On this day

585BC: A timely total eclipse of the sun decided the Battle of Mesopotamia between Medes (now Iran) and Lydia (now Turkey). The blackened sky was read as a sign of God’s anger and an immediate truce was called.

1842: The first public library was opened, in Frederick Street, Salford. 1907: The first Isle of Man TT race was held.

1951: The first Goon Show was broadcast by the BBC.

1967: Francis Chichester arrived back at Plymouth after sailing round the world single-handed in Gipsy Moth IV.

1972: The Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, died in Paris aged 77.

1982: Colonel H Jones was killed in action at the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War. 1984: Eric Morecambe died in Cheltenham aged 58.

1987: Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German, flew his small aircraft through Soviet air space from Helsinki to Moscow, landing in Red Square.