42 BC: Tiberius, Roman Emperor whose rule was one of cruelty and debauchery, was born in Rome.

1724: Highwayman Jack Sheppard was hanged in front of 200,000 people at Tyburn.

1824: Explorers Hamilton Hume and William H Hovell discovered Australia's Murray River.

1869: The formal opening of the Suez Canal took place. It had taken 10 years to make the 100-mile canal devised by Ferdinand de Lesseps.

1896: Oswald Mosley, English Fascist leader, was born.

1920: The Bolsheviks defeated the White Russians in the Crimea, ending Russia's Civil War.

1937: MPs voted in favour of air raid shelters being erected in towns and cities. Winston Churchill insisted they were 'indispensable'. Labour opposed this, fearing it would mean a big rise in rates.

1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound Of music, opened on Broadway.

1960: Clark Gable, the 'King of Hollywood' and Oscar winner, died after shooting the final scenes of The Misfits opposite Marilyn Monroe.

1989: Beach access restrictions were removed in apartheid South Africa by president FW de Klerk.

LAST YEAR: A 39-year-old man was charged with murdering Alicia Eborne, aged 18, whose body was found on Dartmoor.