1707 The Union of Scotland and England was proclaimed.

1840 The first Penny Black stamps with Queen Victoria's head went on sale five days before the official issue date. They are now worth at least £65,000.

1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, which ran until October 11.

1873 Missionary and explorer David Livingstone died of malaria in central Africa.

1912 The statue of Peter Pan was installed in Kensington Gardens, London. JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan, commissioned and paid for the statue, although children were told that fairies put it there.

1925 Cyprus became a British colony, having originally been annexed in 1914 when Turkey supported Germany during World War One.

1931 US President Herbert Hoover opened the Empire State Building in New York. At 1,250ft high and with 102 floors, it was then the world's tallest building.

1945 Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels committed suicide in his bunker after first killing his wife and six children.

1960 An American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in the Soviet Union.

1968 Legoland Family Park opened at Billund, Denmark.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Hundreds of May Day demonstrators converged on central London as police mounted a huge operation in a bid to prevent any disorder.

BIRTHDAYS: Una Stubbs, actress, 66; Judy Collins, singer, 64; Rita Coolidge, singer, 58; Joanna Lumley, actress, 57; Ray Parker Jr, singer, 49; Steve Cauthen, jockey, 43; Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, 39.