THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

NOVEMBER 23, 1910: Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, who poisoned his wife to seek a new life with his lover, Ethel Le Neve, was hanged at Pentoville Prison. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Hexham was crowned Britain’s happiest place to live in an annual poll.

NOVEMBER 24, 1991: Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock group Queen, died aged 45.

NOVEMBER 25, 1984: Britain’s top rock stars, responding to a call by Bob Geldof, gathered together under the name Band Aid to record Do They Know It’s Christmas, in aid of the Ethiopian famine appeal.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A “world first” trial assessing a cannabis-based drug to treat an aggressive form of brain cancer was given the go ahead, a charity announced.

NOVEMBER 26, 1983: Gold bars worth £25 million were stolen from the Brinks Mat security warehouse at Heathrow Airport.

NOVEMBER 27, 1942: As German troops arrived in Toulon, the French fleet was scuttled in the harbour to prevent the warships falling into enemy hands.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Storm Arwen hit the UK, with gusts of almost 100mph battering some areas. NOVEMBER 28, 1934: Winston Churchill warned that weak defences could mean that Britain could be “tortured into absolute subjection” in any war with Germany.