This Day in History - 22nd August

1138 The English defeated the Scots at Cowton Moor. Banners of various saints were carried into battle, which led to its being called the Battle of the Standard.

1485 Richard III of England was defeated and killed at The Battle of Bosworth Field, in the last of the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York. He was the last English king to die in battle. He was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral on 26th March 2015 after his body was discovered under what had become a car park.

1642 The English Civil War began, between the supporters of Charles I (Cavaliers) and of Parliament (Roundheads), when the king called the English Parliament traitors and raised his standard at Nottingham.

1780 James Cook's ship HMS Resolution returned to England; Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage.

1788 The British settlement in Sierra Leone was founded, the purpose of which was to secure a home in Africa for freed slaves.

1895 In the Sussex v Yorkshire cricket match at Hove, Prince Ranjitsingh (playing for Sussex) scored two first class hundreds in the day, thus becoming the only batsman ever to score two separate first class centuries in one day of cricket. By the end of the season he had scored 2,780 runs, beating the record aggregate for a season held by W. G. Grace, and had hit 10 centuries, equalling another record of Grace.

1925 The birth of Honor Blackman, English actress best known for her role of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and as the Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964).

1932 The BBC began its first experiments with television broadcasting.

1957 The birth of Steve Davis, professional snooker player. He has won more professional titles in the sport than any other player, including six World Championships during the 1980s, when he was the world number one for seven years.

1962 The first live TV appearance of the Beatles was recorded by Granada, in a lunchtime session at The Cavern Club, Liverpool.

1963 William Richard Morris, British car manufacturer died. 

1985 Following an aborted take-off, a Boeing 737 burst into flames on the runway at Manchester Airport, killing 55 people.

1989 British Telecom launched the world's first mobile phones.They had a very limited operating range that restricted their use to 100 yards from a public base station.

2008 Paedophile and former pop singer Gary Glitter was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register after arriving back in the UK. He had spent 27 months in a Vietnam jail for abusing two girls.

2012 Tony Nicklinson, a man with locked-in syndrome who lost his High Court case on 12th August to allow doctors to end his life, died after refusing food following the Court's judgement.

2014 'Upton Chippie' in Gainsborough, which uses a coal-fired range and a 66 year old batter recipe, was listed alongside the finest restaurants in Britain in the Good Food Guide. Its first owner, Kathleen Longden, ran the shop for 55 years, before being succeeded by family members.

2015 A vintage Hawker Hunter jet aircraft crashed during a display at the Shoreham Airshow (West Sussex) killing 11 people and injuring 16 others.