A look at events in history on June 18 with Mike Badham

1815: The Battle of Waterloo took place near Brussels - and provided material for historians to argue over for years. Napoleon lost, but would he have won if his piles had been less painful? He only lost two battles in his life. Would Wellington have lost if Blucher's troops had not turned up?

1822: The bronze Achilles statue was unveiled in Hyde Park as a tribute to the Duke of Wellington. It scandalised London because it was completely nude, but later acquired a fig leaf.

1823: King William IV standardised British military uniform by ordering an end to the previous variety of leggings and breeches. Henceforth, the British Army would generally wear trousers.

1880: The man whose Californian land had been invaded by thousands of gold miners in 1849, John Sutter, died in poverty. Although he was awarded compensation in a five-year law suit, he never saw a cent of the cash.

1928: American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo.

1943: Germany declared a state of emergency in the Ruhr, after the previous night's RAF raids on two giant dams by 617 Squadron, the "Dam Busters".

1953: Egypt became a republic. King Farouk went into exile and General Neguib became president. He was soon ousted by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

1972: A Brussels-bound BEA Trident stalled on takeoff from Heathrow and crashed into Staines Reservoir. All 120 passengers and crew died.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.