October 26, 1951 – Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain for a second time after the Conservative Party won the general election by a small majority. Aged 77 at the time, Mr Churchill was the second oldest Prime Minister in British history, beaten only by William Gladstone, who was 84 when he resigned in 1894, having been Prime Minister on no fewer than four separate occasions.

October 18, 1967 – The Soviet Union successfully sent a space probe into the atmosphere of the planet Venus for the first time. The Venera 4 probe had taken four months to reach Venus from Earth.

October 1, 1975 – Mohammed Ali retained the world heavyweight boxing championship after defeating arch-rival Joe Frazier in their third fight, billed as the ‘Thrilla in Manilla’.

October 9, 1991 – London’s Royal Abert Hall was the venue for the first Sumo wrestling tournament ever to be staged outside Japan in the sport’s 1,500-year history.