Also on 1st June:

1997 British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologises to the people of Ireland for British actions during the Potato Famine 150 years earlier.

1994 British jockey Willie Carson wins his fourth Derby at Epsom riding 7-2 favourite Erhaab.

1972 Urban terrorist group leader Andreas Baader is captured after a gun battle with police and troops.

1968 Britain and Iceland sign a formal end to the 'Cod War' over fishing rights in the North Sea.

1967 British group The Beatles release their Sergeant Pepper Album.

1958 Britain introduces the Clean Air Act, affects industry as well as domestic uses of energy.

1957 In Britain, the computer ERNIE draws the first Premium Bond prizes - first prize £1,000

1948 In London, the first ever Mr Universe contest.

1946 Britain introduces television licences. The cost: £2 each.

1939 99 sailors are lost with the sinking of British submarine HMS Thetis.

1938 First appearance of Superman in an American comic.

1935 Britain introduces the compulsory wearing of 'L' plates for learner drivers.

1929 Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in south eastern Italy, overlooking the Bay of Naples. Lava from the earliest recorded eruption, 79AD, buried several Roman cities including Pompeii.

1915 World War I: the first German Zeppelin airship bombing raid on London.

1911 Britain's first electric trolley buses begin operating in the Yorkshire cities of Leeds and Bradford

1796 Tennessee becomes the 16th state of the America Union.

1792 Kentucky becomes the 15th state of the United States of America.