Swindon

1951: Swindon baritone Jack Winter, already well known to radio audiences because of his regular music broadcasts, was to take on a new radio role as a football commentator. The BBC announced that he would lend his voice to the Sport In The West broadcast of a match between Swindon and Bournemouth. The singer had first come to public notice as a member of the GWR Gleemen before the Second World War.

!951: The new head of Swindon School of Art, Raymond A Hill, said that in future more classes would be formed to deal with industrial and commercial design in addition to traditional artistic crafts. He hoped the change would reflect the distinctive character of the town and its economy.

1961: Mr and Mrs W Shailes returned to their home in Swindon’s Ferndale Road after a three-month visit to their married daughter, Jean, and two grandchildren in Eveleth, Minnesota. During their time in America the couple travelled 35,000 miles by rail, air and road. They said highlights of their trip included seeing Yellowstone National Park’s geysers and the huge sculptures of presidents’ faces at Mount Rushmore.

1961: Because of malicious damage to the Richard Jefferies’ memorial seat at the top of Liddington Hill, the recommendation by the Richard Jefferies’ Society that it be moved to Coate was approved by the old Swindon Borough Council. The seat had been used since 1951 and had until recently been undamaged other than by a decade of weathering. Lately, however, vandals had carved pieces from the woodwork, removed planks and loosened screws.

1971: A 10-year-old Swindon girl beat 24 riders, many of them adults, to win a major trophy at Marlborough Rotary Club’s horse show. Dawn Bacchus, of Marlborough Road, rode Little Joe through a clear round to win the open jumping championship. The trophy was presented by Sir Gordon Richards, often described as the greatest jockey Britain had ever produced.

1971: Workers returned to the Railway Works following the last of the year’s Trip Week summer holidays. They included 76 diesel test bed engineers who had resolved a week-old strike just as the holiday started. A British Rail spokesman said talks with the men would be resumed to iron out details of the settlement.

The world

1879: The first British telephone exchange opened in Lombard Street, London.

1880: England beat Australia by five wickets at the Oval in the first Test match played in England, and WG Grace scored England’s first Test century.

1941: Yellow Star Of David badges became compulsory for all Jews living in Nazi Germany.

1966: Hendrik Verwoerd, South African Prime Minister since 1958, was assassinated in parliament in Cape Town by Dimitri Tsafendas.

1990: Cricketer Sir Len Hutton, the first professional to captain England, died aged 74.

2007: Tributes flooded in from around the world after opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

2012: A four-year-old British girl was found alive underneath the bodies of her family hours after a gunman opened fire on their car in the French Alps.

BIRTHDAYS Roger Waters, rock musician (Pink Floyd), 74; Bruce Rioch, former Arsenal football manager, 70; Dolores O’Riordan, singer (The Cranberries), 46; Idris Elba, actor, 45; Greg Rusedski, former tennis player, 44; Tim Henman, former tennis player, 43; Nina Persson, singer (The Cardigans), 43; Pippa Middleton, 34.