1836: The Alamo fell to Mexican forces under Santa Anna. Legendary frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie both died in the 12-day battle.

1890: An ornithologist released 60 pairs of starlings in New York's Central Park as a memorial to Shakespeare. The starling is now America's worst bird pest!

1899: Chemist Felix Hoffman patented the world's most famous pain-relief drug, the aspirin.

1926: The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon was engulfed by flames, leaving only a blackened shell.

1930: Clarence Birdseye marketed the first frozen foods in Massachusetts.

1951: Ivor Novello (David Ivor Davies), Welsh-born composer, playwright and actor, died in his flat above the Strand Theatre, London.

1961: George Formby, film star and music hall artist (pictured), who sang comic songs and accompanied himself on the banjo, died.

1974: Labour returned to power with Harold Wilson at the helm after the Liberals rejected Edward Heath's offer of coalition with a cabinet post for their leader Jeremy Thorpe.

1987: The ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized with her bow door open leaving Zeebrugge harbour - 193 died.

1988: Three IRA terrorists were shot dead by SAS men in Gibraltar.

1991: Dr George Carey is elected as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

NATIONAL DAY OF GHANA (Formerly the Gold Coast, it became the first British colony in Africa to achieve independence, on March 6, 1957)

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Members of the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan were killed in a blast at an ammunition dump.

BIRTHDAYS: Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, 77; John Noakes, broadcaster, 69; Jean Boht, actress, 67; Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano, 59; David Gilmour, Pink Floyd guitarist, 57; Kiki Dee, singer 56; Rob Reiner, actor/director, 56; Tom Arnold, actor, 44; Moira Kelly, actress, 35; Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player, 31.