1864: Stephen Foster, US composer of minstrel songs and ballads died after hitting his head on a chamber pot.

1884: Sophie Tucker, singer and vaudeville star known in America as "the last of the Red Hot Mamas", was born in Russia.

1893: The Independent British Labour Party was formed by Keir Hardie.

1904: English composer Richard Addinsell was born.

1921: The first British patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Mills Munitions of Birmingham.

1926: Wyatt Earp, legendary US lawman, who fought the Clanton Gang at the OK Corral, died aged 81 in Los Angeles.

1942: The pilot of an experimental jet fighter became the first to leave his plane via an emergency ejector seat.

1962: An outbreak of smallpox spread throughout Britain.

1964: A reluctant Capitol Records released the first Beatles record in the US "to see how it goes". I Wanna Hold Your Hand became their fastest selling single.

1982: A Boeing 737 crashed into a bridge, hitting five ships and killing 78 people, on the Potomac River in Washington DC.

1990: An army undercover unit shot dead three men robbing a betting shop in west Belfast. Two of the raiders were hooded and carried replica guns.

SAINT HILARY'S DAY, traditionally the coldest day of the year.

On this day last year: Prince Harry was sent to a drugs rehabilitation clinic after he admitted to regularly smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol.

BIRTHDAYS:

MICHAEL Bond, creator of Paddington Bear, 77; Professor Gordon McVie, director-general of the Cancer Research Campaign, 58; Stephen Glover, journalist, 51; Kevin Anderson, actor, 43; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress, 42; Suggs McPherson, singer (Madness), pictured, 42; Penelope Ann Miller, actress, 38; Tracy Bingham, actress, 35; Nicole Eggert, actress, 31; Orlando Bloom, actor, 26.