1265The Battle of Evesham (Worcestershire) took place, in which the army of Prince Edward, the future king Edward I of England, defeated the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. De Montfort and many of his allies were killed.

1704Gibraltar was captured for the British by Admiral Sir George Rooke.

1792The birth of Percy Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets. In September 1812 Shelley, pursued by debtors and authorities who wished to question the poet about his radical political activities fled to Tremadog and lived at at Tan-yr-allt (see picture), the former home of William Madocks, the designer and builder of most of Tremadog.

1870The British Red Cross Society was founded, by Lord Wantage.

1914Britain declared war on Germany after the Germans had violated the Treaty of London by invading Belgium, and so began 'the war to end all wars'. The United States declared their neutrality.

1917Captain Noel Chavasse, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, only the second man to be awarded the additional bar to the Victorian Cross for bravery, died from injuries sustained in battle four days earlier.

1923The BBC began using the 'pips' as a time signal in its broadcasts.

1954Britain's first supersonic fighter plane, the English Electric Lightning P-1, made its maiden flight.

1972President Idi Amin declared that Uganda would expel 50,000 Asians with British passports to Britain within three months.

1985The death of Don Whillans rock climber and mountaineer who climbed with both Joe Brown and Chris Bonington on many new routes, and was considered the technical equal of both. The British Mountaineering Council maintain a climbing hut near the Roaches, Staffordshire, in his memory.

1987Moors murderer Ian Brady claimed that he was involved in another five killings.

1989'Licence to Kill' went on general cinema release in the United Kingdom. It was the sixteenth entry in the James Bond film series by Eon Productions, and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel.

2000Celebrations took place all over the United Kingdom to mark the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. She was the first ever member of the Royal Family to reach her centenary.

2002Police in Soham, Cambridgeshire were 'extremely concerned' over the disappearance of two 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Their school caretaker Ian Huntley was later found guilty of their murder.

2005Osama Bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri warned that London would face more attacks because of Tony Blair's foreign policy decisions. The al-Qaeda deputy said: "Blair has brought you destruction to the heart of London, and he will bring more destruction, God willing."

2012The annual stinging nettle-eating competition, started in 1986, was held at The Bottle Inn pub at Marshwood near Bridport in Dorset. The current record at the event for the most amount of nettles eaten in one hour is 76ft (23m).

2012Great Britain enjoyed its most successful day at an Olympics in 104 years by winning six gold medals on day eight of the London Games.

2014People in the UK were encouraged to turn off their lights between 10pm and 11pm, leaving only a single light or candle for a symbolic act of reflection and hope in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War 1. On the eve of Britain officially entering the war, Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, uttered the words "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."

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