1930 Endeavour Morse – British Chief Inspector who was (like his creator), born in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Morse’s father was a taxi-driver with an insatiable interest in Captain Cook and his mother a Quaker – a combination responsible for Morse's uncommon first name (Thanks to Jay's Morse Trivia pages for this one!)

And we love the extra info, Jay.

1988 The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking the US's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster

Don't you know that everybody involved were on pins and needles on this one?