1685 The Taunton Assize trials came in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. The trials were led by Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys. Of more than 500 prisoners brought before the court, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county.
1809 The Royal Opera House opened, in Covent Garden, Central London. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House The current building is the third theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1857.
1837 Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young co-found a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" in New York City, later renamed in 1853 as "Tiffany & Co."
1932 Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1964 TV series "The Addams Family" premieres on ABC.
1970 Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax, that along with alcohol, caused a fatal overdose.
1971 Momofuku Ando markets the first Cup Noodle, packaging it in a waterproof polystyrene container.
1985 "The Equalizer" debuts in the US on CBS.
1987 Film thriller "Fatal Attraction" is released.
1994 Warwickshire became the first side to win the County Cricket Championship, the Benson and Hedges Cup and the Sunday League title in one season.
1998: Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers were charged by the Football Association with breaching betting regulations.
2014 A referendum was held in Scotland, with one single question on the ballot paper - "Should Scotland be an independent country?" The "No" side won, with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom
2014 The world famous golf club, the Royal & Ancient at St. Andrews, voted overwhelmingly to end its 260-year ban on female members, with immediate effect.
Didn't know whether to post this or not as it isn't exactly relevant to history but there's something about him and his views (sticking a dagger in him) which are quite unnerving for someone so young.
1356 Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French, and captured the French king, John II at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War. The battle resulted in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War, the other two being Crécy, and Agincourt.
1879 The famous illuminations in Blackpool were switched on for the first time, a month before electricity was generally available in London. The first display was known as 'Artificial sunshine', and consisted of just eight Arc lamps which bathed the Promenade.
1893 New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote.
1945 The Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was sentenced to hang for treason.
1946 The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.
1952 The United States prevented the English born film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to his Hollywood home until he was investigated by the Immigration Services.
1960 The new traffic wardens issued the first 344 parking tickets in London. Britain's first parking ticket was issued to Dr. Thomas Creighton, who had parked his car outside a London hotel while treating a patient.
1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex. The first festivals in the 1970s were influenced by hippie ethics and the free festival movement.
1975 The first episode of comedy show Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC.
1976 New York concert promoter Sid Bernstein offers $230 million for a Beatles reunion; they politely decline.
1990 "Goodfellas" starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta, is released.
1998 Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with Millennium.
1999 When Bobby Robson made his home debut as manager of Newcastle United Alan Shearer scored five goals in Newcastle's 8-0 Premiership rout of Sheffield Wednesday.
2007 The world of football was shocked by the news that the ‘Special One’ was leaving Chelsea. Increasing tensions between club owner Roman Abramovich and manager José Mourinho came to a head after an unimpressive start to the new season.
2014 Alex Salmond stood down as Scotland's First Minister and Scottish National Party leader after Scotland voted 'No' to becoming an independent country.
1258 The consecration of Salisbury Cathedral. The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom at 123m/404 ft. It also has the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain, the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and the best surviving of the four original copies of Magna Carta.
1854 The Russian army was defeated by the British and French at the Battle of Alma, considered to be the first battle of the Crimean War. The first six Victoria Crosses to be awarded to the British Army for acts of bravery during the fighting were won at this battle.
1917 The first RSPCA animal clinic was opened, in Liverpool.
1964 The Beatles' first US tour ended with a charity concert in New York.
1969 John Lennon leaves The Beatles but agrees to not make an official announcement. The recording of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" marks the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio.
1969 Ryder Cup Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: US, Great Britain tie, 16-16; great sporting gesture, America's Jack Nicklaus concedes missable 3-foot putt to Tony Jacklin at the 18th hole for the draw.
1973 The body of The Byrds guitarist Gram Parsons is stolen and taken to Joshua Tree National Park, where it is set on fire.
Parsons died the previous day after a visit to Joshua Tree when he took an overdose of alcohol and morphine. His body is at Los Angeles International Airport, scheduled to be flown to his family in New Orleans, but his friends Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin have other ideas: Showing up at the airport in Kaufman's hearse (his everyday vehicle), they claim the body, signing the release forms as "Jeremy Nobody."
They head to Joshua Tree, about 200 miles away, stopping at a bar along the way where they drink a toast to Parsons. Arriving at the Cap Rock landmark in the park, they unload Parsons' casket, douse it with gas and set it on fire. Cap Rock has special significance, as it's where Parsons enjoyed an evening with Keith Richards doing peyote.
The following day, authorities find the body, and Kaufman and Martin are later arrested, fined, and given suspended sentences. Kaufman claims that Parsons had asked for the desert consecration, and that he was simply carrying out his wishes.
The incident becomes legend and provides Parsons with a far more elegant ending than his hotel room overdose.
1973 Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match.
1984 "Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV.
1997 Elton John started a six week run at No.1 in the UK singles chart with "Candle in the Wind '97'' as a tribute to Princess Diana. It became the best-selling single of all time.
2004 Legendary former Nottingham Forest and Derby County boss Brian Clough died from stomach cancer at the age of 69.
2012 Apple's new mapping service for iPhone users was launched, with many errors. It relocated London - England to London - Ontario, Paddington station vanished and Dublin was gifted a previously undiscovered airport on a 35 acre working farm. Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, was nowhere to be found while the Welsh town of Pontypridd was transplanted six miles north-west and placed where Tonypandy should have been.
2014 Dr. Michael Ramscar and a team of scientists suggested that the brains of older people only appear to slow down because they have so much information to compute, much like a full-up hard drive. “The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more.”
1327 Deposed King Edward II of England was murdered, with a red hot poker in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire by order of his wife, to ensure the succession of his son Edward III.
1745 Bonnie Prince Charles and his Jacobite army defeated the English at the Battle of Prestonpans, in Scotland.
1915 Stonehenge was sold at auction to Mr C H Chubb for £6,600 as a present for his wife. Mr Chubb presented it to the nation three years later as his wife didn't think it suited her.
1949 The Republic of Ireland beat England 2-0 at Goodison Park - England's first home defeat by a foreign football team.
1955 In his last fight, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano KOs light heavyweight Archie Moore in the 9th round at Yankee Stadium, NYC.
1962 Bamber Gascoigne's University Challenge was screened for the first time.
1965 BP found oil in the North Sea.
1966 Jimmy Hendrix changes spelling of his name to "Jimi"
1971 The musical variety show The Old Grey Whistle Test premieres on BBC-TV, featuring America as well as clips of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.
1972 The birth of Liam Gallagher (born William John Paul Gallagher) musician and singer-songwriter.
1979 Bruce Springsteen debuts his song "The River" at a show in Madison Square Garden. He is performing as part of Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) in a protest against nuclear power. Other artists that go on before him have to contend with the constant droning of "Broooooooooooooce," as he's the main attraction. Bonnie Raitt doesn't figure out until after her set that the crowd was not booing her, just anticipating Springsteen's performance.
1984 Police and miners clashed at a pit in Maltby, South Yorkshire, in one of the biggest pickets since the miners' strike began.
1985 Madonna scored her first UK No.1 album with Like A Virgin, ten months after its release.
1985 Charlton Athletic beat Stoke 2-0 in front of an 8,858 crowd who witnessed the clubs' last match before a period of exile from their home ground, The Valley. There were ground-shares with Crystal Palace and West Ham before Charlton finally returned home in 1992.
1986 Prince Charles admitted that he talked to his plants.
1994 Gary Lineker announced that he would be retiring from playing football after picking up a toe injury while playing for Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan and would be joining the BBC.
1999 While being searched at London's Heathrow Airport, Diana Ross allegedly assaults the security guard in question and is detained for five hours.
2011 R.E.M. announce that they're calling it quits after more than 30 years.
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 during Salem witch trials.
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.
1896 Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history. The record stood until 9th September 2015 when Queen Elizabeth II became the longest serving monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
1910 The Duke of York's Picture House opened in Brighton. It is now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
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.
1971 When the UEFA Cup replaced the Fairs Cup at the start of the 1971/72 season UEFA invited the two clubs with the best records in the Fairs Cup to play-off for the honour of keeping the old trophy. One was Barcelona, who won the first Fairs Cup final in 1958, with the other being Leeds who had defeated Juventus to win the last Fairs Cup final in 1971. On 22nd September 1971 in front of 35,000 at the Nou Camp Leeds were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona.
1973 Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield: US beats Great Britain & Ireland, 19-13; first time 'Ireland' included in team name.
1976 TV dama "Charlie's Angels" starring Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith debuts.
1985 French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius appears on TV to confess "Agents of the DGSE sank the boat Rainbow Warrior and that they acted on orders.”
1989 "Baywatch" starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson debuts on NBC.
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.
1994 "Friends" TV sitcom debuts on NBC.
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.
2005 Jonathan Woodgate didn’t make the best of debuts for Real Madrid following his move from Newcastle – he scored an own goal and was sent off against Athletic Bilbao.
2013 Sir Bradley Wiggins added the Tour of Britain title to his collection after sealing an emphatic victory in London.
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.
1940 The George Cross and the George Medal for civilian acts of courage were instituted.
1952 The star of the silent movies, Charlie Chaplin, returned to his native England after 21 years in the US.
1969 Northern Star and Illinois Univ newspaper start rumors that Paul McCartney is dead.
1969 "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is released.
1974 The world's first Ceefax teletext service was begun by the BBC.
1980 Bob Marley plays his final concert: a 20-song set at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh with his group, The Wailers. Just after the performance, Marley, who is suffering from cancer that has spread to his brain, collapses and is taken to a hospital for treatment. The rest of the tour is canceled, and Marley dies on May 11, 1981.
1986 England and Yorkshire batsman Geoff Boycott was controversially sacked from Yorkshire Cricket Club after playing for the county side for 24 years.
1994 "The Shawshank Redemption" is released.
2019 The collapse of the travel firm Thomas Cook triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn. 600,000 Thomas Cook customers were on holiday at the time.
1889 Nintendo was founded but not the incarnation of Nintendo we know today. Founder Fusajiro Yamauchi began the company by selling hand-painted playing cards, which eventually became the most popular brand in Japan. Nintendo has gone through many iterations. It once sold ramen noodles and then decided to try out a taxi service.
1776 The oldest of the British classic horse races, the St Leger, was run for the first time at Doncaster Racecourse.
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.
1952 American fast food restaurant chain "KFC" [Kentucky Fried Chicken] opens its first franchise in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1957 BBC Television for schools began.
1957 Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1964 "The Munsters" premieres on TV.
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.
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson breaks his own 100m world record with a time of 9.79 at the Seoul Olympics; disqualified 3 days later for use of drug stanozolol; Carl Lewis awarded gold and world record 9.92.
1989 Ryder Cup: US & Europe draw, 14-14 at The Belfry, England.
1991 Rock band Nirvana release their second studio album "Nevermind"
1991 Arsenal paid Crystal Palace £2.5m for forward Ian Wright with many doubting the wisdom of paying a then club record fee for a player not far off his 28th birthday. But Wrighty scored a hat-trick on his Arsenal League debut and went on to score 185 goals in 288 first team appearances, a Gunners record until Thierry Henry came along.
1995 Ryder Cup Golf, Oak Hill CC: Europe wins 14½-13½; unheralded Irish rookie Philip Walton secures victory for Europe beating Jay Haas 1 up.
2006 Ryder Cup Golf, K Club, Ireland: Europe, captained by Ian Woosnam wins convincingly 18½-9½ for 3rd consecutive Cup victory.
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".
2019 The Supreme Court concluded, unanimously, that Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue (suspend) Parliament for 5 weeks prior to Britain leaving the EU was unlawful.
1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge: English army under King Harold II defeat invading Norwegians led by King Harald Hardrada and Harold's brother Tostig, who were both killed. 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.
1237 Treaty of York signed between kings Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland which establishes the border between the two countries.
1676 The use of Greenwich Meantime (GMT) began at 3pm on 25 September 1676, when two clocks were set in motion at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Greenwich Mean Time became standard for England and in 1884 it became standard for the world.
1818 The first blood transfusion using human blood took place at Guy's Hospital in London.
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.
1915 Battle of Loos commenced, lasted until 14th October. Chlorine gas deployed by the British was blown back into their own trenches: 59,000 British & 26,000 German casualties.
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.
1959 Hammer horror film "The Mummy" starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing is first released in the UK.
1962 Challenger Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of round 1 at Comiskey Park, Chicago to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
1976 Bono, David Evans, his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton respond to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band, which becomes U2.
1977 In Britain, independent airline owner Freddie Laker took on the main commercial airlines with his first 'Skytrain' service between London and New York.
1980 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham dies at age 32 of asphyxiation from vomiting after a night of heavy drinking. The band decides to break up instead of replacing him.
1982 Keke Rosberg becomes the first Fin to win the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship when he finishes 5th in season ending Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas.
1983 Nelson Piquet beat Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell to the chequered flag in the first-ever European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
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.
1994 Oliver McCall TKOs Lennox Lewis in 2 for heavyweight boxing title.
1997 The British Thrust SCC car, driven by RAF pilot Andy Green, set a new world record land speed record of 714.44 mph at Black Rock Desert in Nevada. On October 15th in the same year, Thrust SSC became the first land vehicle to exceed the speed of sound when it achieved 763 mph (Mach 1.020), also at Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Thrust SSC remains the world’s first and only supersonic car.
2005 Spanish Renault driver Fernando Alonso takes 3rd place in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
2019 Parliament resumed after the previous day's unanimous decision by 11 Supreme Court judges that Prime Minster Boris Johnson's recent decision to prorogue (suspend parliament) for five weeks was wrong and unlawful, as it would stop MPs carrying out their duties in the run-up to Brexit on 31st October. Johnson said that he strongly disagreed with the ruling but that he would respect it.
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.
1665 Height of the Great Plague of London as 7,165 people die throughout the previous week.
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.
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.
1938 Concerned about the prospect of war with Germany (which turned out to be a year away) British civilians were issued with gas masks.
1955 Frozen Birdseye fish fingers first went on sale in Britain.
1956 The first European Cup match was played on English soil. Manchester United entertained the Belgians of Anderlecht at Maine Road. In front of 40,000 fans United took the lead after only 9 minutes with a wonder goal from Tommy Taylor and went on to win.....by 10-0 (12-0 on aggregate).
1968 "Oliver!" premieres in London.
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.
1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens in Westwood, California. Featuring a young Meat Loaf along with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, the movie tanks but later becomes a cult classic.
1979 Compulsory metrication in Britain was abandoned.
1982 "Knight Rider", starring David Hasselhoff, debuts on NBC.
1986 Bobby (Patrick Duffy) returns to TV show "Dallas", his death is attributed to his wife Pam's bad dream (erases all of last season).
1992 Jimmy Connors beats Martina Navratilova, 7-5, 6-3.
1993 French Williams driver Alain Prost finishes 2nd in Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to clinch his 4th F1 World Drivers Championship; after race Prost announces his retirement at the end of the season.
1998 The headlines were from Hillsborough where Sheffield Wednesday defeated Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League. Wednesday's Paolo Di Canio was sent off and he then pushed ref Paul Alcock who fell to the ground in a very dramatic manner. Di Cano was later charged with misconduct - he was banned for 11 matches and fined £10,000.
1999 Ryder Cup Golf, The Country Club, Brookline: US wins 14½-13½ after trailing 10-6 going into the singles; win first 6 matches to set up victory; poor American crowd & team behaviour heavily criticised.
2010 TV Period drama "Downton Abbey" premieres in the UK.
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.
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.
1908 Henry Ford's first Ford Model T automobile leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1960 Bank Underground Station in London opened Europe's first 'moving pavement'.
1968 France denies UK entry into common market.
1979 The BBC's Question Time aired for the first time, chaired by Robin Day, who stayed with the programme for ten years.
1980 Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
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 British crime series "Cracker" created by Jimmy McGovern starring Robbie Coltrane debuts on ITV in the UK.
2016 We woke up to find England manager Sam Allardyce making front page headlines in the Daily Telegraph. In a newspaper 'sting' he had been filmed advising undercover reporters how to get around FA rules on third-party ownership of footballers, criticising his predecessor Roy Hodgson and the England players and arranging a £400,000 a year speaking engagement contract. By the end of the day by 'mutual consent' he was the ex-England manager losing his £3 million a year job after just 67 days. Mind you, with an England record of played one and won one that made him statistically the best England manager of all time.
1066 Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy (or William the ****, 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.
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.
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.
1923 The Radio Times was first published.
1928 Parliament passed the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
1976 Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1979 Larry Holmes TKOs Earnie Shavers in 11 for heavyweight boxing title.
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 Lloyd Honeyghan stopped world welterweight champion Donald Curry in Atlantic City to become the first British holder of the title since John H Stracey 10 years previously.
1992 UK morning TV show "The Big Breakfast" presented by Chris Evans, Gaby Roslin and Paula Yates, produced by Bob Geldof premieres.
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.
1996 An 18-year-old Emile Heskey scores the only goal as Leicester beat Leeds at Filbert Street.
2004 18-year-old Wayne Rooney made a spectacular debut for Manchester United hitting a hat-trick in United’s 6-2 Champions League victory over Fenerbahçe at Old Trafford.
2008 SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2019 Elon Musk unveils SpaceX spacecraft Starship, designed to travel to Mars and the solar system and land back on earth.
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.
1758 Lord Horatio Nelson was born. 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.
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.
1916 American oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller becomes the world's first billionaire.
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.
Neville Chamberlain with his infamous "Peace In Our Time" speech waving a piece of paper after being duped by Adolph Hit ler.
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.
1963 The Rolling Stones started their first tour as the opening act for Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers.
1976 At his 41st birthday party, a drunk Jerry Lee Lewis attempts to shoot a soda bottle with his .357 Magnum and instead hits his bass player, Norman Owens, twice in the chest. Owens makes a full recovery.
1977 Muhammad Ali beats Earnie Shavers in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1979 "Message In A Bottle" by Police peaks at #1 in UK.
1982 1st broadcast of comedy "Cheers"
1991 Ryder Cup Golf, Kiahwa Island GR: US beats Europe, 14½-13½; Bernhard Langer misses 6-foot par putt which would have clinched 14-all tie and retained Cup for Europe.
1997 Robbie Williams releases his first solo album "Life thru a Lens" features single "Angels".
2002 Ryder Cup Golf, The Belfry: Europe wins 15½-12½ after teams tied at 8 points going into Sunday singles matches.
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.
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.
1659 Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked (according to Daniel Defoe).
1840 The building of Nelson’s Column in London’s Trafalgar Square, began and completed in 1843. The 56 m (171 feet) high column is made from granite and features acanthus leaves, cast from British cannons at the top. At the very top stands a 5.5m (18 feet) statue of Nelson. The column is guarded by four huge bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer in 1868. They were made out of metal from guns that had been taken from old battleships.
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.
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.
1939 Identity cards were issued in Britain.
1955 American actor and cultural icon James Dean is killed in a car crash aged 24.
1960 "The Flintstones" the first animated sitcom created by Hanna-Barbera premieres on ABC in the US.
1961 There was a more innocent time when the most popular gamble in the country was the Football Pools and the winners often became media personalities. Most famous of those was Viv Nicholson who on September 30th 1961 with her husband won £152,319 18s 8d for a five bob (25p) bet. That was a win of over £3.5m in todays money. But she couldn't escape the media attention and within 5 years her husband had been been killed in a car crash and she was nearly skint. Years later both a book and a West End musical about her life had the same title - Spend, Spend, Spend.
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 and the first song played was "Flowers In The Rain" by The Move.
1991 Jerry Springer's tabloid talk show "The Jerry Springer Show" debuts on TV.
2012 Ryder Cup Golf, Medinah CC: Europe retains Cup 14½-13½; win 8 and tie 1 of the 12 singles matches after trailing 10-6.
2014 In the first official study of money spent on 'illegal' activities it was found that Britons spend more on drugs and prostitutes than on beer and wine. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said that spending on illegal drugs and prostitution was worth an estimated £12.3bn to the UK economy in 2013.
2018 Ryder Cup Golf, Le Golf National: Europe regains Cup with 17½–10½ win over the US; Italian Francesco Molinari wins all 5 matches; Sergio Garcia becomes biggest point scorer in event history with 25½.
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1685 The Taunton Assize trials came in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. The trials were led by Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys. Of more than 500 prisoners brought before the court, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county.
1809 The Royal Opera House opened, in Covent Garden, Central London. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House The current building is the third theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1857.
1837 Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young co-found a "stationery and fancy goods emporium" in New York City, later renamed in 1853 as "Tiffany & Co."
1932 Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1964 TV series "The Addams Family" premieres on ABC.
1970 Jimi Hendrix is found dead in his basement. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax, that along with alcohol, caused a fatal overdose.
1971 Momofuku Ando markets the first Cup Noodle, packaging it in a waterproof polystyrene container.
1985 "The Equalizer" debuts in the US on CBS.
1987 Film thriller "Fatal Attraction" is released.
1994 Warwickshire became the first side to win the County Cricket Championship, the Benson and Hedges Cup and the Sunday League title in one season.
1998: Bruce Grobbelaar and Hans Segers were charged by the Football Association with breaching betting regulations.
2014 A referendum was held in Scotland, with one single question on the ballot paper - "Should Scotland be an independent country?" The "No" side won, with 2,001,926 (55.3%) voting against independence and 1,617,989 (44.7%) voting in favour. The turnout of 84.6% was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom
2014 The world famous golf club, the Royal & Ancient at St. Andrews, voted overwhelmingly to end its 260-year ban on female members, with immediate effect.
1356 Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French, and captured the French king, John II at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War. The battle resulted in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War, the other two being Crécy, and Agincourt.
1879 The famous illuminations in Blackpool were switched on for the first time, a month before electricity was generally available in London. The first display was known as 'Artificial sunshine', and consisted of just eight Arc lamps which bathed the Promenade.
1893 New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote.
1945 The Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was sentenced to hang for treason.
1946 The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.
1952 The United States prevented the English born film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to his Hollywood home until he was investigated by the Immigration Services.
1960 The new traffic wardens issued the first 344 parking tickets in London. Britain's first parking ticket was issued to Dr. Thomas Creighton, who had parked his car outside a London hotel while treating a patient.
1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex. The first festivals in the 1970s were influenced by hippie ethics and the free festival movement.
1975 The first episode of comedy show Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC.
1976 New York concert promoter Sid Bernstein offers $230 million for a Beatles reunion; they politely decline.
1990 "Goodfellas" starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta, is released.
1998 Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with Millennium.
1999 When Bobby Robson made his home debut as manager of Newcastle United Alan Shearer scored five goals in Newcastle's 8-0 Premiership rout of Sheffield Wednesday.
2007 The world of football was shocked by the news that the ‘Special One’ was leaving Chelsea. Increasing tensions between club owner Roman Abramovich and manager José Mourinho came to a head after an unimpressive start to the new season.
2014 Alex Salmond stood down as Scotland's First Minister and Scottish National Party leader after Scotland voted 'No' to becoming an independent country.
1258 The consecration of Salisbury Cathedral. The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom at 123m/404 ft. It also has the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain, the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and the best surviving of the four original copies of Magna Carta.
1854 The Russian army was defeated by the British and French at the Battle of Alma, considered to be the first battle of the Crimean War. The first six Victoria Crosses to be awarded to the British Army for acts of bravery during the fighting were won at this battle.
1917 The first RSPCA animal clinic was opened, in Liverpool.
1964 The Beatles' first US tour ended with a charity concert in New York.
1969 John Lennon leaves The Beatles but agrees to not make an official announcement. The recording of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" marks the last time all four Beatles were together in the same studio.
1969 Ryder Cup Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: US, Great Britain tie, 16-16; great sporting gesture, America's Jack Nicklaus concedes missable 3-foot putt to Tony Jacklin at the 18th hole for the draw.
1973 The body of The Byrds guitarist Gram Parsons is stolen and taken to Joshua Tree National Park, where it is set on fire.
Parsons died the previous day after a visit to Joshua Tree when he took an overdose of alcohol and morphine. His body is at Los Angeles International Airport, scheduled to be flown to his family in New Orleans, but his friends Phil Kaufman and Michael Martin have other ideas: Showing up at the airport in Kaufman's hearse (his everyday vehicle), they claim the body, signing the release forms as "Jeremy Nobody."
They head to Joshua Tree, about 200 miles away, stopping at a bar along the way where they drink a toast to Parsons. Arriving at the Cap Rock landmark in the park, they unload Parsons' casket, douse it with gas and set it on fire. Cap Rock has special significance, as it's where Parsons enjoyed an evening with Keith Richards doing peyote.
The following day, authorities find the body, and Kaufman and Martin are later arrested, fined, and given suspended sentences. Kaufman claims that Parsons had asked for the desert consecration, and that he was simply carrying out his wishes.
The incident becomes legend and provides Parsons with a far more elegant ending than his hotel room overdose.
1973 Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match.
1984 "Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV.
1997 Elton John started a six week run at No.1 in the UK singles chart with "Candle in the Wind '97'' as a tribute to Princess Diana. It became the best-selling single of all time.
2004 Legendary former Nottingham Forest and Derby County boss Brian Clough died from stomach cancer at the age of 69.
2012 Apple's new mapping service for iPhone users was launched, with many errors. It relocated London - England to London - Ontario, Paddington station vanished and Dublin was gifted a previously undiscovered airport on a 35 acre working farm. Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, was nowhere to be found while the Welsh town of Pontypridd was transplanted six miles north-west and placed where Tonypandy should have been.
2014 Dr. Michael Ramscar and a team of scientists suggested that the brains of older people only appear to slow down because they have so much information to compute, much like a full-up hard drive. “The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more.”
1327 Deposed King Edward II of England was murdered, with a red hot poker in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire by order of his wife, to ensure the succession of his son Edward III.
1745 Bonnie Prince Charles and his Jacobite army defeated the English at the Battle of Prestonpans, in Scotland.
1915 Stonehenge was sold at auction to Mr C H Chubb for £6,600 as a present for his wife. Mr Chubb presented it to the nation three years later as his wife didn't think it suited her.
1949 The Republic of Ireland beat England 2-0 at Goodison Park - England's first home defeat by a foreign football team.
1955 In his last fight, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano KOs light heavyweight Archie Moore in the 9th round at Yankee Stadium, NYC.
1962 Bamber Gascoigne's University Challenge was screened for the first time.
1965 BP found oil in the North Sea.
1966 Jimmy Hendrix changes spelling of his name to "Jimi"
1971 The musical variety show The Old Grey Whistle Test premieres on BBC-TV, featuring America as well as clips of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.
1972 The birth of Liam Gallagher (born William John Paul Gallagher) musician and singer-songwriter.
1979 Bruce Springsteen debuts his song "The River" at a show in Madison Square Garden. He is performing as part of Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) in a protest against nuclear power. Other artists that go on before him have to contend with the constant droning of "Broooooooooooooce," as he's the main attraction. Bonnie Raitt doesn't figure out until after her set that the crowd was not booing her, just anticipating Springsteen's performance.
1984 Police and miners clashed at a pit in Maltby, South Yorkshire, in one of the biggest pickets since the miners' strike began.
1985 Madonna scored her first UK No.1 album with Like A Virgin, ten months after its release.
1985 Charlton Athletic beat Stoke 2-0 in front of an 8,858 crowd who witnessed the clubs' last match before a period of exile from their home ground, The Valley. There were ground-shares with Crystal Palace and West Ham before Charlton finally returned home in 1992.
1986 Prince Charles admitted that he talked to his plants.
1994 Gary Lineker announced that he would be retiring from playing football after picking up a toe injury while playing for Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan and would be joining the BBC.
1999 While being searched at London's Heathrow Airport, Diana Ross allegedly assaults the security guard in question and is detained for five hours.
2011 R.E.M. announce that they're calling it quits after more than 30 years.
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 during Salem witch trials.
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.
1896 Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history. The record stood until 9th September 2015 when Queen Elizabeth II became the longest serving monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
1910 The Duke of York's Picture House opened in Brighton. It is now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
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.
1971 When the UEFA Cup replaced the Fairs Cup at the start of the 1971/72 season UEFA invited the two clubs with the best records in the Fairs Cup to play-off for the honour of keeping the old trophy. One was Barcelona, who won the first Fairs Cup final in 1958, with the other being Leeds who had defeated Juventus to win the last Fairs Cup final in 1971. On 22nd September 1971 in front of 35,000 at the Nou Camp Leeds were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona.
1973 Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield: US beats Great Britain & Ireland, 19-13; first time 'Ireland' included in team name.
1976 TV dama "Charlie's Angels" starring Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith debuts.
1985 French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius appears on TV to confess "Agents of the DGSE sank the boat Rainbow Warrior and that they acted on orders.”
1989 "Baywatch" starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson debuts on NBC.
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.
1994 "Friends" TV sitcom debuts on NBC.
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.
2005 Jonathan Woodgate didn’t make the best of debuts for Real Madrid following his move from Newcastle – he scored an own goal and was sent off against Athletic Bilbao.
2013 Sir Bradley Wiggins added the Tour of Britain title to his collection after sealing an emphatic victory in London.
2018 Chas Hodges of Chas & Dave dies at 74.
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.
1940 The George Cross and the George Medal for civilian acts of courage were instituted.
1952 The star of the silent movies, Charlie Chaplin, returned to his native England after 21 years in the US.
1969 Northern Star and Illinois Univ newspaper start rumors that Paul McCartney is dead.
1969 "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is released.
1974 The world's first Ceefax teletext service was begun by the BBC.
1980 Bob Marley plays his final concert: a 20-song set at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh with his group, The Wailers. Just after the performance, Marley, who is suffering from cancer that has spread to his brain, collapses and is taken to a hospital for treatment. The rest of the tour is canceled, and Marley dies on May 11, 1981.
1986 England and Yorkshire batsman Geoff Boycott was controversially sacked from Yorkshire Cricket Club after playing for the county side for 24 years.
1994 "The Shawshank Redemption" is released.
2019 The collapse of the travel firm Thomas Cook triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn. 600,000 Thomas Cook customers were on holiday at the time.
An iconic album cover that when you see it you know what it is.
On this date in 1980, THE BEAT were in session on the John Peel Radio One show, (September 23rd 1980).
1776 The oldest of the British classic horse races, the St Leger, was run for the first time at Doncaster Racecourse.
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.
1952 American fast food restaurant chain "KFC" [Kentucky Fried Chicken] opens its first franchise in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1957 BBC Television for schools began.
1957 Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1964 "The Munsters" premieres on TV.
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.
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson breaks his own 100m world record with a time of 9.79 at the Seoul Olympics; disqualified 3 days later for use of drug stanozolol; Carl Lewis awarded gold and world record 9.92.
1989 Ryder Cup: US & Europe draw, 14-14 at The Belfry, England.
1991 Rock band Nirvana release their second studio album "Nevermind"
1991 Arsenal paid Crystal Palace £2.5m for forward Ian Wright with many doubting the wisdom of paying a then club record fee for a player not far off his 28th birthday. But Wrighty scored a hat-trick on his Arsenal League debut and went on to score 185 goals in 288 first team appearances, a Gunners record until Thierry Henry came along.
1995 Ryder Cup Golf, Oak Hill CC: Europe wins 14½-13½; unheralded Irish rookie Philip Walton secures victory for Europe beating Jay Haas 1 up.
2006 Ryder Cup Golf, K Club, Ireland: Europe, captained by Ian Woosnam wins convincingly 18½-9½ for 3rd consecutive Cup victory.
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".
2019 The Supreme Court concluded, unanimously, that Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue (suspend) Parliament for 5 weeks prior to Britain leaving the EU was unlawful.
1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge: English army under King Harold II defeat invading Norwegians led by King Harald Hardrada and Harold's brother Tostig, who were both killed. 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.
1237 Treaty of York signed between kings Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland which establishes the border between the two countries.
1676 The use of Greenwich Meantime (GMT) began at 3pm on 25 September 1676, when two clocks were set in motion at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Greenwich Mean Time became standard for England and in 1884 it became standard for the world.
1818 The first blood transfusion using human blood took place at Guy's Hospital in London.
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.
1915 Battle of Loos commenced, lasted until 14th October. Chlorine gas deployed by the British was blown back into their own trenches: 59,000 British & 26,000 German casualties.
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.
1959 Hammer horror film "The Mummy" starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing is first released in the UK.
1962 Challenger Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of round 1 at Comiskey Park, Chicago to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
1976 Bono, David Evans, his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton respond to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band, which becomes U2.
1977 In Britain, independent airline owner Freddie Laker took on the main commercial airlines with his first 'Skytrain' service between London and New York.
1980 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham dies at age 32 of asphyxiation from vomiting after a night of heavy drinking. The band decides to break up instead of replacing him.
1982 Keke Rosberg becomes the first Fin to win the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship when he finishes 5th in season ending Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas.
1983 Nelson Piquet beat Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell to the chequered flag in the first-ever European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.
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.
1994 Oliver McCall TKOs Lennox Lewis in 2 for heavyweight boxing title.
1997 The British Thrust SCC car, driven by RAF pilot Andy Green, set a new world record land speed record of 714.44 mph at Black Rock Desert in Nevada. On October 15th in the same year, Thrust SSC became the first land vehicle to exceed the speed of sound when it achieved 763 mph (Mach 1.020), also at Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Thrust SSC remains the world’s first and only supersonic car.
2005 Spanish Renault driver Fernando Alonso takes 3rd place in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
2019 Parliament resumed after the previous day's unanimous decision by 11 Supreme Court judges that Prime Minster Boris Johnson's recent decision to prorogue (suspend parliament) for five weeks was wrong and unlawful, as it would stop MPs carrying out their duties in the run-up to Brexit on 31st October. Johnson said that he strongly disagreed with the ruling but that he would respect it.
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.
1665 Height of the Great Plague of London as 7,165 people die throughout the previous week.
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.
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.
1938 Concerned about the prospect of war with Germany (which turned out to be a year away) British civilians were issued with gas masks.
1955 Frozen Birdseye fish fingers first went on sale in Britain.
1956 The first European Cup match was played on English soil. Manchester United entertained the Belgians of Anderlecht at Maine Road. In front of 40,000 fans United took the lead after only 9 minutes with a wonder goal from Tommy Taylor and went on to win.....by 10-0 (12-0 on aggregate).
1968 "Oliver!" premieres in London.
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.
1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens in Westwood, California. Featuring a young Meat Loaf along with Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon, the movie tanks but later becomes a cult classic.
1979 Compulsory metrication in Britain was abandoned.
1982 "Knight Rider", starring David Hasselhoff, debuts on NBC.
1986 Bobby (Patrick Duffy) returns to TV show "Dallas", his death is attributed to his wife Pam's bad dream (erases all of last season).
1992 Jimmy Connors beats Martina Navratilova, 7-5, 6-3.
1993 French Williams driver Alain Prost finishes 2nd in Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to clinch his 4th F1 World Drivers Championship; after race Prost announces his retirement at the end of the season.
1998 The headlines were from Hillsborough where Sheffield Wednesday defeated Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League. Wednesday's Paolo Di Canio was sent off and he then pushed ref Paul Alcock who fell to the ground in a very dramatic manner. Di Cano was later charged with misconduct - he was banned for 11 matches and fined £10,000.
1999 Ryder Cup Golf, The Country Club, Brookline: US wins 14½-13½ after trailing 10-6 going into the singles; win first 6 matches to set up victory; poor American crowd & team behaviour heavily criticised.
2010 TV Period drama "Downton Abbey" premieres in the UK.
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.
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.
1908 Henry Ford's first Ford Model T automobile leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1960 Bank Underground Station in London opened Europe's first 'moving pavement'.
1968 France denies UK entry into common market.
1979 The BBC's Question Time aired for the first time, chaired by Robin Day, who stayed with the programme for ten years.
1980 Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
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 British crime series "Cracker" created by Jimmy McGovern starring Robbie Coltrane debuts on ITV in the UK.
2016 We woke up to find England manager Sam Allardyce making front page headlines in the Daily Telegraph. In a newspaper 'sting' he had been filmed advising undercover reporters how to get around FA rules on third-party ownership of footballers, criticising his predecessor Roy Hodgson and the England players and arranging a £400,000 a year speaking engagement contract. By the end of the day by 'mutual consent' he was the ex-England manager losing his £3 million a year job after just 67 days. Mind you, with an England record of played one and won one that made him statistically the best England manager of all time.
1066 Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy (or William the ****, 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.
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.
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.
1923 The Radio Times was first published.
1928 Parliament passed the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
1976 Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1979 Larry Holmes TKOs Earnie Shavers in 11 for heavyweight boxing title.
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 Lloyd Honeyghan stopped world welterweight champion Donald Curry in Atlantic City to become the first British holder of the title since John H Stracey 10 years previously.
1992 UK morning TV show "The Big Breakfast" presented by Chris Evans, Gaby Roslin and Paula Yates, produced by Bob Geldof premieres.
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.
1996 An 18-year-old Emile Heskey scores the only goal as Leicester beat Leeds at Filbert Street.
2004 18-year-old Wayne Rooney made a spectacular debut for Manchester United hitting a hat-trick in United’s 6-2 Champions League victory over Fenerbahçe at Old Trafford.
2008 SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2019 Elon Musk unveils SpaceX spacecraft Starship, designed to travel to Mars and the solar system and land back on earth.
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.
1758 Lord Horatio Nelson was born. 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.
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.
1916 American oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller becomes the world's first billionaire.
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.
Neville Chamberlain with his infamous "Peace In Our Time" speech waving a piece of paper after being duped by Adolph Hit ler.
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.
1963 The Rolling Stones started their first tour as the opening act for Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers.
1976 At his 41st birthday party, a drunk Jerry Lee Lewis attempts to shoot a soda bottle with his .357 Magnum and instead hits his bass player, Norman Owens, twice in the chest. Owens makes a full recovery.
1977 Muhammad Ali beats Earnie Shavers in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1979 "Message In A Bottle" by Police peaks at #1 in UK.
1982 1st broadcast of comedy "Cheers"
1991 Ryder Cup Golf, Kiahwa Island GR: US beats Europe, 14½-13½; Bernhard Langer misses 6-foot par putt which would have clinched 14-all tie and retained Cup for Europe.
1997 Robbie Williams releases his first solo album "Life thru a Lens" features single "Angels".
2002 Ryder Cup Golf, The Belfry: Europe wins 15½-12½ after teams tied at 8 points going into Sunday singles matches.
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.
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.
1659 Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked (according to Daniel Defoe).
1840 The building of Nelson’s Column in London’s Trafalgar Square, began and completed in 1843. The 56 m (171 feet) high column is made from granite and features acanthus leaves, cast from British cannons at the top. At the very top stands a 5.5m (18 feet) statue of Nelson. The column is guarded by four huge bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer in 1868. They were made out of metal from guns that had been taken from old battleships.
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.
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.
1939 Identity cards were issued in Britain.
1955 American actor and cultural icon James Dean is killed in a car crash aged 24.
1960 "The Flintstones" the first animated sitcom created by Hanna-Barbera premieres on ABC in the US.
1961 There was a more innocent time when the most popular gamble in the country was the Football Pools and the winners often became media personalities. Most famous of those was Viv Nicholson who on September 30th 1961 with her husband won £152,319 18s 8d for a five bob (25p) bet. That was a win of over £3.5m in todays money. But she couldn't escape the media attention and within 5 years her husband had been been killed in a car crash and she was nearly skint. Years later both a book and a West End musical about her life had the same title - Spend, Spend, Spend.
https://flashbak.com/pictures-of-viv-spend-spend-spend-nicholson-from-the-1960s-24278/
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 and the first song played was "Flowers In The Rain" by The Move.
1991 Jerry Springer's tabloid talk show "The Jerry Springer Show" debuts on TV.
2012 Ryder Cup Golf, Medinah CC: Europe retains Cup 14½-13½; win 8 and tie 1 of the 12 singles matches after trailing 10-6.
2014 In the first official study of money spent on 'illegal' activities it was found that Britons spend more on drugs and prostitutes than on beer and wine. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said that spending on illegal drugs and prostitution was worth an estimated £12.3bn to the UK economy in 2013.
2018 Ryder Cup Golf, Le Golf National: Europe regains Cup with 17½–10½ win over the US; Italian Francesco Molinari wins all 5 matches; Sergio Garcia becomes biggest point scorer in event history with 25½.