1859: The world's first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake.

1882: Hollywood film producer Sam Goldwyn was born - his original name was Goldfish. He helped found MGM but as an independent producer was responsible for films including Ben Hur (1926) and Porgy And Bess (1959).

1883: Krakatoa, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, erupted with thousands killed by the resulting tidal waves.

1899: CS Forester, English novelist, was born in Cairo. He published The African Queen in 1935 and two years later created a series of historical novels featuring his most popular character, Captain Horatio Hornblower.

1912: Tarzan Of The Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first went into print as a magazine serial.

1966: Francis Chichester left Plymouth in Gipsy Moth IV on his single-handed voyage around the world.

1967: The man who helped make The Beatles, Brian Epstein, died in his London home from an overdose of sleeping pills.

1975: The last descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, died, aged 83.

1979: Earl Mountbatten, the Queen's cousin, was killed when the IRA exploded a remote-controlled 50lb bomb on his boat Shadow V off the coast of County Sligo, Ireland.

1991: EC members recognised the independence of the Baltic states.