1796: Napoleon took Josephine for his lawful wedded wife. Engrossed in plans for his Italian campaign, he had forgotten his nuptials completely, turned up two hours later and had to wake the registrar. Both bride and bridegroom gave their ages as 28, though in fact, Napoleon was only 27 and Josephine was pushing 33, a widow and a bit short of teeth.

1831: The world's toughest army, the French Foreign Legion, was founded by King Louis Philippe. Despite the traditionally harsh discipline there are three applicants for every place. One recent account stated that as a punishment, wrongdoers were made to clear leaves with their teeth and lick concrete clean with their tongues.

1934: The first man in space was born in Smolensk, Russia. Yuri Gagarin made his space flight in 1961.

1882: Jumbo was exported to the USA when his sale to showman Phineas T Barnum was declared legal. The giant elephant so loved by visitors to London Zoo had to be stunned with beer before his departure.

1942: The Japanese took 60,000 prisoners after Dutch and Allied forces surrendered on Java in South East Asia.