1765: English wig-makers petitioned George III for financial relief as the male fashion of wearing wigs came to an end.

1810: French emperor Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the royal nursery.

1847: Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric light, was born in Ohio. During a lifetime of invention he was granted 1,098 different patents.

1852: The first flushing lavatory for women opened in Bedford Street, London. The cost of spending a penny was tuppence.

1858: The Miracle of Lourdes took place when St Bernadette (peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous) had her first vision of the Virgin Mary.

1878: The first weekly weather report was published by the meteorological office.

1929: The 109 acres of the Vatican in Rome was made an independent sovereign state under the Lateran Treaty.

1940: John Buchan, Scottish novelist who became Lord Tweedsmuir, died. He is best remembered for his creation Richard Hannay and the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps.

1975: Margaret Thatcher became the first woman leader of a British political party, the Conservatives, at the age of 49.

1990: South Africa's black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years.

On this day last year: A gang of robbers escaped with several million pounds in cash during a raid at Heathrow Airport in which a security van was held up, Scotland Yard said.

BIRTHDAYS:

SIDNEY Sheldon, novelist, 86; Leslie Nielsen, actor, 77; Dennis Skinner, Labour MP, pictured, 71; Mary Quant, fashion designer, 69; Burt Reynolds, actor, 67; Jeb Bush, Florida governor, 50; Michael Jackson, TV executive, 45; Sheryl Crow, singer/songwriter, 40; Jennifer Aniston, actress, 34; Kelly Rowland, singer (Destiny's Child), 22.