This Day in History - 19th September

1356 Led by Edward, the Black Prince, the English defeated the French, and captured the French king, John II at the Battle of Poitiers in the Hundred Years' War. The battle resulted in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War, the other two being Crécy, and Agincourt.

1839 Birth of George Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer. A Quaker, he believed in taking care of the welfare of his workforce, and he created a model village for his employees at Bournville, Birmingham.

1851 Birth of William Hesketh Lever. He changed the process of soap manufacture by using vegetable oils instead of tallow.Merseyside, to house them.

1879 The famous illuminations in Blackpool were switched on for the first time, a month before electricity was generally available in London. The first display was known as 'Artificial sunshine', and consisted of just eight Arc lamps which bathed the Promenade.

1905 Thomas John Barnardo, British philanthropist (Barnardo's Children's Homes), died.

1934 The birth of Brian Epstein, best known for being the manager of The Beatles until his death in 1967. Decca declined to sign the Beatles to a contract and after approaching nearly all of the major recording companies in London and being rejected, Epstein met a record producer, George Martin, who offered a contract on behalf of EMI's small Parlophone label.

1945 The Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was sentenced to hang for treason.

1946 The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.

1949 The birth of the model Twiggy. She became an icon of the 'swinging sixties' and in 1966 was voted British Woman of the Year.

1952 The United States prevented the English born film legend Charlie Chaplin from returning to his Hollywood home until he was investigated by the Immigration Services.

1960 The new traffic wardens issued the first 344 parking tickets in London. Britain's first parking ticket was issued to Dr. Thomas Creighton, who had parked his car outside a London hotel while treating a patient.

1970 The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex. 

1975 The first episode of comedy show Fawlty Towers was broadcast by the BBC.

1986 Two passenger trains crashed in Staffordshire, killing two people and injuring almost a hundred more.

1997 An Intercity 125 ploughed into a freight train in Southall, west London, killing six and injuring more than 150.

1998 Robbie Williams scored his first solo UK No.1 single with Millennium.

2000 Chancellor Gordon Brown rejected a 60-day deadline to reduce petrol tax set by fuel price protesters.