On this day: Tolls ended on the Forth and Tay road bridges

The toll on the Forth Road Bridge was abolished. Picture: Jane Barlow

1531: King Henry VIII was recognised as supreme head of the Church in England.

1543: Henry VIII signed treaty of alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V against France.

1810: Napoleon married Princess Marie-Louise of Austria, having rejected Josephine because of her inability to fill the imperial nursery.

1922: Nine-power treaty was signed in Washington for securing China’s independence and maintaining “open door”.

1922: United States and Japan signed naval agreement.

1929: Lateran Treaty established an independent Vatican City.

1956: Traitors Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean appeared in Moscow after escaping from Britain.

1956: Referendum in Malta favoured integration with Britain.

1958: Tunisia informed France that French warships no longer could use Bizerta.

1962: U2 spy pilot Captain Francis Gary Powers returned to United States after Soviets released him in exchange for Colonel Rudolf Abel.

1963: United States recognised new government in Iraq after revolt.

1968: Communist troops executed 300 civilians in South Vietnam and buried them in mass grave during fighting for the city of Hue.

1970: Japan launched its first earth satellite.

1971: Treaty banning nuclear weapons from ocean floor was signed by 63 nations in ceremonies in Washington, London and Moscow.

1975: Margaret Thatcher became the first woman leader of a British political party at the age of 49.

1990: Mike Tyson knocked out by James Douglas in tenth round of fight in Japan, but Tyson’s camp accused referee of mistiming a count in the eighth round when Douglas should have lost. The bout was later declared void.

1990: Nelson Mandela freed in South Africa after 27 years in prison.

1991: British Rail gave as reason for chaos in the bad weather “the wrong kind of snow, like fine talcum powder”.

1991: Iraqi radio mocked United States defence chiefs’ visit to Middle East as a sign of defeatism.

1993: Former premier Bettino Craxi resigned as leader of Italian Socialist Party after allegations of corruption.

1993: John Major told the Commons that the Queen would pay income tax and capital gains tax on her private income.

1997: Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

2001: Ellen McArthur became the fastest woman and youngest sailor to circumnavigate the globe in a single-handed race.

2008: Tolls ended on the Forth and Tay road bridges.

2011: The Egyptian revolution culminated in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.Births: 1800 William Fox Talbot, photography pioneer; 1907 EW Swanton, cricket writer and commentator; 1908 Sir Vivian Fuchs, polar explorer; 1915 Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor OBE, British author; 1919 Eva Gabor, actress; 1920 Farouk, last King of Egypt; 1926 Leslie Nielsen, American actor.

Deaths: 1650 Rene Descartes, philosopher; 1879 Honoré Daumier, caricaturist and artist; 1940 John Buchan, First Baron Tweedsmuir, novelist (notably The Thirty-Nine Steps) and governor-general of Canada; 2006 Peter Benchley, author (Jaws).