1492: The infamous Roderigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI by bribing cardinals.

1897: Enid Blyton, children's author, was born in East Dulwich. In the mid-Thirties she began writing her stories which featured Noddy, the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.

1919: Philanthropic American industrialist Andrew Carnegie died. Insisting he wanted to leave the world a poor man, he gave away more than 308 million dollars. But he failed to achieve his ambition - he had 22 million dollars left.

1942: Barnes Wallis patented the bouncing bomb which was used against the German Mohne and Eder dams in 1943 by the RAF Dambusters Squadron.

1956: Abstract expressionist artist Jason Pollock died when his car hit a tree near East Hampton, New York.

1965: Violent race riots broke out in the Watts area of Chicago.

1975: The Government took ownership of British Leyland, the only major British-owned car company.

1988: Devastating floods brought chaos to the Sudan. After 13 hours of rain, 1.5 million people had been made homeless.

LAST YEAR: Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly got under way in London.