ON THIS DAY - JULY 14
NATIONAL DAY OF FRANCE
1789: The Bastille, the state prison in Paris, was stormed by the citizens of Paris and burned to the ground at the start of the French Revolution.
1858: Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was born in Manchester.
1867: Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel first demonstrated the use of dynamite.
1888: The first record company, the North American Phonograph Company, was founded in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by businessman Jesse L Lippincott.
1902: The Campanile of St Mark's Cathedral in Venice collapsed during a safety inspection.
1940: The Soviet Union annexed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1946: Dr Benjamin Spock's famous baby bible - Baby And Child Care - was published, and became a bestseller. Twenty-eight years later he said he no longer supported his own theories.
1958: King Faisal of Iraq was assassinated in a military coup led by General Kassem, and a Republic was established.
1959: Grock, described as the ''greatest clown on earth'', died in Italy.
1967: Parliament voted to legalise abortion.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Hip-hop icon Jay-Z achieved his first UK number one album with Magna Carta Holy Grail landing at the top of the charts.
