1133: Henry II, first Plantagenet King (1154-89), was born in Le Mans.

1790: Death of Flora Macdonald, Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to safety after his defeat at Culloden.

1850: The Menai tubular bridge, joining Wales and Anglesey, constructed by Robert Stephenson, was opened.

1879: William Henry Beveridge, who produced the report which laid the foundation of the British welfare state, was born in Rangpur, Bengal.

1918: Moscow was declared the new capital of Russia in place of Petrograd.

1933: The Nazi Party won almost half the seats in the German election.

1936: The Spitfire fighter plane made its maiden flight.

1946: Winston Churchill introduced the phrase "Iron Curtain. He said in a speech: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent."

1953: Joseph Stalin, Russian Communist leader, died in mysterious circumstances - officially from a brain haemorrhage. On the same day, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died.

1969: At the Old Bailey, gangland twins Ronald and Reginald Kray were found guilty of murder and given life sentences.

1976: The pound falls below two US dollars for the first time.

1984: Scientists warned of a "greenhouse effect" amid growing concern that carbon dioxide, produced by fossil fuels, would damage the environment.

1993: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned for life after failing a drug test.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Saddam Hussein that he was facing a final chance to disarm or to leave his country if he wanted to avoid war.