1824: work on John Rennie's London Bridge began.

1876: The first cricket test between Australia and England was played in Sydney, with victory going to the home side by 45 runs.

1909: "The world's most beautiful store" opened in London's Oxford Street. It was named after its American owner, Gordon Selfridge.

1917: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated.

1932: The New BBC Dance Orchestra made its radio debut under the direction of Henry Hall.

1933: Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich, which he said would endure for a thousand years.

1937: America's first central blood bank was set up.

1945: Album charts were first published in America by Billboard, with the King Cole Trio at number one.

1956: My Fair Lady opened on Broadway starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. The title was adapted from the Cockney pronunciation of "Mayfair".

1968: Foreign Secretary George Brown quit as he accused Prime Minister Harold Wilson of running the Cabinet in a dictatorial fashion.

1974: A federal grand jury concluded that President Nixon was involved in a conspiracy to cover up White House involvement in the burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters in 1972.

1984: Only 21 of Britain's 174 coal mines were working as strikes against the Coal Board's 5.2 per cent pay offer and its pit closure programme became official.

1990: Mikhail Gorbachev was elected executive President of the USSR.

LAST YEAR: Ministers announced that teenagers aged 16 and 17 would get a £3 minimum wage and said the rate for adults would go up to £4.85.