1789: Captain Bligh was dragged from his bed this morning at the start of the mutiny on the good ship Bounty. After leaving Tahiti three weeks earlier, the skipper cut rations and ale, flogged his crew at every chance and accused Fletcher Christian of being a coward.

Bligh's nightshirt became tangled when his crew bound his hands and he was bundled bare-bottom on the deck before he was cast adrift with his loyal sailers in an open boat in the middle of the Pacific.

Captain Bligh survived and went on to become a vice-admiral and the governor of New South Wales. Christian, however, died four years after the mutiny when his utopia on Pitcairn Island turned sour. 1772: Captain Cook's only female crew member died on this day at his house in London after sailing twice round the world with him. Greenwich Hospital made her a pensioner with the Admiralty commendation, "if ever a female deserved a pension, this is she." High praise indeed... for a goat!

1923: A horse was the hero of the Cup final when Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham 2-0.

An estimated 250,000 supporters crammed in to the new 123,000 capacity Wembley stadium and, in the crush, they flooded on to and covered the pitch.

Saving the day was PC Scorey on his white charger Bill and, from a tiny gap in the crowd, he walked round in ever widening circles with Billy gently nudging the fans back to the stands before the game went ahead.

1978: A four-carat diamond ring worth £17,500 was recovered when convict Peter 'the Greek' Lazaros died suddenly in Michigan. A post mortem discovered the ring in his stomach and it was returned to its rightful owner.

1945: Italy's defected dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress were shot.

1932: Claudia Ball and James Chayne were married in Cape Town, South Africa.