1814: The last London Frost Fair was held. Crowds flocked on to the frozen Thames to enjoy a variety of entertainments.

1875: Dr Albert Schweitzer, missionary surgeon, organist and Nobel Prize winner (1952), was born in French Equatorial Africa.

1878: Queen Victoria was given a demonstration of Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone.

1898: Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, died.

1900: Puccini's opera Tosca was premiered in Rome, despite a bomb scare by the composer's envious contemporaries.

1904: Photographer and stage desginer Sir Cecil Beaton was born in London.

1938: Walt Disney's first full-length Technicolour cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opened in the US.

1953: Marshal Tito was elected president of Yugoslavia.

1957: Actor Humphrey Bogart died. His wife Lauren Bacall placed a gold whistle in his coffin with the inscription: "If you need anything, just whistle" - a line from their first film together, To Have And Have Not.

1989: British Muslims held public burnings of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.

1997: The trial begins of footballers John Fashnau, Bruce Grobelaar and Hans Segers for allegedly being bribed by a Far Eastern gambling ring to throw matches.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Government's rail strategy body published a major plan that could enable nearly £70 billion to be pumped into the ailing rail network this decade. But passenger and transport groups warned even this might not be enough, while the Liberal Democrats said much of the plan was not new.

BIRTHDAYS:

WARREN Mitchell, actor, 77; Richard Briers, actor, pictured, 69; Jack Jones, singer, 65; Trevor Nunn, theatre director, 63; Faye Dunaway, actress, 62; Carl Weathers, actor, 55; Martyn Davies, TV weatherman, 47; Steven Soderbergh, film director, 40; Emily Watson, actress, 36; LL Cool J, actor and rap star, 35; Dave Grohl, rock singer, 34.