1945: Hiroshima bombed

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a U.S. B-29 bomber, drops the first atomic weapon ever used in combat on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Within minutes, the massive blast and the firestorm it produced destroyed most of the city and killed an estimated 70,000 people, a third of Hiroshima's population.

Three days later, the major coastal city of Nagasaki was hit, prompting Japan's surrender in World War II, bringing the most costly war in human history to an end. Both cities were rebuilt, but the horror of the world's only nuclear attacks remain to this day. By the end of 1945, a total of some 200,000 people had perished as a result of the bombings. Many of those who survived faced a future of disease and premature death.
1996American scientists reveal they have found evidence of ancient life on Mars in the remnants of a meterorite discovered in Antarctica.
1988Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova dances with the Russian Kirov Ballet in London - 18 years after her defection to the West.
1962Jamaica proclaims its' independence after being a British colony for more than 300 years.
1962A quick snack is made for the Earl of Sandwich - creating a new form of food which is later named after him.
1949In Britain, acid bath murderer John Haigh is executed.
1945World War II: United States drop the world's first Atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from the B29 bomber Enola Gay. The bomb reduces an area of five square miles to ashes and leaves more than 100,000 people dead.
192619 year old American Gertrude Ederle from New York becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel - in 14 hours 34 minutes.
1918World War I: The Marne Offensive - the last major German attack of the war, ends in failure with more than 100,000 German soldiers killed or wounded.
1890Convicted murderer Walter Kemmler becomes the first man to be executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York.
1889Opening of the Savoy Hotel in London.
1844The first press telegram in Britain is sent to The Times newspaper, announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria.
1825Bolivia is proclaimed an independant republic after more than 300 years of Spanish rule.
1806End of the Holy Roman Empire when Francis II renounces the crown to become Francis I, Emperor of Austria.
1504Birth of Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker. His long nose and extremely inquisitive nature give rise to the expression 'Nosey Parker'.
1937English actress Barbara Windsor.
1934English mountaineer Chris Bonnington.
1928American artist Andy Warhol.
1926British actor Frank Finlay.
1922British entrepreneur and airline founder Sir Freddie Laker.
1917American film actor Robert Mitchum.
1911American comedienne Lucille Ball.
1881Scottish bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming - discovers penicillin (1928).
1809English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
1775Irish leader Daniel O'Connell.
1978Pope Paul VI, aged 80 - succeeded by Pope John Paul I.
1890Convicted murderer Walter Kemmler becomes the first man to be executed in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in New York.
1660Spanish painter Diego Velazquez.
1637England's first Poet Laureate, Ben Jonson, dies in poverty.
1623Anne Hathaway - the wife of English playwright William Shakespeare.