ON THIS DAY

18 YEARS AGO (2000)

We reported a plea for news by the distraught parents of missing schoolgirl Sarah Payne, eight. Her body was found on July 17 and in December 2001 Roy Whiting was convicted of her abduction and murder.

64 YEARS AGO (1954)

The Housewives Association marked the end of food rationing after 14 years with a special ceremony in Trafalgar Square. It had been introduced in 1940.

23 YEARS AGO (1995)

Prime Minister John Major held on to the Tory leadership after a challenge by the right-wing former Welsh Secretary John Redwood. Major had tendered his resignation in bid to silence the Tory eurosceptics who opposed his pro-EU policies.