On this day - April 19

1587: Sir Francis Drake sailed into Cadiz and sank the Spanish fleet - an action known as "singeing the King of Spain's beard.

1775: In Lexington, the opening shot was fired - by a British general - in the American War of Independence.

1824: Poet Lord Byron died of a fever at Missolonghi while aiding Greek insurgents against the Turks in their fight for independence. He was 36.

1843: The gas meter was patented by Carl Ludwig Farwig.

1882: Death of biologist Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution revolutionised scientific thinking.

1906: Pierre Curie, French physicist who worked with his wife on magnetism and radioactivity and who discovered radium, was run over and killed in Paris.

1927: Mae West was found guilty of indecent behaviour in her Broadwayproduction of Sex. She was sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined 500.

1951: Eric Morley, publicity officer with Mecca, devised the Miss World beauty contest as part of the Festival of Britain.

1956: Prince Rainier of Monaco married actress Grace Kelly.

1958: Footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of 106 appearances for England. In the match, against Scotland, he scored the first of his record 49 international goals.

On this day last year: There was no evidence that the IRA was poised to resume its terror campaign, Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid insisted, hours after it emerged that a republican hitlist had been found.

BIRTHDAYS: Harold "Dickie" Bird, former cricket umpire, 70;

MICHEL Roux, chef, 62; Alan Price, pop musician, 62; Tim Curry, actor, 57; Ruby Wax, comedienne, 50; Ashley Judd, actress, 35; Jennifer Esposito, actress, 31; Kate Hudson, actress, 24; Hayden Christiensen, actor, 22.

APRIL 20

1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament which had governed during the Civil War.

1657 The Spanish fleet at Santa Cruz was destroyed by the English under Admiral Blake.

1770 Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales, Australia.

1841 The Murders In The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, considered to be the first modern detective story, was published in the USA.

1887 The world's first motor race took place along the banks of the river Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly.

1889 Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, the son of a customs official who changed his name from Schickelgruber.

1893 Harold Lloyd, bespectacled comedian famous for his stunt scenes, was born in Nebraska.

1929 The first Italian parliament made up exclusively of Fascists led by Benito Mussolini was opened by Victor Emmanuel III.

1945 Soviet troops entered Berlin.

1989 Scientists said that the Earth narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Tony Blair called for a new Middle East peace process to try to end the bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians as the UN Security Council elected to send a fact-finding team to Jenin.

BIRTHDAYS: Sir Leslie Phillips, actor, 79; Sir Antony Jay, Yes, Minister creator, 72; Peter Snow, TV news journalist, 65; Ray Brooks, actor, 64; George Takei, actor, 62; Ryan O'Neal, actor, 62; Michael Brandon, actor, 58; Jessica Lange, actress, 54; Louise Jameson, actress, 52; Luther Vandross, singer, 52; Nicholas Lyndhurst, actor, 42; Carmen Electra, model and actress, 31.

APRIL 21

753BC: Traditional date for the founding of Rome.

1509: Henry VII died and his second son acceded to the throne as Henry VIII.

1816: Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three Bronte Sisters and author of Jane Eyre, was born in Thornton, Yorkshire.

1836: The Texans defeated the Mexicans at the Battle of San Juanita.

1873: The Canadian North-West Mounted Police (Mounties) were established.

1910: Novelist Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) died in Reading, Connecticut, aged 74. Halley's comet appeared in 1835 when he was born and he always said he would die when it appeared again -- and he did.

1918: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, scourge of World War One British fliers, was shot down in his red Fokker tri-plane and died.

1945: Ivor Novello's Perchance To Dream opened at the London Hippodrome with his now classic song "We'll Gather Lilacs". The show ran to 1,022 performances.

1983: One pound coins went into circulation in Britain, replacing paper notes in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

On this day last year: Failing NHS hospitals could be in the hands of private sector managers by the next General Election, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said.

BIRTHDAYS: Sir John Mortimer, QC and author, 80; Queen Elizabeth II, 77; Charles Grodin, actor, 68; Iggy Pop (James Osterberg), rock singer, 56; Tony Danza, actor, 52; Andie MacDowell, actress, 45; Robert Smith, rock musician (The Cure), 44.

APRIL 22

1500 Navigator Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovered Brazil and claimed it on behalf of Portugal.

1838 The British packet steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic to New York from England. The journey took 18 days and 10 hours.

1870 Vladimir llyich Ulyanov (Lenin), Russian revolutionary leader, was born in Simbirsk.

1884 A major earthquake hit Colchester and parts of East Anglia, damaging 1,200 buildings and killing four people.

1915 Germany first used poison gas at Ypres.

1933 Death of Frederick Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls Royce car company.

1943 The printing of British £1,000 notes was discontinued.

1969 Yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Falmouth to complete his 312-day, non-stop, round-the-world voyage.

1972 John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook arrived in Australia to become the first people to row across the Pacific.

1989 Archaeologists said they had unearthed a 2,000-year-old mummy in agold covered coffin in the Egyptian oasis, Fayoum. She was wrapped in linen and dried flowers and had a child beside her.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Police were working to reassure ethnic communities in Preston after nearly five hours of racially-aggravated violence.

BIRTHDAYS: George Cole, actor, 78; Aaron Spelling, TV producer, 75; Glen Campbell, singer, 67; Jack Nicholson, actor, 66; John Waters, film director, 57; Carol Drinkwater, actress, 55; Peter Frampton, rock singer, 53; Jancis Robinson, wine writer/broadcaster, 53; Ryan Stiles, actor and comedian, 44; Sheryl Lee, actess, 36; Dion Dublin, footballer, 34.

APRIL 23

ST GEORGE'S DAY, NATIONAL DAY OF ENGLAND

1349 Edward III founded the Order of the Garter.

1564 William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet and actor, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He died on the same date in 1616.

1661 Charles II was crowned King of England.

1775 Joseph Mallard William Turner, English landscape painter, was born in London.

1879 The first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon. On the same day in 1932 the New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened by the Prince of Wales.

1915 Rupert Brooke, English poet, died of blood poisoning on the Greekisland of Skyros, on his way to the Dardanelles.

1927 Cardiff City beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup Final to become the first club to take the cup out of England.

1968 The first decimal coins appeared in Britain. They were the 5p and 10p pieces which replaced the old one shilling and two shilling coins.

1983 Cliff Thorburn scored the first televised maximum break of 147 in the World Snooker championships, at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

1984 The United States announced the discovery of the Aids virus.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The administrators of troubled ITV Digital met executives from the Independent Television Commission to discuss how best to sell the loss-making broadcaster.

BIRTHDAYS: Shirley Temple Black, former child star, 75; Lee Majors, actor, 64; Sandra Dee, actress, 61; Blair Brown, actress, 55; Tessa Wyatt, actress, 55; James Russo, actor, 50; Judy Davis, actress, 48; Mike Smith, DJ/TV presenter, 48; John Hannah, actor, 41; Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, 22.

APRIL 24

1743 Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom, was born.

1792 Claude Rouget de l'Isle composed the French national anthem, the Marseillaise.

1815 Novelist Anthony Trollope was born in London.

1889 Sir Stafford Cripps, Labour Chancellor who introduced austerity measures in Britain after World War Two, was born.

1900 The first issue of the Daily Express, founded by Arthur Pearson, appeared in London.

1916 The Easter rebellion began in Dublin against British rule in Ireland (ended on April 29).

1949 Sweets and chocolate came off ration.

1965 The Pennine Way - 250 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm on the Scottish border - was officially opened.

1986 The Duchess of Windsor died in Paris, aged 89.

1989 Peter Scudamore became the first National Hunt jockey to ride 200winners in a season when he won at Towcester with Gay Moore.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: 24 Home Secretary David Blunkett prompted a row when he said he was taking action to stop the children of asylum seekers "swamping" schools.

BIRTHDAYS: Sir Clement Freud, broadcaster/writer, 79; Shirley MacLaine, entertainer, 69; John Williams, guitarist, 62; Barbra Streisand, singer/actress, 61; Michael O'Keefe, actor, 48; Stuart Pearce, footballer, 41; Djimon Hounsou, actor, 39; Sachin Tendulkar, cricketer, 30; Dominic Matteo, footballer, 29.

APRIL 25

FEAST OF ST MARK

ANZAC DAY - Commemorates 1915 Gallipoli landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in the First World War.

1599 Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon. He became Lord Protector of England - Britain's first and only dictator.

1792 The guillotine, Dr Guillotin's (correct) much improved device for beheading people, was first used in Paris to remove the head of a highwayman.

1859 work began on the 100-mile Suez Canal.

1872 CB Fry, all-round sportsman, was born in Croydon. He played football, cricket and rugby and was also an athlete, hunter, fisherman and novelist.

1915 Australian, New Zealand, British and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsular.

1926 Toscanini conducted the first performance of Puccini's last opera,Turandot, in Milan.

1964 Thieves stole the head from the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen.

1969 The radio serial Mrs Dale's Diary ended after 21 years and 5,400 episodes. Her last words were: "I'm rather worried about Jim."

1975 Portugal held its first free elections for 50 years.

1983 In Germany, Stern published extracts from the so-called Hitler Diaries, also published by the Sunday Times in Britain. They were later found to be forgeries.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Two teenage brothers walked free from the Old Bailey after being cleared of the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor.

BIRTHDAYS: William Roache, Coronation Street actor, 71; Earl of Lichfield, photographer, 64; Al Pacino, actor, 64; Bjorn Ulvaeus, pop musician (Abba), 58; Talia Shire, actress, 57; Johann Cruyff, football manager, 57; Ian McCartney, Labour Party Chairman, 52; Eric Bristow, darts player, 46; Andy Bell, pop musician (Erasure), 39; Renee Zellweger, actress, 34; Jason Lee, actor, 33