42BC: Tiberius, Roman Emperor whose rule was one of cruelty and debauchery, was born in Rome.

1724: Highwayman Jack Sheppard was hanged in front of 200,000 people at Tyburn.

1824: Explorers Hamilton Hume and William H Hovell discovered Australia's Murray River.

1869: The formal opening of the Suez Canal took place. It had taken 10 years to make the 100-mile canal devised by Ferdinand de Lesseps.

1896: Oswald Mosley, English Fascist leader, was born.

1920: The Bolsheviks defeated the White Russians in the Crimea, ending Russia's Civil War.

1937: MPs voted in favour of air raid shelters being erected in towns and cities. Winston Churchill insisted they were "indispensible". Labour opposed this, fearing it would mean a big rise in rates.

1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound Of music, opened on Broadway.

1960: Clark Gable, the "King of Hollywood" and Oscar winner, died after shooting the final scenes of The Misfits opposite Marilyn Monroe.

1989: A pillar of South African apartheid crumbled when beach access restrictions were removed by president F W de Klerk.

On this day last year: Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man and likely successor, is believed to have been killed by a US air strike.

, an American official said.

BIRTHDAYS:

MICHAEL Billington, author and critic, 63; Griff Rhys Jones, comedian, 49, pictured; Gay 'Mani' Mournfield, musican with the Stone Roses, 40; Lisa Bonet, actress, 35; Bryan Abrams, singer with Color me Badd, 33.

Willie Carson, former jockey, 60; Frank Bruno, former boxer, 41; Steve Bould, footballer, 40; Waqar Younis, cricketer, 31; Paul Scholes, footballer, 28.