1606 - The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
1984 – The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines, England.
2007 - Elizabeth II overtakes Queen Victoria as the UK's oldest-ever monarch, having reached an age of 81 years, 7 months and 29 days. As of December 2014, Elizabeth is 88 years of age.