1660: England's Long Parliament was dissolved after sitting for 20 years.

1802: The United States Military Academy at West Point was established.

1872: The first English FA Cup Final took place. Wanderers, a team formed by university and ex-public school players, beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 at The Oval in London.

1888: The first recorded sale of a manufactured motor car was to Emile Roger of Paris, who bought a petrol-driven Benz.

1900: Sir Arthur Evans uncovered the ancient city of Knossos in Crete.

1926: The first liquid-fuelled rocket was demonstrated in the USA, by Dr Robert H Goddard.

1935: Adolf Hitler renounced the Versailles Treaty and reintroduced conscription.

1947: Almost 600,000 acres of farming land were submerged by floodwater on the Fens as the River Ouse overflowed and a million sheep died. Storm damage came to more than £20 million.

1971: Boxer Henry Cooper announced his retirement after losing his title to Joe Bugner.

1980: Alan Minter out-pointed Vito Antuofermo of the US to win boxing's world middleweight title.

1988: A loyalist gunman opened fire indiscriminately and hurled grenades into a crowd of mourners at an IRA funeral for three people killed by the SAS in Gibraltar 10 days earlier.

1998: Beef exports from Northern Ireland were to resume after a three-year ban stemming from the BSE crisis.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Legal targets on air pollution and the abundance of wild species were among a series of proposed green goals set out by the Government.

MARCH 16 CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS: Erik Estrada, actor, 74; Graham Cole, actor, 71; Isabelle Huppert, actress, 70; Jimmy Nail, actor/singer, 69; Matthew Bannister, broadcaster and former Radio 1 controller, 66; Jenny Eclair, comedian, 63; Theo Walcott, footballer, 34.