Swindon

1951: Pat Briancourt, 17, son of Divisional Officer G A Briancourt of the Wiltshire Fire Service, is to take up farming in Australia.

1951: Mr H Cook of Osbourne Street, Swindon, listened with great interest to the broadcast of the Ceremony of the Keys from The Tower of London, because his cousin, the Chief Warder, ex RSM A H Cook, formerly of Swindon, took part in the ancient ceremony. The position of Chief Warder means the holder always lives with his family in a six-room apartment in the 13th Century Byward Tower and performs the ceremony nightly, as it has been done in the Tower since it was built in 1078.

1961: Swindon Dairy Maid, Cecily Howse, 20, was the central figure in a procession through the town for the opening of the Swindon June Dairy Festival. Accompanied by her three attendants, Susan Ockwell, Carole Law, and Maria Hawkin she attended the cheese-tasting ceremony at the Gaumont Cinema followed by the official opening ceremony at Regent Circus.

1961: Commonwealth Day was celebrated at a meeting of the Swindon Young Britons at the Conservative Headquarters in Temple Street, Swindon. A specially decorated cake was cut by president Mrs K Knapp.

1971: The man whose childhood dream was to become Lord Mayor of Cardiff was installed as Mayor of Swindon. Coun Arthur Palmer, the grandson of a cabinet maker and a funeral director, donned the robes of the First Citizen to begin his mayoral year.

1971: Traffic improvement schemes involving St Margaret’s Road, Winifred Street, Evelyn Street, Lethbridge Road and Avenue Road in Old Town, were explained at a public meeting by Swindon Corporation officials.

The World

1768: Captain Cook set off on his first voyage, to explore the Antipodes.

1787: The Philadelphia Convention, headed by George Washington, began drawing up the USA constitution.

1840: The first drama school in Britain opened. Miss Kelly’s Theatre and Dramatic School in Dean Street, London, later became a theatre.

1871: The House of Commons passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating public holidays on Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Christmas Day.

1935: American athlete Jesse Owens set six world records within 45 minutes at Ann Arbor in Michigan.

1951: British diplomats Burgess and Maclean were first reported missing - they had defected to Moscow.

1962: Coventry’s new cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, was consecrated.

1967: Glasgow Celtic became the first British football club to win the European Cup when they beat Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.

1986: Bob Geldof’s Race Against Time had 30 million people worldwide running for Sport Aid to raise money for the starving in Africa.

2016: Showbusiness stars and Leicester City team-mates of Jamie Vardy joined family and friends in celebrating his wedding to fiancee Rebekah Nicholson.

BIRTHDAYS Sir Ian McKellen, actor, 78; Alastair Campbell, former director of communications for the Labour Party, 60; Paul Weller, rock musician, 59; Julian Clary, comedian, 58; Anthea Turner, TV presenter, 57; Mike Myers, actor, writer and producer, 54; Anne Heche, actress, 48; Robert Croft, former cricketer, 47; Jamie Kennedy, actor and comedian, 47; Cillian Murphy, actor, 41; Jonny Wilkinson, former rugby player, 38.