On this day

1637: The Ancient Society of College Youths was founded to ring the City of London bells. College youths have rung Bow Bells since 1637 and also ring St Paul’s Bells on Sundays.

1854: The combined British and French armies defeated the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War.

1909: The first Woolworth’s store in Britain opened in Liverpool.

1912: The British Board of Film Censors was appointed. It decided on two classifications – Universal and Not Suitable for Children.

1914: Britain and France declared war on Turkey.

1937: The Air Raid Precautions Bill was introduced in the Commons.

1956: A popular uprising in Hungary was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops, with an estimated 20,000 Hungarians killed.

1968: US presidential election – Republican challenger Richard M Nixon defeated vice president Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George C Wallace.

1990: Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, was shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.

1991: Robert Maxwell, (pictured below) millionaire publishing tycoon, was found dead at sea hours after disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.

2006: Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging by the Iraq High Tribunal.

2019: The Queen’s senior dresser revealed that she no longer uses fur in her outfits, having switched to fake fur earlier in the year.