ON THIS DAY

• 311: Christians were legally recognised in the Roman Empire.

• 1789: George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America.

• 1803: The USA bought Louisiana and New Orleans from France.

• 1900: Engine driver Casey Jones died at the throttle of the Cannonball Express at Illinois Central, slowing down the train to save passengers’ lives.

• 1944: The first of 500,000 prefabricated homes (prefabs) went on show in London.

• 1945: Adolf Hitler shot himself dead in his underground bunker beneath the Chancellery in Berlin. Eva Braun, whom he had married the previous day, died beside him by taking a cyanide pill.

• 1975: The Vietnam War ended when the South Vietnam Government surrendered to North Vietnam. Fighting had continued despite the signing of peace treaties in 1973.

• 1980: Armed terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London and threatened to blow it up if their demands were not met.

• 1993: Tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed by an obsessed fan during a quarter-final match of the 1993 Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany.

• LAST YEAR: A new low-cost blood test for the early detection of brain cancer could be in UK hospitals within a few years, researchers revealed.

• BIRTHDAYS: Willie Nelson, country singer, 87; Burt Young, actor, 80; King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, 74; Jane Campion, film director, 66; Kirsten Dunst, actress, 38; Dianna Agron, actress/singer, 34.