1542: “I die a Queen but I would rather have died the wife of Culpepper,” – said to be the last words of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, before she was beheaded on Tower Green.

1692: The Glencoe massacre took place in the Scottish Highlands, when the MacDonalds were murdered by their traditional enemies, the Campbells.

1867: Johann Strauss's waltz The Blue Danube was first performed at a ball in Vienna.

1945: Hundreds of allied planes bombed Dresden, devastating one of the world's most beautiful cities.

1958: Dame Christabel Pankhurst, British suffragette and daughter of Emmeline, died.

1974: Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Union.

1987: London's property boom resulted in a 5ft 6in x 11ft broom cupboard opposite Harrods being offered for sale at £36,500 – more than £600 per square foot.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Natalie Imbruglia, performing as Panda, was crowned the winner of The Masked Singer.

BIRTHDAYS: Kim Novak, actress, 90; Stockard Channing, actress, 79; Jerry Springer, talk show host, 79; Peter Gabriel, singer, 73; Liam Brady, former footballer, 67; Peter Hook, musician, 67; Henry Rollins, actor and rock singer, 62; Jesse Birdsall, actor, 60; Robbie Williams, pop singer, 49; Randy Moss, former American footballer, 46; Aston Merrygold, singer, 35; Memphis Depay, footballer, 29.