On This Day - 25th September

1854 - The Battle of Balaclava (including the Charge of the Light Brigade)
1897 - William Faulkner born
1906 - Dmitri Shostakovich born
1918 - Phil Rizzuto born
1930 - Shel Silverstein born
1931 - Barbara Walters born
1932 - Glenn Gould born
1936 - Juliet Prowse born
1944 - Michael Douglas born
1950 - United Nations forces have taken control of the South Korean capital Seoul, three months after it fell to North Korea, the US Army announces.
1951 - Mark Hamill born
1952 - Christopher Reeve born
1957 - More than 1,000 paratroopers in full battle dress escort nine black children to high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1959 - A Buddhist monk assassinates Sri Lankan PM Bandaranaike
1961 - Heather Locklear born
1962 - Aida Turturro born
1965 - Scottie Pippen born
1968 - Will Smith born
1969 - Catherine Zeta-Jones born
1977 - 15,000 attend Steve Biko's funeral in South Africa
1983 - Thirty-eight prisoners escape from the high-security Maze Prison in Northern Ireland.
1996 - Opposition fighters in Afghanistan reach the eastern suburbs of Kabul and are poised to take control of the country's capital.
2003 - On the final day of the Hutton Inquiry, the court hears closing statements bitterly criticising the Ministry of Defence and the BBC.
2010 - Ed Miliband defeats his brother David to become the leader of the Labour Party.

On This Day - 24th September

1852 - The first flight of a steam driven balloon
1896 - F. Scott Fitzgerald born
1921 - Jim McKay born
1924 - Sheila MacRae born
1931 - Anthony Newley born
1936 - Jim Henson born
1941 - Linda McCartney born
1948 - Phil Hartman born
1954 - Temple to Roman god found near Mansion House in London
1962 - Nia Vardalos born
1971 - UK expels 90 Soviets spies after revelations of KGB defector
1975 - Dougal Haston and Doug Scott become the first Britons to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain.
1976 - The Rhodesian Government agrees to introduce black majority rule to the country within two years.
1980 - Iraqi planes bomb and set on fire Iran's Kharg Island crude oil export terminal.
1988 - Ben Johnson wins the 100m gold at the Seoul Olympics and reaffirms his position as the world's fastest man.
1992 - David Mellor resigns as heritage minister, blaming his departure on a constant barrage of hostile stories in the tabloid press.
1998 - Iran lifts fatwa on Salman Rushdie after nearly 10 years

On This Day - 23rd September

1835 - The composer Vincenzo Bellini dies
1920 - Mickey Rooney born
1926 - John Coltrane born
1930 - Ray Charles born
1938 - Tom Lester born
1943 - Julio Iglesias born
1945 - Paul Petersen born
1947 - Mary Kay Place born
1949 - Bruce Springsteen born
1951 - Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace for news of King George VI following an operation to remove part of his lung.
1952 - The star of the silent movies, Charlie Chaplin, returns to his native England after 21 years in the US.
1955 - Barbara Mandell of ITV becomes first woman newsreader
1959 - Jason Alexander born
1974 - Matt Hardy born
1976 - A fire on one of the Royal Navy's latest guided missile destroyers HMS Glasgow kills eight men and Kip Pardue born
1979 - Erik-Michael Estrada born
1985 - Edward Lee Howard is first CIA agent found spying for USSR
1987 - An Australian court lifts the ban on the publication of Peter Wright's autobiography, Spycatcher.
1997 - An MP in the Ulster Unionist Party launches a fierce attack on the British Government and Sinn Fein. USA and Russia agreed ban on weapons-grade plutonium
2000 - British rower Steve Redgrave makes Olympic history at the Sydney Games by winning his fifth consecutive gold medal.

On This Day - 22nd September

1927 - Tommy Lasorda born
1950 - First non-stop jet flight between UK and USA
1954 - Shari Belafonte-Harper born
1955 - Britain's first independent television station is on air, bringing advertisements to the airwaves for the first time.
1956 - Debby Boone born
1957 - Johnette Napolitano and Nick Cave born
1958 - Andrea Bocelli born
1960 - Joan Jett born
1961 - Scott Baio born
1964 - Bonnie Hunt born
1975 - A day of IRA bombings across Northern Ireland places the ceasefire it declared seven months ago in serious doubt.
1980 - Iraq bombs several Iranian air and military supply bases, including Tehran's international airport, at the start of what appears to be all-out war.
1981 - French president launches TGV, world's fastest train
1987 - Tom Felton born
1989 - A devastating explosion at an army barracks in Kent kills 11 people - 10 of them young soldiers.
1997 - 47 die when Amtrak train plunges off bridge in Alabama
1998 - Serbian forces renew their assault against rebel fighters in Kosovo leading thousands of civilians to flee their homes.
2001 - The BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson, becomes the only television reporter to broadcast from Taleban-held Afghanistan as the country prepares for a US attack.

On This Day - 21st September

1832 - Writer Sir Walter Scott dies
1866 - H.G. Wells born
1931 - Larry Hagman born
1934 - Leonard Cohen born
1935 - Henry Gibson born
1947 - Stephen King born
1950 - Bill Murray born
1955 - Britain has annexed a rocky islet 300 miles west of Scotland to stop the Soviets spying on missile tests, the Admiralty announces.
1959 - Dave Coulier born
1960 - David James Elliott born
1962 - Rob Morrow born
1964 - Malta becomes independent after 164 years of British rule
1965 - Darva Conger born
1967 - Faith Hill born
1968 - Ricki Lake born
1969 - Police raid a 100-room mansion in Piccadilly and evict squatters who have occupied the building for the last six days.
1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro born
1972 - Liam Gallagher and David Silveria born
1979 - An RAF plane crashes onto houses in a Cambridgeshire town, killing two men and a young boy.
1981 - Nicole Richie born
1984 - Police and miners clash at a pit in Maltby, South Yorkshire in one of the biggest pickets since the strike began.
1986 - Prince Charles admits on TV that he talks to his plants
1998 - Bill Clinton's testimony about his relationship with a young female assistant is released to the United States public.
1999 - At least 2,000 people die in Taiwan earthquake

On This Day - 20th September

1878 - Upton Sinclair born
1890 - Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton born
1928 - Dr. Joyce Brothers born
1929 - Anne Meara born
1934 - Sophia Loren born
1957 - Gary Cole born
1962 - Rhodesian PM bans Zimbabwe African People's Union
1967 - The Queen launches the new Cunard cruise liner, the Queen Elizabeth 2, at a ceremony on the Clydebank.
1973 - Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in 'battle of the sexes'
1978 - Police launch a massive manhunt for the killers of a young paperboy from Bridgewater.
1984 - A suicide bomber attacks the United States embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, killing 20.
1988 - Thatcher rejects 'United States of Europe' idea at Bruges
1999 - A multinational peacekeeping force lands in East Timor in an attempt to restore law and order to the territory.

On This Day - 19th September

1881 - U.S. President Garfield dies
1893 - New Zealand women get the vote
1905 - Dr Barnardo of children homes fame, dies
1928 - Mickey Mouse and Adam West born
1933 - David McCallum born
1940 - Paul Williams born
1945 - Randolph Mantooth born
1948 - Jeremy Irons born
1949 - Leslie "Twiggy" Lawson born
1952 - The United States prevents film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to Hollywood until he is investigated by the Immigration Services.
1955 - Juan Peron forced to step down as president of Argentina
1964 - Trisha Yearwood born
1967 - Jim Abbott born
1970 - T-Rex headlines first Glastonbury rock music festival
1972 - A diplomat at the Israeli embassy in London is killed by a letter bomb.
1974 - Jimmy Fallon born
1976 - Alison Sweeney born
1985 - A massive quake under Mexico City kills and injures thousands, devastating three states along the Pacific coast.
1986 - Two passenger trains crash in Staffordshire, killing two people and injuring almost a hundred more.
1997 - An Intercity 125 ploughs into a freight train in west London, killing six and injuring more than 150.
2002 - Tel Aviv bombing prompts Israeli raid on Arafat's compound
2003 - Hurricane Isabel hits the east coast of the United States and sweeps through the capital.
2011 - Racehorse trainer Donald 'Ginger' McCain dies of cancer aged 80.