1265: The first English Parliament met at Westminster Hall.
1649: The trial of Charles I began.
1779: David Garrick, English actor and theatre manager, died and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1841: Hong Kong was ceded to Britain by China after the Opium Wars.
1892: The first game of basketball was played at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.
1900: John Ruskin, painter and social reformer, died at Coniston in the Lake District.
1901: Six states formed the Commonwealth of Australia.
1936: George V died, and Edward VIII acceded to the throne. He abdicated after 325 days.1944: The RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
1961: John F Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States.
1993: William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in as 42nd President of the United States.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the mobilisation of up to 14,000 British troops to the Gulf as preparation for a ground war with Iraq.
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