48 BC – At the Battle of Pharsalus, Julius Caesar decisively defeated Pompey, who then fled to Egypt

681 – Bulgaria was founded

1173 – Construction of the Tower of Pisa began – It took two centuries to complete

1483 – The opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome took place

1592 – English explorer John Davis discovered the Falkland Islands.

1638 – Jonas Bronck of Holland became first European settler in what is now known as the Bronx, New York

1655 – The Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell divided England into 11 districts

1786 – The first ascent of Mont Blanc took place

1892 – US Inventor Thomas Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph

1859 – Nathan Ames of the USA patented the escalator, though the first working escalator didn’t appear till 1900

1870 – The Married Women’s Property Act was passed by Parliament – Prior to this, when a woman married, any property she owned was legally transferred to her husband

1902 – Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom

1907 – The first Boy Scout camp ended at Brownsea Island

1910 – A.J. Fisher of Chicago, patented the electric washing machine.

1930 – Betty Boop made her first appearance in the cartoon ‘Dizzy Dishes’

1936 – At the Berlin Olympics, US sprinter and long-jumper Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal and destroyed Hitler’s myth of racial superiority

1939 – The first televised tennis tournament took place

1942 – Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi was arrested in Bombay by British forces – a move which launched the Quit India Movement.

1945 – In World War II, the Japanese city of Nagasaki was devastated when a 2nd atomic bomb, “Fat Man”, was dropped by the United States

1958 – Britain’s answer to Elvis, 17 year old Cliff Richard, signed a record deal with EMI records

1963 – The first ever edition of the pop show ‘Ready Steady Go!’ was shown on UK TV

1964 – The Rolling Stones appeared at the New Elizabeth Ballroom in Belle Vue, Manchester. Two policemen fainted and another was taken to hospital with broken ribs after trying to control over 3,000 screaming teenagers

1965 – Singapore gained independence.

1969 – Members of a cult led by the evil Charles Manson brutally murdered five people including actress Sharon Tate

1971 – British security forces arrested hundreds of IRA nationalists and detained them without trial in Long Kesh prison

1973 – The USSR launched the Mars 7 spacecraft to the planet Mars

1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, became president

1979 – Brighton became the first major resort in Britain to agree to set aside part of its seafront to nudists

1980 – Abba scored their eighth UK No.1 single with ‘The Winner Takes It All’

1980 – AC/DC scored their first UK No.1 album with ‘Back In Black’

1981 – A relay team of British lifeguards set a new record for a cross channel swim, doing it in 7 hours 17 minutes

1986 – Queen gave what would be their last ever live performance when they appeared at Knebworth Park in front of 120,000 people

1992 – The 25th Olympic Games closed in Barcelona

1994 – During an Oasis gig at The Riverside in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, guitarist Noel Gallagher was hit in the face by a man who had jumped on the stage. Noel refused to carry on playing and after leaving the stage a mob of over 300 people attacked the band’s bus as they were leaving.

1999 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fired his entire cabinet

1999 – Charles Kennedy won the race to succeed Paddy Ashdown as leader of the Liberal Democrats

2003 – Nicky Byrne of Westlife married daughter of Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in France

2005 – The Magic Numbers walked out of an appearance on Top of the Pops after presenter Richard Bacon said the band had been put in a “fat melting pot of talent.”

2007 – Amy Winehouse cancelled a series of European shows after being admitted to hospital suffering from “severe exhaustion”

2007 – Jennifer Lopez won $545,000 in a case against her first husband, who planned to publish a book claiming she had several affairs.

2007 – The “credit crunch” started. The phenomenon has been pinpointed as 9th August 2007 when bad news from a French bank triggered a sharp rise in the cost of credit, and made the finance world realise how serious the situation was.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

1938 – Rod Laver, Australian tennis player, regarded by many as the finest player to play the game, and the only tennis player to have twice won all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year (74)

1938 – Otto Rehhagel, German football manager, who managed Greece to their astounding 2004 European Championship triumph (74)

1939 – Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, former President of the European Commission (73)

1943 – Ken Norton, American boxer, former World Heavyweight Champ, best known for his 12-round split-decision victory over all-time great Muhammad Ali, on March 31, 1973. (69)

1945 – Posy Simmonds, English cartoonist on the newspaper, The Guardian, which is no surprise considering she’s called Posy, is it? (67)

1946 – Marinus Gerritsen, Dutch bassist with the rock band Golden Earring, who had a UK No.7 hit in 1974 with ‘Radar Love’ (66)

1947 – Roy Hodgson, English football manager, the England national team manager since 2012. Previous managed Liverpool, Fulham, Inter Milan, Blackburn, Switzerland, Finland, and loads of other teams (65)

1957 – Melanie Griffith, American actress, still most famous for the 1988 film “Working Girl” and married to Antonio Banderas (55)

1959 – Kurtis Blow, American rapper – in 1979 he became the first rapper to be signed by a major label – He’s most famous for the song “Christmas Rapping” (53)

1961 – Brad Gilbert, American tennis player and former coach of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray (51)

1961 – John Key, 38th and current Prime Minister of New Zealand (51)

1968 – Gillian Anderson, American actress, and former “X-Files” star – She seems to have disappeared a bit recently – Hmmm, mysterious (44)

1968 – Eric Bana, Australian actor, famous for playing The Hulk in the rubbish film of the same name – He’s also been in “Black Hawk Down” and “Troy” (44)

1969 – Divine Brown, American convicted felon and Hugh Grant’s naughty bit on the side once (43)

1970 – Arion Salazar, US former bassist with the band Third Eye Blind, who had a minor UK hit in 1997 with the song ‘Semi-Charmed Life’ (42)

1974 – Nicola Stapleton, English actress, used to be in “Bad Girls” and played Mandy Salter in “Eastenders” (38)

1976 – Rhona Mitra, English actress – She’s been in shows like “Nip/Tuck”, “Boston Legal” and “Stargate Universe” on US TV (36)

1977 – Mika Silvestre, French footballer, defender formerly with Man United and Arsenal (35)

1978 – Luke Concannon, British singer and guitarist with the band, Nizlopi, who had the 2005 UK No.1 single ‘JCB Song’ – They’ve since split up (34)

1978 – Audrey Tautou, French actress, star of the classic movie “Amelie” and the dreadful “Da Vinci Code” film – She’s very sexy, but aren’t all French actresses? (34)

1982 – Tyson Gay, American sprinter, came 4th in the 100 metres at the London Olympics 2012 (30)

1990 – Adelaide Kane, Australian actress, one of three who’ve played Lolly Allen in “Neighbours” (22)