On this day

19BC: Virgil, the Roman poet, died and his tomb in Naples became a shrine.

1327: Edward II was murdered in the dungeon of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire to ensure his son Edward III could succeed to the throne.

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart) and his Jacobite army defeated the English at the Battle of Prestonpans.

1756: John McAdam, the Scottish surveyor who introduced the “macadam” system of roadmaking, was born in Ayr.

1792: France was declared a Republic and the monarchy abolished.

1857: British forces retook Delhi from Indian mutineers.

1866: Author HG Wells was born in Bromley, Kent.

1915: Stonehenge, pictured above, and the surrounding 30 acres of land, was sold by Sir Edmund Antrobus to Mr CH Chubb for £6,600 at auction. Chubb presented it to the nation three years later.

1962: The British TV quiz programme University Challenge, presented by Bamber Gascoigne, pictured above, was first transmitted.

1964: Malta became independent, after 164 years of British rule.

1981: Belize, originally known as British Honduras, gained its independence.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The remains of a 6,000-year-old prehistoric dwelling were unearthed in a field during excavation works for a major Scottish Water project.