November 1st

1944 - Britain's Home Guard, which was formed 5 years earlier to fight the suspected German invasion, is ordered to disband.

1952 - The US detonates a 10.4 megaton thermonuclear device which is 800 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. It leaves a crater more than a mile wide.

1959 - The countries first full length motorway is officially opened. (It is the M1)

1970 - A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 144 young people.

1982 - New terrestrial channel "Channel Four" broadcasts its first programme, "Countdown".

1985 - Dizzee Rascal, the English rapper is born.