OCTOBER 18

1405: Pope Pius II was born. Pope Gregory XII also died on this day in 1417, as did Pope Pius III, who died in 1503.

1826: The last state lottery was held in Britain.

1910: The trial of Dr Crippen began at the Old Bailey.

1922: The British Broadcasting Company was officially formed.

1926: Bing Crosby made his first commercial recording, I've Got The Girl.

1961: Henri Matisse's Le Bateau attracted big crowds when it went on show in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was not until 116,000 people had seen it, 46 days later, that someone noticed it was hanging upside down.

1967: The Soviet Union successfully sent a space probe into the atmosphere of the planet Venus for the first time.

1977: German anti-terror troops stormed a high-jacked Lufthansa airliner at Mogadishu, Somalia, killing three Palestinian terrorists and freeing all hostages.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Tinder brings out the basic mating instincts of men and women as they choose between beauty and brains, a study revealed.

BIRTHDAYS: Barry Gifford, novelist, 72; Martina Navratilova, tennis legend, 62; Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor/director, 58; Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter/composer, 58; Michael Stich, former tennis player, 50; Robbie Savage, former footballer/pundit, 44; Zac Efron, actor, 31.