National day of Iceland

1579: Sir Francis Drake anchored the Golden Hind just north of what would one day be San Francisco Bay and named the area New Albion.

1703: The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was born, the fifteenth of 19 children of a virile clergyman.

1775: The Battle of Bunker Hill, second major major clash of the American War of Independence, was fought just north of Boston, Mass.

1823: Charles Macintosh patented the waterproof cloth he was to use in making raincoats.

1867: Joseph Lister performed a mastectomy on his sister Isabella using carbolic acid as an antiseptic. It was the first operation under antiseptic conditions.

1929: Hitchcock's Blackmail was premiered in London. The first reel was shot before the studio was equipped for sound and has only sound effects and music; the dialogue begins in reel two.

1970: Edwin Land patented his Polaroid camera.

1972: Five burglars were caught in the Watergate office complex in Washington, election headquarters of the Democratic Party, sparking a major political scandal.

1982: Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London.

1991: In South Africa, the repeal of the Population Registration Act of 1950 officially ended apartheid.

LAST YEAR: Former Cabinet ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short said they were both told by MI6 in the run-up to the war with Iraq that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction did not pose any immediate threat - contrary to Government statements at the time.