A look back at events in history on March 12 with Mike Badham

1609: Bermuda became a British colony.

1685: The philosopher Bishop Berkeley was born. His theory: that everything's in the mind, caused him to ask whether a tree falling would make a noise if there was nobody there to hear it. This query was scorned by Dr Johnson, among others.

1712: An article in The Spectator magazine flayed the Mohocks. They were gangs of bored gentlemen who would roam London after dark to prick men in the legs with a sword and up-end women to pinch their nether regions .

1776: Eccentric Lady Hester Stanhope was born. Her uncle was the prime minister and she kept house at No 10 until he died. Told by a fortune teller that she'd be a queen, she went to the Middle East, where wandering bedouins dubbed her "Queen of the Desert".

1832: Paris was scandalised at the first performance of the ballet La Sylphide. It was the first time that modern ballet dresses had been worn, exposing the dancers' arms and ankles.

1904: The Liverpool to Southport train service was electrified - a British first.

1912: The Girl Guide movement was founded - in the United States.

1930: Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi began his walk to the sea - the "Salt March" in defiance of the government monopoly on salt in India.

1940: The war between Finland ended, with Finland ceding territory to the Soviet Union.

1945: Dutch diarist Anne Frank died in a German concentration camp.

1941: A cargo ship ran aground in the Hebrides, and the islanders snitched 22,000 cases of Scotch whisky. They hid the hooch in barns and attics and buried it in gardens - and inspired Compton Mackenzie's novel Whisky Galore.

1942: After setbacks in the Pacific, General MacArthur left the Philippines, saying "I shall return".

1972: Canadian engineer Len Scheltgen unveiled his amazing chicken plucking machine, the world's fastest.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.