6th May

1840 - The first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, is officially released.

1954 - Roger Bannister becomes the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

1966 - Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life imprisonment.

1994 - The Channel Tunnel between Calais and Folkestone is officially opened.

2004 - Picasso's 'Boy With A Pipe' becomes the world's most expensive painting, selling for £58 million to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby's in New York.

2006 - The last American survivor of the Titanic disaster, Lillian Gertrud, passes away peacefully in her sleep.