1887: Field Marshal Viscount Bernard Montgomery was born the son of an Anglo-Irish vicar in the poor parish of Kennington, South London. In World War One , he was badly wounded and was nearly left for dead. He was awarded the DSO for gallantry. At the outbreak of World War Two Monty threw himself into his army life and was made a major general. The rest is history!

1869: The Suez Canal was finally opened. The very idea threw Europe into turmoil. Some said it interfered with the laws of nature, and the British, worried about strategic links with the Empire in India, brought great pressure to bear to stop the project altogether.

1882: The Royal astronomer saw a UFO. From the Greenwich Royal Observatory E. Maunder witnessed "a strange celestial visitor".

1962: The first airport designed for jets, Dulles Airport in Chicago, opened.

During its first year of operation it lost more than £7 million due to the high overheads