adams, the English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach the country. Adams was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's best selling novel Shōgun.

1645 The Battle of Rowton Heath took place some 2 miles to the south-east of Chester.The Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army, commanded in person by King Charles, prevented Charles from relieving the Siege of Chester.

1776 The oldest of the British classic horse races, the St Leger, was run for the first time at Doncaster Racecourse.

1842 Bramwell Bronte, brother of the Bronte sisters, died of drugs and drink. He was the model for the drunkard Hindley Earnshaw in Wuthering Weights. More about the Brontes and Haworth.

1853 Liverpools' Northern Daily Times became England's first provincial daily newspaper.

1916 A local policeman rounded up and took into custody the crew of the German Zeppelin LZ-76 that had been forced down near Colchester.

1931 The birth of Anthony Newley, actor, singer and songwriter. He won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for 'What Kind of Fool Am I?' He also wrote songs that others made hits including the title song for the James Bond film 'Goldfinger'.

1942 The birth of Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers. In 1963 he reached the UK No.1 with his record 'You'll Never Walk Alone', now the anthem of Liverpool Football Club. We saw him perform at Great Yarmouth in 2009. Ah ..... nostalgia!

1957 BBC Television for schools began.

1967 The two 'Queens' of the Cunard Line, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, passed each other in the Atlantic for the last time.

1971 Over 100 Russian diplomats were expelled from Britain for spying, following revelations made by a Soviet defector.

1975 The world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, was successfully scaled for the first time via its southwest face by British climbers Dougal Haston and Doug Scott.

1976 The Rhodesian Government agreed to introduce black majority rule to the country within two years. Prime Minister Ian Smith was not happy with the conditions.

1991 In Beirut, the British hostage Jackie Mann was freed by the Shi'ite Muslim Revolutionary Justice Organisation after spending more than two years in captivity. He had been kidnapped in May 1989.

1992 David Mellor resigned as heritage minister, blaming his departure on a constant barrage of hostile stories in the tabloid press.

2009 The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure was discovered buried in a field in Staffordshire. Terry Herbert, who found it on farmland using a metal detector, said that it was a metal detectorist's dream. Experts said that the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, was unparalleled in size and worth "a seven-figure sum".

[K.H]

25th September
1066 England's King Harold II defeated the King of Norway (Harald Hardrada), at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. After a horrific battle, Hardrada and most of the Norwegians were killed. Although Harold repelled the Norwegian invaders, his victory was short-lived and he was defeated and killed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings less than three weeks later.

1687 Sir Isaac Newton published his theories on gravitation.

1818 The first blood transfusion using human blood took place at Guy's Hospital in London.

1852 Birth of Field Marshal Sir John French. From 1914-15 he was the supreme commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France; after that, of the Home Forces.

1885 It snowed in London - the earliest recorded winter fall despite reports that on 12th June 1791 snow was sighted over the capital.

1897 The start of Britain’s first motorized (as opposed to horse-drawn) bus service, in Bradford.

1929 Comedian Ronnie Barker was born. TV programmes included - Porridge, Open all Hours and The Two Ronnies.

1944 World War II: Surviving elements of the British 1st Airborne Division withdrew from Arnhem in the Netherlands, thus ending the Battle of Arnhem and Operation Market Garden. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time.

1956 A Transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated. It consisted of 4,500 miles of cable, laid in waters up to 2.5 miles deep between Gallanach Bay, near Oban and Clarenville, Newfoundland and initially carried 36 telephone channels.

1967 Britain, France and West Germany signed an agreement to co-operate on an 'airbus' airliner, intended to rival American production.

1977 In Britain, independent airline owner Freddie Laker took on the main commercial airlines with his first 'Skytrain' service between London and New York.

1983 Thirty eight republican prisoners, armed with 6 handguns, hijacked a prison meals' lorry and smashed their way out of the Maze prison in County Down, Northern Ireland, considered one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe. The escape was the biggest in British history, and the biggest in Europe since World War II when 76 Allied POW's managed to escape from German Stalag Luft III.

1996 The last of the 'Magdalene Asylums' closed in Waterford, Ireland. The asylums, for 'fallen women' and others believed to be of poor moral character, such as prostitutes, operated for much of the 19th and well into the 20th century.

1997 The British Thrust SCC car, driven by Andy Green, set a new world record land speed record of 714.44 mph in Nevada.

2010 Ed Miliband won the Labour leadership after narrowly beating brother David in a dramatic run-off vote ahead of the party's conference.

2012 In what was claimed to be a world first, the Tullibardine whisky distillery in Perthshire signed a deal to turn by-products from their distillery into butanol to power cars.

[K.H]

26th September
1580 The Devonshire born seaman Francis Drake returned to Plymouth, in the Golden Hind, becoming the first British navigator to circumnavigate the earth. Drake plundered a few Spanish ships en-route to keep morale high!

1687 The city council of Amsterdam voted to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution. King James II of England (James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland) was overthrown and William ascended the English throne as William III of England, jointly with his wife Mary II of England.

1748 The birth of Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars.

1861 The first British Open Golf Championship began at Prestwick, Ayrshire.

1879 The world's first railway dining car was introduced in Britain on the line between London and Leeds.

1887 The birth of Sir Barnes Wallis, scientist, engineer and inventor of the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in the 'Dambusters' raid to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II.

1934 The liner Queen Mary was launched at Clydebank, Scotland, by ........ Queen Mary.

1938 Concerned about the prospect of war with Germany (which turned out to be a year away) British civilians were issued with gas masks.

1953 Sugar rationing in Britain came to an end.

1955 Frozen Birdseye fish fingers first went on sale in Britain.

1956 The highest score in a single match in the European Cup was won by Manchester United, who beat Anderlecht 10-1.

1973 Concorde made its first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time, cutting the previous record in half, and flying at an average speed of 954 mph.

1979 Compulsory metrication in Britain was abandoned.

1984 Britain agreed to transfer full sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997, ending 150 years of British rule.

1997 Queen Elizabeth II and the British Government announced that the Royal Yacht Britannia would neither be refitted nor replaced because of the high cost. She is now a floating tourist attraction in Edinburgh. See pictures of the State Drawing Room and the Queen's bedroom.

2011 The wreck of SS Gairsoppa, a UK cargo ship sunk by a German U-boat in 1941, was found in the Atlantic, around 300 miles off the coast of Ireland by US exploration firm Odyssey Marine. The wreck contained 200 tonnes of silver worth about £150m making it the largest haul of precious metal ever discovered at sea.

2013 The funeral service was held for 5 year old April Jones, in her hometown of Machynlleth, mid Wales. She was murdered by 47-year-old Mark Bridger almost a year previously, sparking the biggest missing person search in UK police history. Her body was never found.

[K.H]

27th September
1066 William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River in Picardy, northern France, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.

1672 A new British company, the 'Royal Africa Company' was given a monopoly of the African slave trade to America, with discounts for those who purchased entire shiploads.

1825 The world’s first public railway service began with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Built by George Stephenson, the track was 27 miles long, and the steam locomotive Active pulled 32 passenger wagons at ten miles per hour.

1888 The first use of the name, 'Jack the Ripper' in an anonymous letter to the Central News Agency. He went on to kill five women, and it's believed he may have been responsible for the deaths of four more.

1938 The 83,000 ton liner 'Queen Elizabeth' was launched at John Brown's Yard on Clydebank in Scotland by the Queen Mother. With her sister ship Queen Mary, she provided luxury liner service between Southampton and New York via Cherbourg in France.

1960 Bank Underground Station in London opened Europe's first 'moving pavement' .

1967 The Queen Mary arrived in Southampton at the end of its last transatlantic voyage.

1968 The musical Hair, (which took advantage of the end of British stage censorship by including a scene cast in the nude), had its first London performance. It played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973.

1979 Gracie Fields, the Rochdale born wartime singer, died aged 81, in Canzone Del Mare, Capri. Her most famous song was 'Sally' which she sang at nearly every performance she made from 1931 onwards.

1979 The BBC's Question Time aired for the first time, chaired by Robin Day, who stayed with the programme for ten years.

1979 The death (aged 26) from heart failure caused by a heroin overdose of Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish musician and songwriter best known for playing lead guitar in Paul McCartney's Wings from 1974 to 1977.

1987 Tony Jacklin led a team of 12 golfers, including Seve Ballesteros, to win the Ryder Cup. It was the first time the US team had been defeated on their home ground.

1991 The first Scrabble Championship was held in London, with 20 countries competing.

1993 The Government announced its plans to privatise the Post Office.

1995 There was anger within the Government when a European Court of Human Rights ruling condemned the killing, by the British SAS, of three IRA terrorists in Gibraltar in 1988.

2011 David Croft died, aged 89. He was particularly noted for producing and co-writing a string of popular BBC sitcoms including Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!, Hi-De-Hi!, Are You Being Served?, You Rang M’Lord? and It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

[K.H]

28th September
1066 Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy (or William the Bastard, as he was often called at the time, due to his illegitimate status ) landed at Pevensey in East Sussex to begin his invasion of England.

1106 Henry I of England defeated his brother, Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Tinchebray, in Normandy. It was a decisive victory and the battle lasted just one hour. The Duke was captured and imprisoned in England and then at Cardiff Castle until his death. England and Normandy remained under a single ruler until 1204.

1745 At the Drury Lane Theatre, London, God Save the King, the national anthem, was sung for the first time. The score used was prepared by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778) leader of the orchestra and composer of Rule Britannia.

1864 'The First International' was founded in London, when Karl Marx proposed the formation of an International Working Men's Association.

1865 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first qualified woman physician in Britain. Along with Benjamin Britten, artist J.M.W. Turner and the poet George Crabbe, she had connections with Aldeburgh in Suffolk.

1884 Simon Marks, a Polish immigrant, and Yorkshireman Tom Spencer opened their Penny Bazaar in Leeds, setting the foundations for the Marks and Spencer chain.

1912 Unionists in Northern Ireland signed the Solemn League and Covenant, pledging resistance to Home Rule for Ireland.

1918 World War I: The start of the Fifth Battle of Ypres. The British sustained almost 5,000 casualties but advanced the front line by up to 18 miles and captured approximately 10,000 German soldiers, 300 guns and 600 machine guns.

1923 The Radio Times was first published.

1928 Parliament passed the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.

1928 The Scottish born pharmacologist Sir Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

1946 Future England football captain Billy Wright played in his first England international.

1984 A high court judge ruled that the miners' strike was unlawful because a union ballot was never held.

1985 Riots broke out on the streets of south London after a woman was shot and seriously injured in a house search. Local people had already been very critical of police tactics in Brixton and a mood of tension exploded into violence as night fell.

1986 British boxer Lloyd Honeyghan won the world welterweight title.

1996 At Ascot, Frankie Dettori became the first jockey to win all seven races at a meeting. The odds on this happening were 25,095 to 1. Bookmakers lost over £18 million pounds as a result.

2013 Baroness Thatcher's ashes were laid to rest in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. Lady Thatcher died, aged 87, on 8th April. A simple headstone bore the inscription Margaret Thatcher 1925 – 2013. She was Britain's first and only woman prime minister and the longest-serving prime minister of the twentieth century,

[K.H]

29th September
1399 The first English monarch to abdicate, Richard II, was replaced by Bolingbroke, who ascended the throne as Henry IV.

1650 Henry Robinson opened the first marriage bureau, in England.

1755 Robert Lord Clive, (Clive of India), founder of the British empire in India, was born.

1758 Lord Horatio Nelson was born, in the village of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk. He defeated the French and her allies on numerous occasions during the age of Napoleon Bonaparte and was naval hero at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson's parents were married in St. Michael's Parish Church, Beccles, Suffolk.

1793 Tennis was mentioned for the first time in an English sporting magazine.

1829 The Metropolitan Police of London, later also known as the Met. was inaugurated and was London's first regular police force, The officers became known as 'bobbies' after Robert Peel, the home secretary who founded the modern police force.

1885 The first practical, public electric tramway in the world was opened in Blackpool. (Picture of a Blackpool tram).

1913 The birth of Trevor Howard, film, stage and television actor. Over time he became one of Britain's finest character actors whose works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty, Von Ryan's Express, The Charge of the Light Brigade, Ryan's Daughter, Superman and Gandhi. It is alleged that throughout his film career Howard insisted that all of his contracts held a clause excusing him from work whenever a cricket Test Match was being played.

1938 England, France, Germany and Italy signed the Munich Pact, under which the Sudetenland was given to Nazi Germany. In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. World War II began the following year!

1946 BBC launched the 'Third Programme', later to become Radio 3.

1952 British and world water speed record holder John Cobb was killed on Loch Ness in Scotland when his craft 'Crusader' broke up after hitting waves at 240 mph.

1956 Sebastian Coe was born. As a 1500m runner he won Olympic gold in 1980 & 1984. He headed the successful London bid (2005) to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and became chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

1963 The Rolling Stones started their first tour, as the opening act for Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers.

1997 British scientists said they had established a link between a human brain disease - vCJD - and one found in cows - BSE.

2007 Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station, was demolished in a controlled explosion. When it closed on 31st March 2003, the first reactor had been in use for nearly 47 years.

2011 Britons basked in record-breaking temperatures of 29C (84F). The mercury peaked in the East Midlands, beating the previous 29th September high of 27.8C (82F), which was recorded in York in 1895.

[K.H]

30th September
1630 John Billington, one of the original pilgrims who sailed to the New World on the Mayflower, became the first man executed in the English colonies. He was hanged for having shot another man during a quarrel.

1772 James Brindley, British canal builder and one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century was buried, just nine days after the completion of his Birmingham Canal.

1788 Lord Raglan, British field-marshal was born. He lost his arm in battle, thus giving his name to a design of sleeve.

1840 The foundation stone for Nelson's Column was laid in Trafalgar Square.

1888 Jack the Ripper murdered two more women - Liz Stride, found behind 40 Berner Street, and Kate Eddowes in Mitre Square, both in London's East End. Unlike murderers of lesser fame, there is no waxwork figure of Jack the Ripper at Madame Tussauds' Chamber of Horrors, in accordance with their policy of not modelling persons whose likeness is unknown. He is instead depicted as a shadow.

1933 The birth, in Oldham, Lancashire of Barbara Knox, best known for playing Rita Tanner (née Littlewood, previously Fairclough and Sullivan) in the television soap opera Coronation Street . She has been a 'regular' since 1972 and In 1989 she won the TV Times award for best actress following her involvement in the dramatic Alan Bradley storyline.

1936 Pinewood Film Studios opened near Iver, in Buckinghamshire, to provide Britain with a film studio to compete with America's Hollywood Studios in California.

1938 The League of Nations unanimously outlawed 'the intentional bombings of civilian populations'.

1939 Identity cards were issued in Britain.

1944 Calais was reoccupied by the Allies.

1945 The Bourne End rail crash, in Hertfordshire killed 43 when an overnight sleeping-car express train from Scotland to London Euston derailed due to a driver's error when he took a turn at nearly 60 mph when the maximum speed was 15 mph. The engine and the first six carriages overturned and fell down an embankment into a field, only the last three coaches remained on the rails.

1951 Big crowds attended the final ceremonies which marked the official end of the Festival of Britain.

1967 The BBC Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service were replaced with BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 Respectively. BBC Radio 1 was also launched, with Tony Blackburn, a former Radio Caroline DJ, presenting the first show.

1971 The British Government named Oleg Lyalin as the Soviet defector who, the previous week had exposed dozens of Russians alleged to be spying in the UK.

1987 Keith Best, MP, was sentenced to four months in prison for trying to obtain British Telecom shares by deception.

1988 A court in Gibraltar declared that the killing of three unarmed IRA suspects by British soldiers was lawful.

[K.H]

1st October
959 Edgar the Peaceable became king of all England. 'The Peaceable', was not necessarily a comment on the deeds of his life, for he was a strong leader, shown by his seizure of the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his older brother. His reign though, was a remarkably peaceable one, thanks to draconian laws that involved having one's tongue ripped out, at best, for stealing an apple.

1207 The birth of King Henry III, the son and successor of King John. He reigned for 56 years, from 1216 until his death.

1553 The Coronation of Queen Mary I. She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism and she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions.

1843 The News of the World, Britain's most popular Sunday newspaper, was first published. It was, at one time, the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, but amid a public backlash after allegations of phone hacking, News International announced the closure of the newspaper on 7th July 2011.

1869 The Midland Railway opened St Pancras station in London. Designed by William Henry Barlow its arched engine shed (the Barlow train shed) was, at the time of opening, the largest single-span roof in the world.

1870 The first British halfpenny postage stamp, in lilac, was issued.

1906 The first hot-air balloon race was staged at Whitley, Yorkshire and was won by US Army Lieutenant Frank Lahm.

1935 Julie Andrews, English actress and singer was born.

1936 The BBC began regular TV broadcasts from Alexandra Palace, north London.

1943 World War II: The Italian city of Naples fell to Allied soldiers.

1946 Germany's Deputy Fuhrer, Rudolph Hess - captured in Scotland after mysteriously parachuting from a plane during World War II - was sentenced to life imprisonment.

1954 The UK Top 12 Pop Chart became a Top 20.

1957 A vaccine against the strain of influenza that had been sweeping around the world was made available to the British public.

1974 The first McDonalds restaurant opened in London.

1974 British boxer John Conteh became Light Heavyweight Champion of the World.

1985 Police closed off areas of Liverpool & London after outbreaks of violence & vandalism.

1993 RAC patrolman Mervyn Jacobs was called out to jump start a minesweeper. It was not a problem for him. He just ran a 50 foot lead from his van!

2012 Surrey police confirmed that the late Sir Jimmy Savile was questioned over allegations of child sex abuse in 2007. In the aftermath, towns and organisations distanced themselves from their associations with the former TV presenter, commemorative plaques were removed and Savile's triple gravestone was sent to a landfill site after being removed from a Scarborough cemetery.

2014 The vehicle tax disc, first introduced in 1921, ceased to exist in paper form from 1st October, with a new electronic system being put in its place.

[Keef]

And 40 years ago today I passed my driving test, how old do I feel.

Should have gone to that brand new McDonalds place to celebrate!

[greasemonkey]

"1946 Germany's Deputy Fuhrer, Rudolph Hess - captured in Scotland after mysteriously parachuting from a plane during World War II - was sentenced to life imprisonment."

My Grandmother did the paperwork to get him food rations. She thought it was a joke at first.