1837: London's first railway station, Euston, opened.

1871: The English Football Association Challenge Cup Competition was formed, to become better known as the FA Cup. The first final saw the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0.

1940: The first singles charts were published in the US journal Billboard. No 1 was I'll Never Smile Again by the Tommy Dorsey band, vocal by Frank Sinatra.

1944: An assassination attempt on Hitler was made by a German staff officer, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, at Rastenberg, East Prussia. He was summarily executed, as were 1,000 other people implicated in the plot.

1957: At a meeting in Bradford, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said: "Let's be frank about it. Most of our people have never had it so good." He later repeated it in the House of Commons.

1968: Actress Jane Asher broke off her engagement with Paul McCartney in a BBC television interview.

1973: Kung-fu film star Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong.

1989: The Government announced fines of up to £1,000 for litter louts.

LAST YEAR: The BBC confirmed that scientist David Kelly was the source of its controversial story on claims that a dossier on Iraq's arms was "sexed up".