1653: Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament.
1657: The Spanish fleet at Santa Cruz was destroyed by the English under Admiral Blake.
1770: Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales, Australia.
1841: The Murders In The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, considered to be the first modern detective story, was published in the USA.
1887: The world's first motor race took place along the banks of the river Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly.
1889: Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, the son of a customs official who changed his name from Schickelgruber.
1893: Comedian Harold Lloyd was born in Nebraska.
1929: The first Italian parliament made up exclusively of Fascists led by Benito Mussolini was opened by Victor Emmanuel III.
1945: Soviet troops entered Berlin.
1989: Scientists said that the Earth narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.
LAST YEAR: The Guinness Book of Records founder Norris McWhirter died, aged 78, after a heart attack at his Wiltshire home.
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