AD 54: Stubborn Emperor Claudius was murdered a bit at a time by his wife Agrippina. First of all she fed him a dish of poisoned mushrooms at dinner. He collapsed but his servants just thought he was drunk again and carted him off to his room, There Agrippina got impatient; Claudius was still alive so she got the physician to come and tickle the back of his throat with a feather dipped in poison. They gave him a poisoned enema too, but Claudius kept on breathing and in the end they had to smother him with a cushion. 1853: Lillie Langtry was born. After her famous four-year affair with the Prince of Wales, she took to the stage and became the subject of many a scandal. Touring America for the first time, she was found with a man in a St Louis hotel room and when the local paper urged citizens to boycott her performances, the theatre took a record $31,000 in a fortnight. Back in Europe, she had trouble with Baron Auchmeddon, one of the richest men in England. Jealous of her chatting up Bury's famous son, Robert Peel, in Parish, he went berserk, smashing up furniture, Lillie's face and almost strangling her.

1925: Britain's first female prime minister was born today. Happy birthday to Lady Margaret Thatcher.

1967: Thunrby Lodge, a Leicester housing estate, was invaded by millions of money spiders.

1901: Edgar Cundy was summonsed for "furiously driving" a motorcar in Brighton Road, south Croydon. The police evidence as to speed was conflicting, various estimates ranging from 16 to 153mph.