NEWS
1878 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
1965 - American black muslim leader Malcolm X was shot dead in New York.
1975 - Four White House aides were jailed for conspiracy to obsruct justice during the Watergate scandal.
1982 - The Delorean car firm went into recievership.
1985 - The sale of contraceptives became legal in the Irish Republic.
1989 - An army barrack at Tern Hill in Shropshire was destroyed by an IRA bomb.
1993 - Two boys were charged with the murder of James Bulger.
2001 - The foot and mouth outbeak began.
SPORT
1839 - The Grand National was held for the first time, at Aintree.
1956 - At Fratton Park, Newcastle United beat Portsmouth 2-0, in the first league game to be played under floodlights.
1964 - Cassius Clay became World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. He later took the name Muhammed Ali.
1989 - Frank Bruno's fight for the Wrld Heavyweight title ended when the referee declared Mike Tyson the winner in the fifth round.
2003 - Australian cricketer Shane Warne was banned from the game for a year after he tested positive for banned diuretics.
ENTERTAINMENT
1949 - Screening of 'Oliver Twist' were banned at a Berlin cinema over accusations of an anti-Semitic portrayal of Fagan.
1985 - Eastenders was screened for the first time.
1988 - TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to consorting with a prostitute.
MUSIC
1961 - The Beatles made their Cavern Club debut.
1972 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley were legally seperated.
1978 - Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen were arrested for possession of drugs.
1992 - Courtney Love married Curt Cobain in Hawaii.
2000 - Yoko Ono denied claims that her late husband, John Lennon, had helped fund the IRA in the 1970s.
NUMBER ONES
2003 - tATu: 'All The Things You Said'.
2001 - Atomic Kitten: 'Whole Again'.
1998 - Cornershop: 'Brimful Of Asha'.
1992 - Shakespeare's Sister: 'Stay'.
1967 - Engelbert Humperdink: 'Release Me'.
