OAK APPLE DAY - commemorating King Charles II finding safety in an oaktree in the grounds of Boscobel House, Shropshire, after the Battle of Worcester (1651).

1660 On his 30th birthday, Charles II entered London to be restored as King of England.

1871 Whit Monday became the first Bank Holiday in Britain.

1874 GK Chesterton, author and poet, was born in Kensington, London. His detective Father Brown was based on Father John O'Connor, who received him into the Catholic Church.

1911 Sir William Gilbert, librettist of Gilbert & Sullivan operas, died after rescuing two women from a garden pond.

1942 Bing Crosby recorded the world's top selling disc, White Christmas, for the soundtrack of the film Holiday Inn.

1950 The first episode of The Archers was broadcast on BBC Radio.

1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing became the first two climbers to reach the summit of Everest. The news broke on Coronation Day, June 2.

1982 Pope Paul II became the first Pope in 450 years to step on to British soil, and the first to pray side by side with the Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral.

1985 Some 39 football fans were killed when a wall collapsed during crowd violence at Heysel Stadium, Brussels, before the Liverpool v Juventus European Cup Final.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Government gave away the Millennium Dome and its surrounds for free in the hope of getting £550 million back over the next 20 years.

BIRTHDAYS: Bob Hope, comedian and actor, 100; Nanette Newman, actress, 69; Michael Berkeley, composer and broadcaster, 55; Francis Rossi, rock musician, Status Quo, 54; LaToya Jackson, singer, 47; Rupert Everett, actor, 44; Adrian Paul, actor, 44; Melissa Etheridge, singer, 42; Noel Gallagher, rock musician, 36; Mel B, Spice Girl Melanie Brown, 28.