1868: The 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade to disaster at Balaclava in the Crimean War, died. He is now best remembered for the woollen garment named after him.

1930: Constantinople changed its name to Istanbul.

1939: Madrid surrendered to Franco to end the Spanish Civil War.

1964: The pirate station Radio Caroline began transmitting from a ship in the North Sea.

1979: There was a radiation leak alert at Three Mile Island nuclear station in Pennsylvania.

1991: A jury returned a verdict of accidental death at the end of the inquest of 95 Liverpool football fans crushed to death in Sheffield.