1686: Birth of Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist who invented the mercury thermometer.

1809: Dartmoor Prison was opened to house French prisoners of war. From 1850 it was used for convicts.

1819: Queen Victoria was born at Kensington Palace.

1862: London's Westminster Bridge opened.

1895: The first stage knighthood was conferred, on Sir Henry Irving.

1916: Conscription began in Britain.

1941: The German battleship Bismarck sank HMS Hood off Greenland with the loss of more than 1,400 lives.

1969: The Black And White Minstrel Show, at London's Victoria Palace, closed after 4,354 performances in seven years.

1974: Death of jazz musician, bandleader and composer Edward "Duke" Ellington.

1978: Princess Margaret's 18-year marriage to Lord Snowdon was ended by a special procedure divorce.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Britain's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest failed to score a single point, a fact later blamed on Britain's stance during the Iraq conflict.