1087: William Rufus (Red Rufus) came to the throne of England on the death of William the Conqueror in Rouen, France, from injuries received when his horse stumbled.

1513: The Battle of Flodden Field was fought near Branxton in Northumberland, in which James IV of Scotland was defeated and killed by English troops under Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey.

1754: William Bligh, captain of the Bounty, was born. He sailed around the world on Cook's second voyage before taking command of his own ship in 1787. The infamous mutiny in 1789 was not the end of his career - he became Governor of New South Wales in 1805.

1835: Modern local government came into being with the British Municipal Corporations Act.

1901: The stunted, bespectacled French painter Toulouse-Lautrec died after suffering two strokes.

1958: Race riots broke out in London's Notting Hill Gate. Television crews were accused of encouraging the rioting by staging reconstructions in the streets.

1963: Scotland's Jim Clark became the world's youngest motor racing champion.

1975: Martina Navratilova, 18-year-old Czech tennis player, defected to the West and asked the US for political asylum.

1976: Mao Tse-tung died aged 82 after a series of strokes.

LAST YEAR: The Government outlined its negotiating position ahead of an Inter Governmental Conference on the controversial EU constitution.