1800 The Irish parliament passed the Act of Union with England.

1868 The Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade todisaster at Balaclava in the Crimean War, died. He is now best remembered for the woollen garment named after him.

1891 Paul Whiteman, American jazz bandleader, was born in Denver, Colorado.

1920 Douglas Elton Ullman wed Gladys Smith in Hollywood. The couple were better known as screen stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and their marriage was described as "Hollywood's first Royal Wedding."

1930 Constantinople changed its name to Istanbul.

1939 Madrid surrendered to Franco to end the Spanish Civil War.

1942 British commandos destroyed the U-boat base at St Nazaire.

1945 The last of more than 1,000 V2 bombs dropped on Britain landed at Orpington, Kent.

1964 The pirate station Radio Caroline began transmitting from a ship in the North Sea.

1979 There was a radiation leak alert at Three Mile Island nuclear station, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when the atomic core began to melt down.

1984 Nissan chose Washington, near Sunderland, as the site for its pilot car plant.

1990 Customs officers intercepted a cargo of electrical detonators for nuclear weapons bound for Iraq.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A second juvenile defendant on trial for the murder of south London schoolboy Damilola Taylor walked free from the Old Bailey.

BIRTHDAYS: Michael Parkinson, journalist and TV personality, 68; Neil Kinnock, EC Commissioner/former Labour Party leader, 61; Mike Newell, film director, 61; Richard Stilgoe, TV presenter, 60; Dianne Wiest, actress, 55; Nasser Hussain, cricketer, 35; Julia Stiles, actress, 22.