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26th August

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1346: Battle of Crecy


During the Hundred Years War, King Edward III's small English army annihilates a much larger French force at the Battle of Crecy in Normandy. The battle, which saw an early use of the deadly longbow by the English, is regarded as one of the most decisive in history. In charge after charge, the French cavalry attempted to penetrate the English infantry lines, but the horses and riders were cut down in the merciless shower of arrows. The battle marked the decline of the mounted knight in European warfare, and the rise of England as a world power. From Crecy, Edward marched on to Calais, which surrendered to him in 1347.

1997

In Britain, Diana, Princess of Wales, condemns the previous Conservative Government as 'hopeless' over the issue of the banning landmines.

1978

Sigmund Jahn becomes the first German in space - on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz 31.

1978

In Rome, Cardinal Albino Luciani is elected Pope John Paul I. Within 33 days he dies of a heart attack.

1959

British car manufacturers Austin and Morris launch a small family car known as the 'Mini'.

1952

The Soviet Union announces that its has successfully tested an ICBM - an intercontintal ballistic missile.

1940

World War II: The RAF bomb Berlin for the first time in retaliation for bombing raids on London.

1936

In Britain, the BBC transmits the first high-definition television pictures. More than 7000 people queue at the Olympia Radio Show to see the pictures being beamed onto local television sets from Alexandra Palace in north London.

1920

United States of America ratifies the 19th Amendment to the Constitution - granting women the right to vote.

1883

Start of two days' continual volcanic eruptions on the island of Krakatoa in the Sundra Strait between Sumatra and Java. Tidal waves caused by the eruptions kill an estimated 36,000 and leave most of the island uninhabitable.

1789

The French Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

1346

Edward III of England, aided by his son, Edward, the Black Prince, defeat a numerically superior French Army at the battle of Crecy.

1980

American actor Macaulay Culkin.

1947

American actress Barbara Bach.

1904

English author Christopher Isherwood. His experiences in pre-World War IIGermany provide the background for Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and Goodbye To Berlin (1939) - both of which form the basis for the musical Caberet.

1875

John Buchan, Scottish novelist and statesman, born in Perth.

1819

Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, born in Bavaria.

1743

French chemist Antoine Lavoisier.

1740

French inventor Joseph-Michel Montgolfier

1676

British statesman and politician Sir Robert Walpole.

1998

Barbara Mandell, Britian's first woman television newsreader, dies in hospital

1982

Swedish film actress Ingrid Bergman.

1978

French actor Charles Boyer comits suicide aged 80 - two days after the death of his wife.

1974

American aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh.

1972

English round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester.

1958

Welsh-born composer Ralph Vaughan Williams aged 85.

1930

American actor Lon Chaney.