1653: Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament.

1657: The Spanish fleet at Santa Cruz was destroyed by the English under Admiral Blake.

1770: Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales, Australia.

1841: The Murders In The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, considered to be the first modern detective story, was published in the USA.

1887: The world's first motor race took place along the banks of the river Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly.

1889: Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, the son of a customs official who changed his name from Schickelgruber.

1893: Comedian Harold Lloyd was born in Nebraska.

1929: The first Italian parliament made up exclusively of Fascists led by Benito Mussolini was opened by Victor Emmanuel III.

1945: Soviet troops entered Berlin.

1989: Scientists said that the Earth narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.

LAST YEAR: The Guinness Book of Records founder Norris McWhirter died, aged 78, after a heart attack at his Wiltshire home.