National day of Jordan

1768: Captain Cook set off on his first voyage, to explore the Antipodes.

1787: The Philadelphia Convention, headed by George Washington, began drawing up the USA constitution.

1840: The first drama school in Britain opened. Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School in Dean Street, London, later became a theatre.

1871: The House of Commons passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating public holidays on Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Christmas Day.

1926: Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois.

1935: American athlete Jesse Owens set six world records within 45 minutes at Ann Arbor in Michigan.

1951: British diplomats Burgess and Maclean were first reported missing - they had defected to Moscow.

1962: Coventry's new cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, was consecrated.

1967: Glasgow Celtic became the first British football club to win the European Cup when they beat Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.

1986: Bob Geldof's Race Against Time had 30 million people worldwide running for Sport Aid to raise money for the starving in Africa.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: There were too few coalition troops to bring order to Iraq, the British number two in the humanitarian effort said.