1527 – The First known letter was sent from North America by John Rut while at St. John’s, Newfoundland

1554 – The earliest known letter to have been sealed with sealing wax was written

1678 – Robert LaSalle built the Le Griffon, the first known ship built in America

1750 – Christopher Dock completed the first book of teaching methods. He called it A Simple and Thoroughly Prepared School Management.

1778 – The La Scala Opera House in Milan was opened

1858 – The source of the Nile river, Lake Victoria, was discovered

1907 – A Royal decree in Portugal made Sunday a day of rest

1914 – In World War I, Germany declared war against France

1914 – The first ship passed through the new Panama Canal

1920 – P. D. James, English crime novelist most famous for a series of detective novels starring her most iconic creation, policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh (92) was born

1921 – The first aerial crop-dusting took place in Ohio, USA, to kill caterpillars

1923 – The deceased Warren G. Harding was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge as the 30th President of the United States 1926 – Britain’s first traffic lights were installed on Piccadilly Circus, London

1926 – Tony Bennett, American crooning legend, he sang “I left my heart in San Fransisco” and is also an accomplished painter (86) was born

1933 – The world-famous Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced.

1937 – Steven Berkoff, English actor, Best known for playing General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, and as the Bad Boy of British theatre (75) was born

1938 – Terry Wogan, Irish broadcaster, star of classic TV like “Wogan”, “Blankety Blank” and “Eurovision” (74) was born

1939 – Jimmy Nicol, English drummer, best known for being a temporary member of The Beatles for some gigs in 1964 when Ringo had tonsillitis (73) was born

1940 – In World War II, Italy invaded British Somaliland

1940 – Martin Sheen, American actor, best known for playing Captain Willard in ‘Apocalypse Now’ and President Josiah Bartlet on ‘The West Wing’ – Born Ramon Estevez (72) was born

1941 – Beverly Lee, American singer with The Shirelles (71) was born

1941 – Martha Stewart, American media personality, business magnate, TV host, cook, author magazine publisher and jailbird for stock fraud (71) was born

1944 – 13-year-old Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary

1945 – Eamon Dunphy, former Irish footballer who used to play for Millwall, now an author and sports pundit – He’s also written an early biography of U2 (67) was born

1946 – Jack Straw, Labour MP for Blackburn, former Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Justice. He is the current Shadow Lord High Chancellor, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice as well as the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister. He should be known as the “Shadow Man” (66) was born

1949 – The National Basketball Association was founded in the United States

1950 – John Landis, American film director, directed “The Blues Brothers” “Trading Places”, “American Werewolf in London” and, of course, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video (62) was born

1952 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer and manager, starred for Tottenham in the 80′s and collaborated with Chas and Dave on the Spurs cup final song “Ossie’s Dream” (60) was born

1954 – The first Vertical Take Off and Landing Jet – The Harrier Jump Jet – had its maiden free flight

1954 – A record divorce settlement for the time was awarded to Mrs. Barbara Rockefeller. Winthrop Rockefeller was ordered to pay a sum of $5,500,000 to his ex-wife

1953 – Ian Bairnson, Scottish guitarist with the 70′s band Pilot, who had a big hit with “January”, and with the Alan Parsons Project – He was born on the Shetland Isles and also wrote two hits for Bucks Fizz (59) was born

1956 – Kirk Brandon, English musician with pretentious 80′s bands Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny – He once sued Boy George over claims the pair had been lovers – He lost (56) was born

1958 – The Billboard Hot 100 was founded in America

1959 – Martin Atkins, English drummer with many post punk bands including Public Image Limited and Killing Joke (53) was born

1960 – Niger in Africa gained independence from France

1961 – Lee Rocker, American musician rockabilly double bass player, former member of The Stray Cats, of “Runaway Boys” and “Stray Cat Strut” fame (51) was born

1963 – James Hetfield, US singer guitarist and creative force behind Metallica who’ve sold over a hundred million records worldwide – He’s been banned by insurers from skateboarding during Metallica tours as he’s broken his arm a few times forcing gigs to be cancelled (49) was born

1963 – The Beatles’ final performance at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool took place – They were paid 300 pounds 1966 – The South African government banned Beatles records 1970 – Miriam Hargrave of Yorkshire passed her driving test at the fortieth attempt, but after spending so much on lessons she then couldn’t afford a car

1967 – Skin, UK lead singer with the band Skunk Anansie, born Deborah Dyer – They had 7 top 20 hits in the 90′s including “All I Want” (45) was born

1971 – DJ Spinderella, American rapper, DJ for 80′s and 90′s hip-hop stars Salt-N-Pepa – Her real name’s Deirdre Roper, who sounds more like a character in Coronation Street (41) was born

1971 – Paul McCartney announced the formation of his new group Wings

1973 – Nikos Dabizas, Greek footballer, defender who used to play for Newcastle (39)

1978 – The Queen officially opened the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada 1983 – British Rail announced plans to close 114 miles of track

1979 – Evangeline Lilly, Canadian model/actress famous for starring in the US TV series “Lost” as Kate Austen (33) was born

1985 – ‘Drive’ by The Cars was re-released following its dramatic use on TV during the Live Aid concert. All the royalties from the record went to the Band Aid trust

1985 – Madonna scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘Into The Groove’

1986 – The News Of The World printed an exclusive interview with 16 year old model Mandy Smith, who revealed she has been having an affair with Rolling Stone Bill Wyman for the past 2 and a half years

2000 – The US Republican Party nominated George W. Bush to run for president

2001 – The Real IRA detonated a car bomb in Ealing, London, injuring seven people

2003 – The Anglican Church in America voted to approve the appointment of openly gay bishop

2004 – Alton Towers theme park was ordered to create less noise, following a 25-year court battle with local residents.

2006 – It was confirmed that The Rolling Stones paid less than 2 percent tax on earnings of 80 million pounds, thanks to astute handling of their wealth.

2007 – Queen guitarist Brian May handed in his astronomy PhD thesis – 36 years after abandoning it to join the band. He studied the formation of “zodiacal dust clouds”

2007 – Usher married Tameka Foster, six days after calling off their first ceremony – He filed for divorce in June this year saying they’d been living apart for a year

2008 – ‘Hello’ magazine secured the rights to the pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s newborn twins for 7 million pounds.

2011 – Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak went on trial in Cairo – with charges of premeditated murder of protestors during the revolution. On 2 June 2012, Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court.