1542: "I die a Queen but I would rather have died the wife of Culpepper," - the last words of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, before she was beheaded on Tower Green.

1692: The Glencoe massacre took place in the Scottish Highlands, when the MacDonalds were massacred by their traditional enemies, the Campbells.

1867: Johann Strauss the Younger's waltz The Blue Danube was first performed at a ball in Vienna.

1917: Femme fatale Mata Hari, reputedly a double agent in World War One, in the pay of both France and Germany, was shot by the French on espionage charges.

1945: 1,400 RAF and 450 USAF planes bombed Dresden in three waves over a 14-hour period, devastating one of the world's most beautiful cities.

1958: Dame Christabel Pankhurst, British suffragette and daughter of Emmeline, died.

1969: It was announced that eggs removed from a woman volunteer had been fertilised in a test tube as a result of research at Cambridge University in collaboration with a doctor at Oldham General Hospital.

1974: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was expelled from the Soviet Union.

1987: London's property boom resulted in a 5ft 6in x 11ft broom cupboard opposite Harrods being offered for sale at £36,500 - more than £600 per square foot.

1990: Heavyweight James 'Buster' Douglas inflicted a shock knockout defeat on reigning world champion Mike Tyson in Tokyo.

On this day last year: British Airways was accused of "butchery" after unveiling radical plans to cut 5,800 jobs to tackle its mounting debts.

BIRTHDAYS:

KIM Novak, actress, 70; George Segal, actor, 69; Stockard Channing, actress, 59; Jerry Springer, talk show host, 59; Peter Gabriel, singer, 53; Peter Hook, rock musician (New Order), 47; Henry Rollins, actor and rock singer, 42; Jesse Birdsall, actor, 40; PJ Harvey, singer, 34; Robbie Williams, singer, pictured, 29.