February 3rd

1904 - A freak tidal wave strikes Sandgate, Portsmouth and St Leonards.

1982 - John Sharples sets a new disco dancing world record after dancing for 371 hours.

1999 - It is revealed that an Australian civil servant has been on sick leave for two years because he claims to be allergic to his telephone.

2000 - The house where AA Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh' goes on sale for £2,250,000. The building, just north of the King's Road in Chelsea, has a cinema in the cellar.

2005 - Nelson Mandela addresses a mass rally in London, urging world leaders to cancel Third World debt.

2007 - The slaughter of 159,000 birds begins at a farm in Suffolk after an outbreak of bird flu.