NOW & THEN
16 MARCH
1521: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached Philippine Islands.
1834: HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, anchored at Berkeley Sound in the Falkland Islands.
1867: The Lancet published the first article by Joseph Lister, outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery.
1872: The first English FA Cup final took place. Wanderers, a team formed by university and ex-public school players, beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 at The Oval in London.
1877: Australian batsman Charles Bannerman scored the first run in Test cricket, in a match against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
1888: The first recorded sale of a manufactured motor car was to Emile Roger of Paris, who bought a petrol-driven Benz.
1900: Sir Arthur Evans uncovered the ancient city of Knossos, Crete.
1904: The first books of stamps were issued by the GPO. They cost two shillings-and-a-halfpenny for 24 penny stamps.
1935: Hitler renounced the Versailles Treaty and introduced conscription.
1947: Almost 600,000 acres of farming land were submerged by floodwater on the Fens and a million sheep died as the River Ouse overflowed. Storm damage came to more than £20 million.
1971: Boxer Henry Cooper announced his retirement after losing his title to Joe Bugner.
1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono were issued with deportation papers by the US government.
1976: Harold Wilson retired as prime minister after leading the Labour Party for 13 years.
1980: Alan Minter outpointed Vito Antuofermo of the United States to win the world middleweight title.
1988: A Loyalist gunman opened fire indiscriminately and hurled grenades into a crowd of mourners at an IRA funeral for three people killed by the SAS in Gibraltar ten days before.
1995: Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
1998: Pope John Paul II asked God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
2009: Robin Barr revealed he was to retire as chairman of AG Barr, the makers of Irn-bru, after more than 50 years at the family business.
2010: Scotland approved ten marine energy projects in the Pentland Firth which would have the potential to power a third of the country’s homes.
2011: The world’s largest online child abuse ring, with up to 70,000 followers, was smashed, police revealed.
2012: Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to score 100 international centuries.
2012: Actor George Clooney was arrested during a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, while protesting against human rights abuse in Sudan.