Swindon

1951: Swindon had its heaviest September rainstorm for 23 years. In four hours 1.35 inches of rain fell on the town. Bus services through Gorse Hill bridges were affected by flooding at a depth of about 2ft, and a shuttle service had to be operated.

1951: A former Swindon man who sailed to Australia 24 years before was installed as the Right Honourable Assembly President of the Royal Ancient Order of Buffs of Australia. Owen Ackrill was born in Clifton Street. He served his apprenticeship as a boiler maker in the GWR factory and then went to work on the Australian railway.

1961: Stratton St Margaret St John Ambulance Brigade adult and cadet nursing division was inspected by Lady Fuller, who presented awards, including the Grand Prior badge for gaining 12 proficiency certificates which was won by Shirley Garrett.

1961: Twelve days after the closing of the railway line to passenger traffic through Marlborough, a passenger train pulled in to Marlborough station. It was the Paddington to Marlborough Special for boys returning to Marlborough College. Along with the boys, the station handled 700 trunks and many bicycles.

1971: Swindon had a man at the top of the charts with his latest single We Will in the pop charts. Gilbert O’Sullivan, wearing his cloth cap, boots and pudding basin hair cut, was at the launch of his album, Gilbert O’Sullivan Himself, in London. Success didn’t change Ray O’Sullivan, apart from his name, and he was regularly seen visiting his mother in Frobisher Drive, Swindon.

1971: The Wyvern Theatre’s architect got himself stuck in his own lift just minutes before the Ukranian Dance Company were due on stage. Neville Condor lacerated his finger getting out and the lift had to be wound down by the theatre’s deputy house manger Ray Vincent.

The world

1522: Ferdinand Magellan’s ship the Vittoria, under the command of Del Cano, arrived in San Lucar, Spain, after completing the first circumnavigation of the world. Magellan was not present, having been killed in action on the island of Mactan.

1533: Queen Elizabeth I was born at Greenwich Palace in London, the first born daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

1812: Napoleon’s forces marching to Moscow defeated the Russians at the Battle of Borodino, 70 miles west of the city.

1838: Grace Darling, 22, daughter of a lighthouse keeper, made the famous rescue of the crew of the steamship Forfarshire, shipwrecked near the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast.

1892: ‘Gentleman’ James (Jim) J Corbett beat John L Sullivan in 21 rounds in New Orleans and became the first world heavyweight boxing champion under Queensberry rules - with gloves and three-minute rounds.

1901: The Peace of Peking ended the Boxer Rising in China.

1921: The first Miss America beauty contest was held in Atlantic City.

1936: Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley), rock singer and guitarist, was born. He died in an air crash in 1959, aged only 22, but in his short career produced classic hits such as That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue and Oh Boy.

1978: Keith Moon, manic drummer with rock group The Who, died in London of a drug overdose.

1986: Bishop Desmond Tutu was appointed Archbishop of Cape Town, the first black head of South African Anglicans.

BIRTHDAYS Sonny Rollins, jazz musician, 87; Gloria Gaynor, singer, 68; Chrissie Hynde, rock singer, 66; Julie Kavner, voiceover actress (Marge Simpson), 67; Corbin Bernsen, actor, 63; Marcel Desailly, former footballer, 49; Angie Everhart, actress and model, 48; Shannon Elizabeth, actress, 44; Evan Rachel Wood, actress, 30.