1668 John Dryden was appointed the first Poet Laureate.

1732 Birth of Frederick, Lord North, who as Prime Minister levied the tax on tea that incensed the American colonists and provoked the Boston Tea Party.

1741 The Royal Military Academy was established at Woolwich. It is now at Sandhurst.

1742 The first public performance of Handel's Messiah in Dublin.

1852 Frank Winfield Woolworth, merchant and founder of the chain store, was born in New York.

1882 The Anti-Semitic League was founded in Prussia.

1912 The Royal Flying Corps was instituted by Royal Charter.

1936 Joe Payne scored 10 goals for Luton Town against Bristol Rovers onhis debut as centre forward - a record for one man in one game.

1964 Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win an Oscar for best actor, in The Lilies Of The Field.

1980 Four days after his 23rd birthday, Severiano Ballesteros won the US Masters, the event's youngest winner.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: British peacekeepers on patrol in the Afghan capital, Kabul, were attacked by gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

BIRTHDAYS: Edward Fox, actor, 66; Seamus Heaney, poet, 64; Dame Margaret Price, opera singer, 62; Marjorie Yates, actress, 62; Al Green, soul singer, 53; Peabo Bryson, singer, 52; Peter Davison, actor, 52; Jonjo O'Neill, racehorse trainer, 51; Stephen Byers, Labour MP, 50; Barbara Roche, Cabinet Office Minister, 49; Gary Kasparov, former chess champion, 40; Rick Schroder, actor, 33; Lou Bega, singer, 28; Jonathan Brandis, actor, 27.