1570: Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V who declared her a usurper.

1723: Sir Christopher Wren, English architect and designer, notably of St Paul's Cathedral, died in London and was buried in the crypt of his Cathedral.

1862: Abraham Lincoln issued new currency for the USA called "greenbacks".

1873: Enrico Caruso, operatic tenor, was born in Naples. His first record, On With The Motley from Pagliacci, was the first to sell a million copies.

1922: French mass murderer, Henri "Bluebeard" Landru, was guillotined for the murder of at least 10 women whose bodies were never found.

1939: The first of 2.5 million Anderson air raid shelters appeared in Islington, north London. The sunken, corrugated iron huts were to protect people from bombs but were used after the war for keeping chickens, cars, garden tools, etc.

1964: Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) won the world heavyweight boxing title for the first time, knocking out Sonny Liston in round seven in Miami.

1983: Tennessee Williams, US playwright whose plays include A Streetcar Named Desire, died in a New York hotel.

1990: Fifties pop singer Johnnie Ray (famous for his crying) died aged 63.

NATIONAL DAY OF KUWAIT

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The solicitor for a British Taliban suspect held at Camp X-Ray said she would mount a legal battle against the Government unless officials pressed the US to respect the prisoners' human rights.