This Day in History - 29th August

1782 The British battleship HMS Royal George sank off Spithead with the loss of more than 900 crew while repairs were being carried out beneath the ship's waterline.

1831 Michael Faraday successfully demonstrated the first electrical transformer at the Royal Institute, London.

1833 Legislation to settle child labour laws was passed in England. The legislation was called the 'Factory Act'.

1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed between the British and the Chinese, ending the Opium War, and leasing the Hong Kong territories to Britain.

1882 The England cricket team lost to Australia, in England, for the first time. An 'obituary' printed in the Sporting Times, talked of 'the Ashes' of English Cricket being taken back to Australia. Test Series between the two countries are now played for 'The Ashes'.

1895 At the George Hotel, Huddersfield, twenty-one rugby clubs met to form the Northern Union. In 1922 the Union was renamed the Rugby League.

1918 Britain’s first police strike began at midnight, as 6000 policemen campaigned for better pay.

1923 The birth of Richard Attenborough, English actor and director. He won two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1982 and has also won four BAFTA Awards. As an actor he is perhaps best known for his roles in The Great Escape, 10 Rillington Place and Jurassic Park.

1947 James Hunt, grand prix racing driver was born. He won the 1976 world championship and retired in 1979 only to die prematurely from a heart attack at the age of 45.

1966 British group The Beatles gave their last live concert performance to a crowd of around 25,000 at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, USA.

1981 Vandals slashed the picture of Diana, Princess of Wales hanging at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

1986 Britain's oldest twins, May and Marjorie Chavasse, both received telegrams from the Queen, to celebrate reaching their 100th birthday.

2011 Private security firm G4S sacked two members of staff who tagged the false leg of 29 year old Rochdale offender Christopher Lowcock, allowing him to remove it and flout a court-imposed curfew for driving and drug offences, as well as possession of an offensive weapon.

2012 The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. It was one of the largest multi-sport events ever held in the United Kingdom after the 2012 Summer Olympics.