1726 Sir John Vanbrugh, playwright and architect of Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard and many castles and houses, died of a quinsy.

1780 The first Sunday newspaper in Britain was published: the British Gazette And Sunday Monitor.

1827 Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died, aged 57. His last words were reputedly: "I shall hear in Heaven."

1886 The first cremation in Britain took place at Woking in Surrey.

1891 Chico Marx, one of the Marx Brothers comedy team, was born in New York.

1923 Regular daily weather forecasting began on BBC radio.

1937 Popeye the sailor-man became the first cartoon character to have his statue erected - in Crystal City, Texas.

1945 David Lloyd George, who laid the foundations of the Welfare State and led Britain through the First World War, died at the age of 82.

1956 No national newspapers appeared because of a strike by 700 electricians and maintenance engineers over pay.

1962 The French army launched an offensive to crush the armed uprising in Algeria.

1973 Playwright, actor and songwriter Sir Noel Coward, known for many years as "The Master , died.

1973 The first woman stockbroker set foot on the floor of the London Stock Exchange.

1981 The so-called Gang of Four - Shirley Williams, Bill Rogers, Roy Jenkins and David Owen - left the Labour Party and launched the Social Democratic Party.

1992 Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Duwayne Brooks, the surviving victim of the racist attack on himself and Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south London, won the right to sue the police for the way he was treated in the aftermath of his friend's death.

BIRTHDAYS: Leonard Nimoy, actor, 72; James Caan, actor, 64; Erica Jong, writer, 61; Bob Woodward, Watergate journalist, 60; Diana Ross, singer, 59; Steven Tyler, rock musician (Aerosmith), 55; Teddy Prendergrass, soul singer, 53; Martin Short, actor, 53; Jennifer Grey, actress, 43; William Hague, former Conservative Party Leader, 42; Amy Smart, actress, 27.