1155: More than 1,000 people died in rioting during the coronation of Emperor Hadrian in Rome.

1583: The first Life Insurance policy was sold in London.

1815: The Battle of Waterloo was fought, at which combined forces led by the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Blucher defeated Napoleon.

1817: London's Waterloo Bridge was opened. It was originally called Strand Bridge but was re-named on the anniversary of the Battle.

1822: London's first nude statue was unveiled in Hyde Park. The bronze figure of Achilles was sculpted by Sir Richard Westmacott. Achilles later acquired a bronze fig-leaf.

1867: Mexican Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph was executed by firing squad after a revolution.

1901: Jeanette MacDonald, star of countless 1930s musicals with Nelson Eddy, was born in Philadelphia.

1940: Winston Churchill said: "Let us brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire lasts a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour". This was at the moment that France was collapsing before German forces.

1963: Henry Cooper floored Cassius Clay (later Muhammed Ali) in Round Four at Wembley Stadium. But by the sixth, with Cooper badly cut, the fight was stopped and Clay remained world heavyweight champion.

1978: Garfield, the world's favourite fat cat created by Jim Davis, was born. The name came from Davis's grandfather, James A Garfield Davis.

LAST YEAR: TV presenter John Leslie vowed to prove his innocence after being charged with indecent assault.