31st July 1703: English writer Daniel Defoe put in the pillory for seditious libel

The English writer Daniel Defoe was put in the pillory for seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet.

23rd May 1934: Bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde ambushed by police and killed in rural Louisiana

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were driving their stolen Ford V8 when they were engulfed in a hail of more than 100 bullets.

2nd May 1946: The Battle of Alcatraz began when armed inmates attempted to escape from the high security prison

By the time the authorities re-established control on the morning of 4 May, two prison officers and three perpetrators lay dead.

18th March 1990: 13 works of art stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the world’s largest ever art theft

Despite a reward of $10 million, and extensive investigations by the FBI, none of the works have ever been recovered and nobody has ever been arrested for the robbery.