1265: The Battle of Evesham took place, in which Simon de Montfort was defeated and killed by Royalist forces, led by the future King Edward I.

1792: Percy Bysshe Shelley, romantic poet, was born near Horsham, Sussex. After his death from drowning in Italy at 29, his wife kept his heart in her desk until she died.

1870: The British Red Cross was founded by Lord Wantage.

1870: Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish music hall artist, was born in Portobello, near Edinburgh, as Hugh MacLennan.

1875: Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer most famous for his fairy stories, died.

1914: Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating the Treaty of London -- and the First World War began. President Wilson proclaimed the USA neutral.

1917: Captain Noel Chavasse, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the second of only three men to be awarded a bar to the Victoria Cross, died from his war wounds.

1923: The BBC first used the six pips as a broadcast time signal - in recent years the sixth pip has been elongated for emphasis.

1978: Jeremy Thorpe, a former leader of the Liberal Party, was charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Norman Scott. He was later cleared.

1984: Zola Budd accidentally tripped Mary Decker during the 3,000m in the Los Angeles Olympics to cause one of the most dramatic upsets in the history of the Games.

On this day last year: Air traffic controllers warned of a "very real risk" to safety if the service's financial crisis was not solved.

BIRTHDAYS: David Bedford, composer, 66; Jack Cunningham, MP, 64; Martin Jarvis, actor, 62; Georgina Hale, actress, 60; Billy Bob Thornton, actor, 48; Ian Broudie, singer/guitarist (Lightning Seeds), 45.