1660: The Royal Society was founded in London.

1757: William Blake, mystic and visionary English poet and painter, was born in London.

1905: The Irish political party Sinn Fein was founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith.

1919: Viscountess (Nancy) Astor became Britain's first woman MP, holding a safe Plymouth seat for the Tories in a by-election caused by her husband's elevation of the peerage.

1934: Winston Churchill warned that weak defences could mean that Britain could be "tortured into absolute subjection" in any war with Germany.

1943: The Big Three - Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - met in Tehran to "plan strategy" and discuss post-war policy, including treatment of a defeated Germany.

1948: The first Polaroid cameras went on sale in Boston.

1967: Horseracing was suspended in Britain after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

1968: Enid Blyton, creator of Noddy and Big Ears among many other children's favourites, died.

1983: The Government announced an end to the monopoly by opticians on the sale of glasses.

On this day last year: US warplanes have bombed a suspected hideout of Taliban and al Qaida leaders as the US said it had detained alleged members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

BIRTHDAYS: Berry Gordy, Tamla Motown founder, 73; Terence Frisby, playwright, actor and producer, 70; Randy Newman, songwriter, 59; Alistair Darling, Transport Secretary, 49; Fiona Armstrong, newscaster, 46; Lucy Gutteridge, actress, 46; Kriss Akabusi, athlete, 44; Stephen Roche, cyclist, 43; Judd Nelson, actor, 43.