551 BC: Birth of Confucius.

48 BC: Pompey the Great is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy of Egypt.

935: Saint Wenceslas is assassinated by his brother Boleslas I of Bohemia.

1066: William the Conqueror invades England and lands at Pevensey Bay, Sussex.

1106: Henry I beats his brother Robert at the battle of Tinchebrai.

1542: Explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, names it San Miguel and claims it for Spain.

1621: Sigismund III of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth defeats an invading Ottoman Imperial Army at the Battle of Chocim Dniester.

1687: the Venetians take Athens from the Turks.

1760: The Russian and Austrian army occupies Berlin.

1781: 9,000 American and 7,000 French soldiers begin the siege of Yorktown.

1785: Napoleon Bonaparte aged 16, graduated from the elite of the 42nd Paris Military School in a promotion of 51.

1850: The US Navy abolishes flogging as a punishment.

1867: Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario.

1887: The Yellow River or Huáng Hé overflows into China, killing between 900,000 and 2 million people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

1891: Writer Herman Melville dies at the age of 72.

1895: Bacteriologist Louis Pasteur dies at 72 years old.

1899: The Transvaal mobilizes its army in anticipation of the Second Boer War.

1902: The French writer Emile Zola dies at the age of 62.

1906: American troops reoccupy Cuba.

1914: German forces enter Antwerp.

1915: The British defeat the Turks in Mesopotamia at the Battle of Kut-el-Amara.

1923: Abyssinia leaves the League of Nations. On the same day, the first issue of the Radio Times was published.

1924: Two planes of the American army end a flight around the world, Seattle-Seattle, with 57 stopovers. On the same day, General Plutarco Calles was elected President of Mexico.

1928: Juan de la Cierva performs the first helicopter flight over the English Channel. On the same day, the UK passed the Dangerous Drugs Act which banned cannabis.

1931: 200,000 demonstrators in Beijing demand a declaration of war on Japan.

1935: Stan Laurel marries actress Virginia Rogers.

1942: The Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad.

1944: Nazi forces start killing civilians in the Italian village of Marzabotto.

1950: Indonesia becomes the 60th member of the United Nations.

1958: Guinea votes for independence from France.

1959: Explorer VI reveals a belt of intense radiation around the Earth.

1961: Syria withdraws from the United Arab Republic.

1964: Death of Harpo Marx at age 75.

1966: Death of the French writer and poet André Breton at the age of 70.

1970: Anwar Sadat becomes interim president of Egypt when Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack at the age of 52.

1971: Hungarian Cardinal József Mindszenty is allowed to leave the country after seeking refuge at the United States Embassy in Budapest for 15 years. On the same day, the UK passed the Misuse of Drugs Act banning the medical use of cannabis.

1972: Japan and China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1975: The siege of Spaghetti House, a five-day standoff over an attempted robbery at a Kensington restaurant in which nine people were held hostage, begins.

1976: Muhammad Ali defeats Ken Norton in 15 rounds for the heavyweight boxing title.

1978: Pope John Paul I dies after 33 days as Pope at 65. On the same day, Pieter Botha succeeds Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.

1979: Larry Holmes TKO Earnie Shavers on round 11 for the heavyweight boxing title.

1980: Williams driver Alan Jones wins his first Formula 1 driver’s world championship by winning the Canadian Grand Prix on the Île Notre-Dame circuit.

1983: A High Court judge declares the miners’ strike illegal because a union vote never took place.

1985: Riots break out in Brixton after a woman is accidentally shot and seriously injured during a search.

1986: Australian actor, choreographer and dancer Robert Helpmann dies at the age of 77.

1988: Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka wins his only Olympic gold medal with a jump at the Seoul Games.

1989: Death of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at 72 years old.

1991: Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis dies of stroke and pneumonia. On the same day, UN weapons inspectors end a five-day standoff with Iraq.

1994: A ferry sailing between Estonia and Sweden sinks in the Baltic Sea with 950 people on board.

1995: The Israeli and Palestinian leaders sign an agreement that will allow a certain degree of autonomy to the Palestinians in the West Bank.

1997 : Singles table:

1. Something About Your Appearance – Elton John
2. Stand by Me – Oasis
3. Sunchyme – Dario G
4. Weapons around the world – Louise
5. Tubthumping – Chubawamba
6. Gone ‘Til It’s Gone – Janet ft Q Tip & Joni Mitchell
7. Please – U2
8. Just for you – M People
9. Men in Black – Will Smith
10. Drugs Don’t Work – The Verve

Albums table:

1. Be here now – Oasis
2. Marchin ‘Deja – Ocean Color Scene
3. Maverick A Strike – Finlay Quaye
4. Homogeneous – Björk
5. White on Blonde – Texas
6. Butterfly – Mariah Carey
7. OK Computer – Radiohead
8. The Fat of the Earth – The Wonder
9. Older – George Michael
10. Static & Silence – Sundays

2003: Death of director Elia Kazan at the age of 94.

2004: Wayne Rooney makes a spectacular debut for Manchester United, scoring a hat-trick in his 6-2 Champions League win over Fenerbahçe at Old Trafford.

2008: Elon Musk’s Space X launches the very first private spacecraft, the Falcon 1, into orbit.

2014: Europe wins the Ryder Cup for the third time in a row.

2016: Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres dies of a stroke at the age of 93.

2018: A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes just off the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that hits the towns of Donggala and Palu, killing at least 1,649 people. On the same day, up to 50 million Facebook accounts are hacked.

2019: Elon Musk unveils the SpaceX spacecraft, designed to travel to Mars and the solar system and land on Earth.

BIRTHDAYS: Brigitte Bardot, actress, 87 years old; Rudolph Walker, actor, 82; Fiona Lewis, actress, 75; Helen Shapiro, singer, 75; Peter Egan, actor, 75; Jon Snow, television journalist, 74; Gary Johnson, football coach, 66; Paul Jewell, football coach, 57; Janeane Garofolo, comedian / actress, 57 years old; Moon Unit Zappa, author / actress, 54; Mira Sorvino, actress, 54 years old; Naomi Watts, actress, 53 years old; Dita Von Teese (Heather Sweet), burlesque artist, 49; Gwyneth Paltrow, actress, 49; Willy Caballero, guard, 40 years old; St Vincent (Annie Clark), singer-songwriter / musician, 39; Melody Thornton, singer / dancer, (The Pussycat Dolls) 37; Hilary Duff, actress / singer, 34; Marin Čilić, tennis player, 33; Mark Oxley, goalkeeper, 31.