On this day

1587: Sir Francis Drake sailed into Cadiz harbour and sank the Spanish fleet - an action known as “singeing the King of Spain’s beard”.

1775: In Lexington, the opening shot was fired - by a British general - in the American War of Independence. This was the shot “heard around the world”.

1824: Poet Lord Byron died of a fever at Missolonghi while aiding Greek insurgents against the Turks in their fight for independence. He was 36.

1882: Death of biologist Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution revolutionised scientific thinking.

1906: Pierre Curie, French physicist who worked with his wife on magnetism and radioactivity and who discovered radium, was killed in a carriage accident in Paris.

1927: Mae West was found guilty of indecent behaviour in her Broadway production of Sex. She was sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined 500 dollars. 1956: Prince Rainier III of Monaco married actress Grace Kelly.

1958: Footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of 106 appearances for England. In the match, against Scotland, he scored the first of his record 49 international goals.

1987: The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on the Tracy Ullman Show

1995: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols carried out a bomb attack on Oklahoma City, USA killing 168 people. 2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II The new Pope took the name

Pope Benedict XVI.

2011: Fidel Castro resigned from the Cuban Communist Party and stepped down as party leader after 45 years of holding the title.