1842The first regular British detective force was formed as a division of the Metropolitan Police, under the joint command of Inspector Pearce and Inspector John Haynes. In 1878 it became known as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

1856The birth of James Keir Hardie, Scottish politician. He founded the British Labour Party and was its leader from 1906.

1872The first voting by ballot in Great Britain took place in a by-election at Pontefract, when Hugh Childers, a Liberal MP and minister was re-elected

1888T.E. Lawrence, Welsh soldier and writer known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', was born at this house (see picture) - now the Snowdon Lodge Hostel, in Tremadog, Gwynedd.

1939The Cunard liner Queen Mary recaptured the Blue Riband from the SS Normandie, crossing the Atlantic in 3 days, 22 hours and 40 minutes.

1941Corporal Josef Jakobs was executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 a.m. making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for treason.

1947Pakistan was founded when British rule over the region ended. India gained independence from Britain, and the Union Jack was lowered in New Delhi for the last time. Pandit Nehru became India’s first Prime Minister.

1950Princess Anne, Britain's Princess Royal was born.

1962Unhappy with Pete Best's role in The Beatles, Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to sack him. He played his last gig at The Cavern, Liverpool, two years and three days after he first performed with them.

1963The execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland and the first to be hanged in Aberdeen since 1891. Burnett was tried at the high court in Aberdeen in July and found guilty of the murder of merchant seaman Thomas Guyan.

1971Controversial horse rider Harvey Smith was stripped of his £2,000 winnings and a major show jumping title for allegedly making a rude V-sign gesture.

1985Richard Branson's speedboat Virgin Atlantic Challenger capsized off the south-west of England. He was just two hours short of completing the fastest-ever Atlantic crossing.

1987Caning was officially banned in British schools (excluding independent schools).

1998A bomb blast in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killed 28 people and injured more than 300 others. A 29th victim died a month later. It was the worst attack in 29 years of paramilitary violence in Ulster.

1988Glasgow passport office started to issue the new EEC passports. It was the first office to be computerised to dispense the burgundy coloured documents, which replaced the traditional blue ones. Reception to them was mixed.

2013Google announced that it was to loan out its Trekker wearable backpack to the Canal & River Trust, who would use it to capture footage of some of most scenic parts of Britain's 200-year old waterway network.

2021Kabul fell to Taliban forces in the culmination of a military offensive that began in May 2021 after US troops withdrew from Afghanistan. The Taliban declared ‘war is over in Afghanistan’ as foreign powers exited the capital, Kabul. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US on11th September 2001(known as 9/11), Britain joined its international allies in invading Afghanistan, with British troops entering the country in November 2001. The vast majority of British combat troops left Afghanistan in October 2014.

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