On this day: First Britons rowed across the Atlantic

1189: Coronation of King Richard I, the Lion Heart, in Westminster Abbey.

1650: Scottish army of Charles II, under Sir David Leslie, routed by the English Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar.

1745: James Francis Stuart proclaimed as King James VIII of Scotland by his son, Prince Charles Edward at Perth.

1752: The 3 September became 14 September with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by Britain and the British Empire, including the American colonies. Crowds were said to have flocked streets, crying: “Give us back our 11 days.”

1787: Weavers rioted against wage-cutting in Glasgow. After bricks were thrown, injuring magistrates and military, troops were ordered to fire on the rioters, killing three and fatally wounding three others before the crowd dispersed.

1852: Anti-Jewish riots took place in Stockholm, Sweden.

1878: The Princess Alice pleasure paddle-steamer was sliced in half on the Thames near Woolwich by the 1,400-tonne collier iron steamer the Bywell Castle: 700 people died, 100 swam to safety and 70 were pulled out of the water by colliers.

1916: The first German Zeppelin airship was shot down by Captain Robinson in Cufley, Hertfordshire. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1917: The first night of bombing London by German aircraft.

1935: Sir Malcolm Campbell reached a speed of 301.337mph in his Blue Bird car at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah the first automobile to exceed 300mph.

1939: Britain declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland, followed six hours later by France and joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.

1940: Hitler order the invasion of Great Britain – Operation Sealion – on September 21.

1944: The final group of Dutch Jews, including Anne Frank, was transported to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1950: Giuseppe Farina won the Italian Grand Prix to become the inaugural Formula One champion. 1953: The European Convention on Human Rights came into effect.

1966: Captain John Ridgway and Sergeant Chay Blyth became the first Britons to row across the Atlantic. The journey, in English Rose III, took 91 days.

1967: Sweden switched to driving on the right of the road.

1971: John Lennon left the UK to live in New York.

1976: Viking 2 set down on Mars after a journey lasting six days short of one year.

1978: Pope John Paul I was installed as the 263rd pontiff.

1989: Thousands of black people marched and waded at “whites only” beach in defiance campaign in South Africa.

1991: Benetton fashion poster showing newborn baby smeared with blood was banned by Advertising Standards Authority after 800 complaints.

1992: Kevin Maxwell was declared bankrupt with debts of £406.5 million.

1995: Ebay was founded.

2004: The Beslan school siege in North Ossetia, in the Russian Federation, by Islamic separatist militants ended with the massacre of 385 people, mostly teachers and children.

2013: Microsoft purchased Nokia for $7.2 billion.

BIRTHDAYS

Pauline Collins OBE, actress, 75; Caryl Churchill, playwright, 77; Michael Connarty, Labour MP, 68; Fearne Cotton, television presenter, 34; Gérard Houllier OBE, football manager, 68; Anne Jackson, actress, 89; Al Jardine, singer (The Beach Boys), 73; Steve Jones, guitarist (Sex Pistols), 60; Charlie Sheen, actor, 50; Gareth Southgate, former footballer and manager, 45; Eric Bell, musician (Thin Lizzy), 68; George Biondo, guitarist (Steppenwolf), 70; Sherwood Spring, army colonel and astronaut, 71.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1875 Ferdinand Porsche, founder of Porsche car company; 1899 Sir Frank Burnet, immunologist; 1904 Lord Craigton, former Scottish Office minister; 1928 Gaston Thorn, president of European Commission 1981 to 1985; 1931 Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”; 1982 Sarah Burke, multi gold medal-winning Olympic skier.

Deaths: 1420 Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, Governor of Scotland 1406-1420, Earl of Fife & Menteith; 1658 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland; 1766 Archibald Bower, Scottish historian; 1967 Woody Guthrie, folk singer; 1969 Ho Chi Minh, prime minister and president of the democratic Republic of Vietnam; 1991 Frank Capra, writer and film director; 1994 Billy Wright, England football captain; 2007 Steve Fossett, businessman, aviator and adventurer; 2007 Jane Tomlinson CBE, athlete and charity fundraiser; 2012 Sun Myung Moon, religious leader.