1871: Parliament passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating the now familiar national annual holidays.

1927: The Ford Motor Company announced that it would stop manufacturing the popular Model T.

1959: America launched a space ship that took two monkeys into space.

1967: Britain was dubbed "The sick man of Europe" by Enoch Powell.

1977: Star Wars was released in America. It had been made on a budget of $11 million.

1981: Chicago resident Dan Goodwin decided to scale the world's tallest building, The Spears Tower, with nothing but three suction cups and a Spiderman outfit. It took him seven hours to complete the climb, but his achievement was not appreciated by the police who arrested him at the top on a charge of trespass.

1995: Alaskans were permitted to own elephants for the first time.