1949: Transvestite ex-bus conductress Margaret "Bill" Allen was hanged for the murder of her 63-year-old neighbour Nancy Chadwick. She was a big well-built lady who had been a builder's labourer. When confronted by bloodstains found in her Rawtenstall house, she immediately confessed to beating her gossipy old neighbour's head in with a hammer. She was denied her usual male clothing and made to meet her fate wearing a striped prison frock. She was the first woman to be executed for 13 years.

1916: The Schutzengrabenvernitchtungsautomobile, or the fighting tank, was given the official thumbs up by the British military brass during its first test.

1976: Dame Agatha Christie died on this day.

1896: The first X-ray photograph was made in the USA by Dr Henry Louis Smith. He fired a bullet into a corpse and then took a 15 minute exposure which, when developed, revealed the exact location of the bullet.