753BC: Traditional date for the founding of Rome.

1509: Henry VII died and his second son acceded to the throne as Henry VIII.

1816: Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three Bronte Sisters and author of Jane Eyre, was born in Thornton, Yorkshire.

1836: The Texans defeated the Mexicans at the Battle of San Juanita.

1873: The Canadian North-West Mounted Police (Mounties) were established.

1910: Novelist Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) died in Reading, Connecticut, aged 74. Halley's comet appeared in 1835 when he was born and he always said he would die when it appeared again -- and he did.

1918: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, scourge of World War One British fliers, was shot down in his red Fokker tri-plane and died.

1945: Ivor Novello's Perchance To Dream opened at the London Hippodrome with his now classic song "We'll Gather Lilacs". The show ran to 1,022 performances.

1983: One pound coins went into circulation in Britain, replacing paper notes in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

On this day last year: Failing NHS hospitals could be in the hands of private sector managers by the next General Election, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said.

BIRTHDAYS:

SIR John Mortimer, QC and author, 80; Charles Grodin, actor, 68; Iggy Pop (James Osterberg), rock singer, 56; Tony Danza, actor, 52; Andie MacDowell, actress,45; Robert Smith, rock musician (The Cure), 44.