1780: Captain William Lynch immortalised his name with a proclamation stating that citizens of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, had sustained "great and intolerable losses" at the hands of "lawless men and abandoned wretches". Along with a posse he believed that the justice system of the time wasn't tough enough and so they took it upon themselves to provide punishment. They held only the most cursory trials, which generally consisted of beating the victims into confession, and horse-whipping was the general punishment. Hangings inevitably occurred and hence the world 'lynch' passed into the language.

1966: Three-legged wonder Sicilian Francesco Lentini died aged 77. His third limb is thought to have been part of an undeveloped twin and it was very nearly as long as his other two. He cheerfully claimed he was the only man who carried his own stool around with him. When he bought shoes he got two pairs and did a good deed by giving the odd one to a one-legged friend.

1948: Royal spouse Captain Mark Phillips was born.

1955: Commercial TV began in Britain.

1692: Two women from Salem, Massachusetts, were hanged as witches.