1582: Pope Gregory XIII announced the new Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar. It was not adopted by Britain until 1752, when a "loss" of 11 days had to be made up.

1825: Thomas Bowdler, expurgator of the "naughty bits" in the works of Shakespeare, died. He gave the English language the word "bowdlerize.

1848: France became a Republic for the second time, following the abdication of King Louis Phillipe.

1887: The first two cities to be linked by telephone were Paris and Brussels.

1905: The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps, 12.3 miles long, was completed.

1920: American-born Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons following her election as an MP two months earlier.

1923: The Flying Scotsman locomotive began hauling scheduled services between London and Scotland.

1932: Malcolm Campbell in Bluebird beat his own land speed record at Daytona Beach by reaching 253.96mph.

1938: A nylon toothbrush went on sale in New Jersey, the first commercial nylon product. Exactly one year later, nylon stockings made their first appearance in US shops.

1991: In their first parliamentary elections under a genuine multi-party system, voters in Lithuania rejected Communist rule.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Government agreed to an emergency loan - thought to be £30 million - to bail out the cash-strapped newly-privatised air traffic control service, Stephen Byers (pictured) confirmed.