2004
Alistair Cooke dies at the age of 95 – until four weeks previously, and since 1946, he had broadcast his regular 'Letter from America' on BBC radio
Great Britain
2002
The Queen Mother dies, aged 101 years
Great Britain
1999
The Philip Morris tobacco company was ordered by a jury in Portland, Oregon, to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer
United States
1998
British car manufacturer Rolls Royce was sold to BMW in Germany .
Great Britain
1997
Channel 5 TV begins in UK (launched by the Spice Girls)
Great Britain
1979
Airey Neave killed by a car bomb at Westminster
Great Britain
1909
The Queensboro Bridge in New York opened. It linked Manhattan and Queens and was the first double-decker bridge
United States
1905
Death of Albert Pierrepoint, English public executioner who could get a man from the condemned cell to the drop in less than 10 seconds.
Great Britain
1882
Birth of Melanie Klein, Austrian-born British child psychologist
Austria
1858
Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patented the pencil with an eraser attached to one end.
United States
1856
End of the Crimean War
1296
Berwick-upon-Tweed sacked by Edward I
Great Britain