1536: William Tyndale, English religious reformer and translator of the Bible, was burned at the stake as a heretic in Brussels.

1820: Jenny Lind, soprano known as the Swedish Nightingale, was born illegitimately in Stockholm.

1829: Trials began at Rainhill for a locomotive to use on the Liverpool to Manchester Railway. The winner was Stephensons Rocket.

1927: The first full-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer, opened in New York. Al Jolson sang Toot Toot Tootsie, Goodbye, Mammy and Blue Skies in a soundtrack that was almost entirely music.

1968: British drivers took the first three places in the US Grand Prix: Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and John Surtees.

1981: Muslim extremists assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

1991: In California, Elizabeth Taylor married for the eighth time - her husband was Larry Fortensky, a builder.

LAST YEAR: Britain's longest-serving TV weatherman Michael Fish retired after charting more than 30 years of the nation's sunshine, showers and storms.