1973 Jackie Stewart became world champion racing driver for the third consecutive year.

1888 The first English Football League matches were played.

1911 The launch of the first airmail service in England, between Hendon and Windsor.

1897 George Smith, a London cab driver, became the first person to be convicted for drunken driving. He was fined £1.

2001: US rocked by day of terror
The United States is in a state of shock after a day of attacks which left thousands dead and the World Trade Center destroyed.

Johnny Cash dies. One of the great legends of country music, Johnny Cash, dies after a short illness.

1902 The first conviction in Britain using finger-prints as evidence was in the case against Harry Jackson by the Metropolitan Police at the Old Bailey. He had left his thumbprint in wet paint on a window sill and was tracked down through it. He was sentenced to seven years.

1868 At the Open Championships at Prestwick, the legendary Scottish golfer Tom Morris scored the first recorded hole-in-one, on the 8th hole (166 yards).

1992: UK crashes out of ERM
The government suspends Britain's membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

2007 Worried savers continued to flock to some Northern Rock bank branches to withdraw their savings when the bank applied to the Bank of England for emergency funds. Chancellor Alistair Darling appealed for calm, nevertheless £2bn was withdrawn from Northern Rock accounts in just 3 days.

1949 The British pound was devalued by 30% by Chancellor Sir Stafford Cripps.

1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex.