1593: Christopher Marlowe's death was enacted in Widow Bull's tavern in Deptford. The author of Dr Faustus, the 29-year-old Marlowe was no angel, described as a drunk, forger, atheist, spy and informer.

1783: The 8ft 4ins Irish Goliath, Charles Byrne, died aged 22 from TB, hastened by excessive drinking and vexation at losing a note for £700. A famous medic secretly bought the body for £500.

1794: It was the first great action of the French revolutionary war which gave this day the title of "The glorious first of June." France was starving and as Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse tried to get through a huge grain convoy, his own fleet was broken and his ships captured.

1812: Cold-fearing Kirwan, the eccentric Irish scholar, died aged 78. For the whole of his life he was haunted by a morbid terror of catching the common cold. But despite all his rigorous precautions it was a cold that killed him.

1978: Ex-England cricket captain Ted Dexter was being interviewed by BBC TV when his brolly was suddenly struck by lightning. "I'm sorry if I'm sounding less than electrifying about the cricket, but I've just had a nasty shock."