1560: The first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was held.

1845: The state of Texas was incorporated into the United States.

1915: Australian, New Zealand and British troops were evacuated from the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition.

1928: Harry Ramsden started his fish and chip restaurant in a hut near Bradford, which soon became the most famous in the world.

1933: Fred Astaire's first film with partner Ginger Rogers, Flying Down To Rio, was premiered in New York.

1957: At the height of his career, Elvis Presley received his call-up papers.

1961: Prince Philip set the London bells of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, chiming again. They are the Bow Bells in the rhyme Oranges And Lemons within whose sound only true Cockneys are born.

1975: Manuscripts by Byron and Shelley were discovered in a chest containing treasures of 19th century literature in a London bank.

1982: Two Townsend Thoresen ferries collided off Harwich with the loss of six lives.

1990: The last remaining pit in the Rhondda - Maerdy Colliery - closed after the afternoon shift finished, ending more than a century of coal-mining.

On this day last year: The latest portrait of the Queen, by modern artist Lucian Freud, was set to spark controversy

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BIRTHDAYS: Lord Howe of Aberavon, former Cabinet Minister Sir Geoffrey Howe, 76; Uri Geller, spoon-bender and psychic, 56; Jenny Agutter, actress, 50; Bo Derek, actress, 46; Jimmy Nicholl, football manager, 46; Anita Baker, singer, 45; Billy Bragg, rock singer, 45; Simon Hughes, broadcaster and cricketer, 43.

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