1471: The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Barnet, in the War of the Roses.

1759: George Frederick Handel, German composer, died in London, where most of his music-making had been done.

1828: Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language.

1865: Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th president, was shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, dying the next day.

1917: Death of Dr Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof, Polish physician who invented the international language Esperanto.

1929: The Monaco Grand Prix was first run, 78 laps round the narrow streets and harbour of Monte Carlo.

1931: The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code.

1950: The comic strip hero Dan Dare made his first appearance in the first edition of The Eagle.

1954: Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov asked for political asylum in Canberra, confirming that British diplomats Burgess and Maclean were Russian spies.

1983: The first cordless telephone, capable of operating up to 600ft from base, was introduced.

On this day last year: British athlete Paula Radcliffe won the women's event in the London Marathon in her first competitive race at the distance.

BIRTHDAYS: Loretta Lynn, country singer, 68; Julie Christie, actress, 63; Ritchie Blackmore, rock guitarist, 58; Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist, 52; Robert Carlyle, actor, 42; Anthony Michael Hall, actor, 35; Sarah Michelle Gellar, actress, 26.