1791: The first performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute took place in Vienna.

1888: Jack the Ripper butchered two more women - Liz Stride, found behind 40 Berber Street, and Kate Eddowes, in Mitre Square, both in London.

1933: Franklin D Roosevelt announced his 700 million New Deal to help America's poor.

1935: George Gershwin's Porgy And Bess was premiered in Boston.

1936: Pinewood Studios opened near lver, Buckinghamshire, to provide Britain with a film studio to compete with Hollywood.

1938: On his return from Germany, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain told a crowd at Heston Airport, Middlesex: "I believe it is peace in our time," and waved the agreement he had signed with Hitler.

1939: Identity cards were issued in Britain.

1955: James Dean, right, eccentric young star of Rebel Without A Cause, Giant and East Of Eden, died in a car crash, aged 24.

1965: Judge Elizabeth Lane was sworn in to become Britain's first female High Court Judge.

1967: BBC's Radio 1 went on air for the first time, with Tony Blackburn introducing The Breakfast Show. His first record was Flowers In The Rain by The Move.

On this day last year: Tony Blair promised measures to speed up Britain's extradition procedures as part of a package of emergency legislation following the US terror attacks.

BIRTHDAYS: Deborah Kerr, actress, 81; Angie Dickinson, actress, 71; Teresa Gorman, former MP, 71; Barbara Knox, actress, 69; Johnny Mathis, singer, 67; Ian Ogilvy, actor, 59; Viscount Cranborne, former Leader of the House of Lords, 56; Rula Lenska, actress, 55; Eric Stoltz, actor, 41; Jenna Elfman, actress, 31; Martina Hingis, tennis player, 22.