On this day...... 28 August

1640: A small English force under Lord Conway attempted to stop the invading Scottish army under the Earl of Leven, Alexander Leslie, at Newburn upon Tyne, a few miles from Newcastle, during the Second Bishops' War.  The two sides exchanged artillery fire across the Tyne, but the English militia broke when Scottish cavalry started to ford the river, and retreated to Durham.  Newcastle fell to the Scots a few days later.

1914: The first major naval battle of the First World War was fought, in the Heligoland Bight.  The Royal Navy's Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers under Commodore Tyrwhitt, supported by submarines under Commodore Keyes, attempted to surprise German patrols off Heligoland.  But the Germans only lost one destroyer before their cruisers arrived on the scene and threatened to turn the tables.  The Harwich Force was saved by the appearance of Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser force, which sank three German light cruisers and drove the rest off.

1940: Good weather allowed the Luftwaffe to resume its offensive against RAF airfields.  The air defences claimed at least 28 victories, but twenty RAF fighters were lost, with ten aircrew killed.  The day's events are recorded on the RAF's Battle of Britain website.