Circa 270: St Valentine was martyred by Roman Emperor Claudius II. The tradition of sending love letters on this day is unlikely to be connected with St Valentine, but to follow the medieval belief that birds traditionally pair on February 14.

1766: Thomas Robert Malthus, economist and author of An Essay On The Principles Of Population (1798), was born. He saw famine, disease and disaster as a method of controlling the earth's fast-growing population.

1779: Captain James Cook, British explorer, was murdered by natives in Owyhee (Hawaii).

1822: Britain's postal services had to employ extra sorters as the fashion of sending messages to loved ones on this day continued to grow in popularity.

1895: The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde had its premiere in London. Wilde had reportedly written it in three weeks.

1929: The St Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago warehouse. Seven members of Bugsy Moran's gang were gunned down, probably by mobsters from Al Capone's outfit.

1933: Oxford students declared they would not fight for "King and Country".

1946: The Bank of England was nationalised.

1975: Sir Pelham Grenville (PG) Wodehouse, known affectionately as "Plum" and writer of many humorous novels, notably the Jeeves series, died in the United States aged 93.

1984: Britain's Torvill and Dean skated their way to a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, getting maximum points for artistic expression.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Controversial spin doctor Jo Moore did receive an e-mail from Department of Transport communications chief Martin Sixsmith talking of burying bad news on the same day as Princess Margaret's funeral - despite official denials, PA News learned.