ON THIS DAY
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.
1857: British forces retook Delhi from Indian mutineers.
1866: Author HG Wells – famous for The War Of The Worlds – was born in Bromley, Kent.
1915: Stonehenge, 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, conducted by Bamber Gascoigne, 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: Four guns used as props in James Bond films remained missing, six months after they were stolen by burglars who jumped through an open window to escape.