1040: Lady Godiva rides naked on horseback through Coventry to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.
1212: London fire burns most of the city.
1800: The British set up Fort William College in Calcutta to promote Urdu, Hindi and other languages.
1806: The Vellore Mutiny when Indian sepoys rose against the East India Company and stormed into the Vellore Fort, killing and wounding 200 British soldiers. It lasted just one day. The British executed about 100 mutineers and courtmartialed many.
The reason for India’s first mutiny was the highhandedness of the British towards the sepoys and the fear that the British were trying to convert them.
1947: British PM Clement Attlee recommends Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the first Governor General of Pakistan.
1964: Bangalore university is established.
1991: Boris Yeltsin takes over as first president of Russia.
2011: British tabloid News of the World ceases publication after 168 years.
