1596: Sir Francis Drake died at sea off Panama.
1807: London's Pall Mall became the first street in the world to be lit by gaslight.
1829: Body-snatcher William Burke was hanged in front of a huge crowd.
1908: The London Playhouse Theatre opened.
1932: The Japanese occupied Shanghai in the start of an invasion of China.
1935: Iceland became the first country to legalise abortion.
1953: Derek Bentley, aged 19, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison. Bentley and Christopher Craig, 16, had been found guilty of murdering a policeman, but Craig escaped the gallows because of his age.
1986: US space shuttle Challenger exploded 72 seconds after take-off, killing seven astronauts.
1993: The IRA bombed Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people were injured.
LAST YEAR: Lord Hutton's report cleared Downing Street over the naming of David Kelly and of "sexing up" an Iraq dossier.
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