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.

2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II. The new Pope, above, 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.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Singer Ellie Goulding surprised an NHS nurse with a live performance during her online wedding.