1597 - Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who led three expeditions to find the north west passage and discovered Spitsbergen on his final trip dies at sea on the return voyage.
1837 - 18-year-old Victoria accedes to the English throne on the death of her uncle William IV
1858 - The Gwalior Fort is captured by British troops and India's First War of Independence officially comes to an end
1863 - West Virginia, the Panhandle State, becomes the 36th state of the Union
1975 - Jaws opens in theaters. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the story of a great white shark that terrorizes a resort town became an instant blockbuster.
1887 - Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee is celebrated all over Britain and the Empire.
1949 - American tennis player "Gorgeous Gussie" Moran creates a sensation at Wimbledon by exposing lace-trimmed panties under her short skirt
1960 - American Floyd Patterson knocks out the Swede Ingemar Johansson to become the first boxer to regain the world heavyweight title
1990 - Nelson Mandela gets a ticker-tape welcome in New York.