1666: The Great Fire of London began in Pudding Lane. It ended on September 6 at Pye Corner when it rained. Although an enormous amount of property was burned (13,000 buildings were destroyed), only six people died.

1726: English prison reformer John Howard was born in Hackney, London.

1834: Thomas Telford, Scottish engineer, road, bridge and canal builder, died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

1906: Roald Amundsen completed his sailing round Canada's Northwest Passage.

1916: The last of the famous Blaydon races - immortalised in the folk song - in Northumberland were held.

1939: On the eve of the official declaration of World War Two, Ted Drake scored four goals for Arsenal against Sunderland and Bournemouth beat Northampton Town 10-0 at Dean Court.

1945: The formal Japanese surrender to the Allies was signed on board the American battleship Missouri.

1973: JRR Tolkien, creator of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, died aged 81.

1974: Edward Heath's Morning Cloud III was sunk in a Force 9 gale in the English Channel.

1980: John Arlott, BBC cricket commentator, retired at Lord's after 35 years of broadcasting.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A car bomb blast near a police station rocked central Baghdad. One policemen was killed and a number wounded. Elsewhere in Iraq, two US military policemen were killed by a roadside bomb. A US soldier also died in a helicopter crash.