Swindon

1951: Four new shops had opened on the new housing estate at Rodbourne, near the bus terminus. Business had started in the sub post office with Sub Postmaster Mr C D Rachetts, of Cheney Manor Road, selling tobacco and newspapers as well. The three other shops are a greengrocer, a baker and confectioner.

1961: Raymond Hedger, 17, of Sussex Square, Walcot, a student at the Swindon College of Art, was among the prizewinners in a competition connected to the popular singer Cliff Richard. Contestants had to design a birthday card for the singer’s 21st birthday. One hundred 100 LPs by Cliff Richard and an autograph album were the prizes on offer and Raymond’s design was selected.

1971: Swindon welter weight boxing champion Ricky Porter’s impressive display during his clash with French champion Roger Menetry brought him offers from two Continental promoters. He lost on points but the French were so impressed they wanted to see him back, said his trainer Mick Fulton.

The world

AD54: Roman Emperor Claudius I died after eating poisoned mushrooms as a result of a plot inspired by his wife, the Empress Agrippina.

1163: The body of the Anglo Saxon King, Edward (the Confessor), was transferred to a new shrine and October 13 has been celebrated as his feast day ever since.

1853: Lillie Langtry, pictured, British actress and mistress of Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales, was born in Jersey.

1884: Greenwich was adopted as the universal time meridian of longitude, from which standard times throughout the world are calculated.

1905: Legendary English actor Sir Henry Irving died in Bradford, during his farewell tour.

1924: Ramsay MacDonald made the first election broadcast on the BBC on behalf of the Labour Party.

1944: Athens was liberated by the Allies.

1984: John Lowe achieved the first televised 501 score in nine darts in a major event in the quarter finals of the World Match Play championship in Slough.

1996: British Formula One driver Damon Hill won his only World Championship after winning the Japanese Grand Prix.

2010: One by one the 33 miners trapped for 69 days in a half-mile-deep dungeon beneath the Chilean desert climbed into a rescue capsule and made a smooth ascent to the surface.

2016: American singer Bob Dylan was hailed as a great poet in following his surprise win of after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

BIRTHDAYS

Nana Mouskouri, singer, 83; Paul Simon, singer, 76; Edwina Currie, author and former Tory MP, 71; Chris Carter, writer and TV producer (The X-Files), 60; Marie Osmond, singer, 58; Kelly Preston, actress, 55.