1559: Queen Elizabeth I was crowned.

1759: The British Museum opened in London.

1790: Fletcher Christian and eight fellow mutineers from the Bounty landed on the remote Pitcairn Island in the Pacific.

1867: Forty skaters died when the frozen lake in London's Regents Park gave way.

1880: The first telephone directory was published by the London Telephone Company.

1893: Ivor Novello (David Ivor Davies), composer, actor, director and playwright, was born in Cardiff.

1912: Italian aircraft dropped the first-ever propaganda leaflets during the Italo-Turkish War. They offered a coin and a sack of cereal to every Arab in Tripolitania (Libya) who surrendered.

1912: The first sickness benefit (10 shillings per week), unemployment benefit (7 shillings) and maternity benefit (30 shillings) were introduced in Britain.

1929: Martin Luther King, pictured, American civil rights leader, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1963: The BBC ended its ban on mentioning politics, royalty, religion and sex in comedy shows.

1992: The European Commission recognised the independence of Croatia and Slovenia, signalling the end of Yugoslavia as one nation.

On this day last year: Health Secretary Alan Milburn unveiled radical plans to allow the private sector, charities and universities to take over management of England's failing hospitals.

BIRTHDAYS: Frank Bough, broadcaster, 70; Captain Beefheart, rock singer, 62; Margaret Beckett, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, 58; David Pleat, Tottenham Hotspur director of football, 58; Princess Michael of Kent, 58; Gareth Hale, comedian, 50; Mario Van Peebles, actor, 46; James Nesbitt, actor, 38; Tommy Johnson, footballer, 32; Mary Pierce, tennis player, 28.