On this day

1735: Sir Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister to move into 10 Downing Street, pictured above.

1780: Capt William Lynch’s name was immortalised when he issued a proclamation in Virginia, saying that if citizens believed the official course of justice was not strong enough, they should take the law into their own hands. While horse-whipping was the general punishment, hanging did take place – hence the word “lynching”.

1827: Joseph Smith, son of an impoverished New England farmer, announced he had received golden plates from an angel. From this he translated the Book of Mormon, which led to the founding of the Mormons.

1880: Dame Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette daughter of Emmeline, was born in Manchester.

1955: With the start of commercial television in Britain, the first advert transmitted was for Gibbs SR toothpaste.

1972: Idi Amin gave Uganda’s 8,000 South Asians 48 hours to leave the country.

1980: Workers in Poland formed a new independent labour union, Solidarity.

1989: An IRA bomb attack killed 10 and injured more than 30 at the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent.

1990: The Natural History Museum solved the Piltdown Man hoax. The mastermind behind it was anthropologist Sir Arthur Keith.

1991: Bryan Adams, pictured above, made pop history when his record Everything I Do, I Do It For You, stayed at number one for a 12th week.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The death toll from an earthquake in Mexico rose to almost 300, as rescue operations continued.