1715: The folding umbrella was patented.

1904: Mr Rolls and Mr Royce agreed to collaborate on the manufacture of cars.

1926: The General Strike began in Britain, almost half of the country's six million trade union members participated.

1929: American film actress, Edda Kathleen Van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston (AKA Audrey Hepburn) was born in Belgium.

1957: Aston Villa beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Final. United played most of the match with ten men after a player was injured. Substitution was still banned by the FA at the time.

1964: The Pulitzer Prize committee decided there was no literature worth a prize that year.

1979: Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister.

1982: HMS Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet missile in the Falklands War.