On this day

■■330: Constantine the Great dedicates Byzantium as capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and renames it New Rome – the city is known today as Istanbul. ■■868: A copy of the Diamond Sutra is published, making it the earliest dated and printed book known.

■■973: Edgar the Peaceful is crowned King of England in the first coronation ceremony ever held for an English monarch. ■■1713: After losing the Battle of Helsinki to the Russians, Swedish and Finnish troops burn the entire city so as to deny it to their enemy.

■■1811: Conjoined twins Chang and Eng are born in Meklong, Siam (modern-day Thailand). Their fame led to the rise of the term ‘Siamese twins’.

■■1812: British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot dead in the Houses of Parliament lobby by John Bellingham, making him the only British PM to have been assassinated. ■■1846: US President James K. Polk asks Congress to declare war on Mexico.

■■1857: Indian rebels seize

Delhi from the British.

■■1960: Fourteen years after escaping from a prison camp, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is captured by Israeli agents in Argentina.

■■1981: Reggae icon Bob Marley dies of cancer, aged 36.

■■1985: A total of 56 football fans are killed when fire engulfs the main stand at Bradford City’s stadium, Valley Parade. ■■1997: A major leap in artificial intelligence takes place when IBM’s chess-playing computer Deep Blue beats reigning world champion Garry Kasparov. ■■2010: Gordon Brown officially resigns as UK Prime Minister, ending 13 years of Labour rule.