1191 – King Richard I of England, our leader in the Crusades, executed 2500 Turks to make medicine from their bile.

1513 – In the Battle of the Spurs, King Henry VIII of England defeated the French Forces who were then forced to retreat

1743 – The earliest boxing code of rules was formulated by Jack Broughton in England

1777 – France declared a state of bankruptcy

1819 – Seventeen people died and over 600 were injured by cavalry charges against the unemployed at the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester

1858 – A telegraphed message from Britain’s Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan was transmitted over the recently laid trans-Atlantic cable.

1865 – This was Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic, where they regained their independence after 4 years of fighting against the Spanish

1897 – The Tate Gallery, funded by the sugar manufacturer Henry Tate, opened

1898 – The roller coaster was patented by Edwin Prescott

1925 – Charlie Chaplin’s classic movie “The Gold Rush” opened in New York

1930 – The first colour sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made

1936 – The Olympic Games closed in Berlin, under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler

1940 – 45 German planes were shot down over England in World War 2

1941 – The Royal Navy Signals School opened in Hampshire

1954 – The famous US magazine ‘Sports Illustrated’ published its first issue

1955 – Fiat Motors ordered the first private atomic reactor

1960 – Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachuted from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet, setting 3 records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft

1962 – Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr as drummer for The Beatles

1962 – Little Stevie Wonder, aged 12, released his first single, ‘I Call It Pretty Music, (But The Old People Call It The Blues)’ – It featured Marvin Gaye on drums

1965 – David Jones’ official stage name became David Bowie

1968 – The Jackson Five made their formal debut with Diana Ross and The Supremes at the Great Western Forum, California

1968 – Bruce Springsteen’s new band Earth made their live debut at the Off Broad Street Coffee House in Red Bank, New Jersey

1969 – Day two of the Woodstock Festival took place

1975 – Peter Gabriel announced he was leaving Genesis to go solo

1976 – Cliff Richard set out on a tour of Russia, starting with a night at the Hall Of The October Revolution in Leningrad

1977 – Manchester punk band The Buzzcocks signed to EMI’s United Artists label

1977 – Elvis Presley, whose singing and style revolutionized popular music in the 1950s, died after collapsing at his home on the toilet while reading a religious magazine

1980 – Keyboard player Jools Holland left Squeeze, though he re-joined in 1985

1983 – Paul Simon married actress Carrie Fisher

1985 – Madonna married actor Sean Penn in Malibu. She filed for divorce the following year

1985 – The last episode of the TV show “The Dukes of Hazard” aired in America after a successful five-year run

1992 – In response to an appeal by President Fernando Collor de Mello to wear green and yellow as a way to show support for him, thousands of Brazilians took to the streets dressed in black

2001 – Paul Burrell, the former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, was charged with theft from her estate

2004 – Flash floods devastated Boscastle in north Cornwall after the area’s average August rainfall fell in just two hours

2005 – Madonna suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand in a horse-riding accident on her country estate.

2005 – P Diddy appeared on the US TV Today Show and announced that he was altering his stage name again, dropping the “P.” and referring to himself simply as “Diddy.”

2007 – A “Wham” fan became the first noise nuisance neighbour to be prosecuted by Newcastle city council’s night watch team. Brian Turner had been playing their hit song ‘Last Christmas’ all night at full volume from 1am onwards.

2010 – New ‘One Show’ hosts Jason Manford and Alex Jones started – after Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley defected to ‘Daybreak’. Manford later quit after stories about his Tweets to female groupies emerged.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

1933 – Julie Newmar, American actress who famously played Catwoman in the 1960′s camp US TV version of “Batman” (79)

1939 – Sir Trevor McDonald, British TV newsreading legend (73)

1939 – Sean Brady the Primate of All Ireland, in the Catholic religious leader sense, and not the Monkey sense (73)

1940 – Bruce Beresford, Australian film director who’s directed films like “Breaker Morant” and “Driving Miss Daisy” (72)

1944 – Kevin Ayers, British singer and founder member of the band Soft Machine in the late 60′s (68)

1946 – Lesley Ann Warren, American actress, who starred in movies like “Victor Victoria” and “Clue” (66)

1947 – Katharine Hamnett, English fashion designer of the famous “Frankie Says” T-Shirts (65)

1948 – Barry Hay, Indian-born Dutch singer with the 70′s rockers Golden Earring, of “Radar Love” fame (64)

1949 – Scott Asheton, American drummer with rock legends, The Stooges (63)

1950 – Hasely Crawford, Trinidadian athlete, a sprinter who won the 100 metres at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and became the first Olympic champ from that country (62)

1950 – Jeff Thomson, Australian cricketer, devastating fast-bowler from the 1970′s and 80′s (62)

1953 – James “J.T.” Taylor, American lead singer formerly with Kool and The Gang of “Ladies Night” and “Joanna” fame (59)

1954 – George Galloway, Left-wing British politician, former MP, now a TV and radio personality. Also a good cat impersonator on Celebrity Big Brother. Founder of the Respect Party (58)

1954 – James Cameron, Canadian film director of “Titanic”, “Avatar”, “The Terminator”, “Aliens”, “The Abyss” – His films have grossed around 6 billion dollars worldwide (58)

1957 – Tim Farriss, Australian musician, the guitarist with INXS (55)

1958 – Angela Bassett, American actress, famously played Tina Turner in the motion picture “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” (54)

1958 – Madonna Louise Ciccone – a.k.a. Madonna, the American singer and actress – She’s sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is the world’s top-selling female recording artist of all time (54)

1960 – Timothy Hutton, American actor – the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People (50)

1962 – Steve Carell, American actor and comedian, one of the biggest comedy stars in the world – played the Ricky Gervais role in the US version of “The Office” and has starred in big movies like “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” (50)

1967 – Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish television personality, ex weather girl and on “Shooting Stars” (45)

1967 – MC. Remedee, UK rapper with The Cookie Crew, who had a 1988 UK No.5 single with ‘Rock Da House’ – Her real name is Debbie Pryce (45)

1972 – Emily Robison, American country singer with The Dixie Chicks (40)

1972 – Frankie Boyle, Scottish comedian, acerbic star who used to be on “Mock The Week” (40)

1974 – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Guyanese cricketer for the West Indies – He’s played over 100 tests and is one of the top-ranked batsmen in the world (38)

1980 – Robert Hardy, English musician, bass player with Franz Ferdinand of “Take Me Out” fame (32)

1980 – Venessa Carlton, US singer-songwriter who had a 2002 UK No.6 single with ‘A Thousand Miles’ (32)

1981 – Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguayan footballer, a striker who’s with Man City (31)

1982 – Joleon Lescott, English footballer, defender for Man City and England – Used to play for Wolves and Everton (30)

1988 – Rumer Willis, American actress, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (24)