2948 BC: Said to be Noah's birthday.

1429: Henry VI was crowned King of England. Two years later he was also crowned King of France, in Paris.

1814: Adolphe Sax, instrument inventor who gave his name to the saxophone, was born in Dinant, Belgium.

1893: Composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky died after drinking unboiled water in St Petersburg during a cholera epidemic. His final and favourite work was Symphony No 6, the Pathetique.

1917: The third battle of Ypres ended when British and Canadian troops captured Passchendale Ridge.

1935: The RAF's first monoplane fighter, the Hawker Hurricane, made its maiden flight.

1942: The Church of England relaxed its rule that women must wear hats in church.

1952: The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

1975: Punk rockers the Sex Pistols, above, played their first gig, at St Martin's College of Art in London.

On this day last year: Angry scuffles broke out at Stormont after David Trimble and Mark Durkan were re-elected as First and Deputy First Minister.