Swindon

1951: Swindon Town Council member FE Bishop claimed in a meeting that courtesy was a concept unknown to most of the town’s school-age children. His outburst came during a discussion at which it was agreed that corporation buses should carry signs ordering those paying half fares to give up their seats for passengers paying full fares. The policy was adopted after taking legal advice.

1951: Bellringers in Swindon were sorry to hear of an accident at St Paul’s Cathedral which saw ringer Tom Setter, visiting from Yeovil, suffer two broken ankles and a spine injury. Mr Setter had been employed at the Railway Works in Swindon a few years earlier. Visiting London and given an opportunity to ring at the cathedral, he was lifted 14ft into the air by a three-ton bell before releasing his grip on the rope.

1961: Stephen Baston, 10, had a green and yellow budgerigar called Billy which escaped his cage and flew away from the family home in Avenue Road. Stephen searched the neighbourhood and found an escaped green and yellow budgerigar - but it wasn’t Billy, it was a female. Stephen rescued the bird and put it in Billy’s cage, but carried on searching for his pet and appealed for the owner of the other bird to come forward.

1961: A painting competition organised by Kingsdown News, the newspaper of Upper Stratton Secondary Modern School, failed to attract a single entry. The editors sent out a message: “If you don’t enter we shall have to drink the prizes ourselves.” Any parents worried by that statement were reassured that the drink in question was simply a new brand of fizzy pop.

1971: Five Venture Scouts from Swindon were presented with a trophy at their headquarters after winning a county-wide competition. The group, all members of the Zenith Venture Scout Unit, had risen to the challenge of converting a dustbin into an urn and using it to transport hot liquid on a 12-mile night hike.

1971: Swindon councillors called on the county education committee to liaise with the town’s and also with local employers before deciding the dates of school holidays. This, they said, would help firms to ensure mass staff holidays - they were still common - coincided with their children being off school.

The world

1226: St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, died.

1888: The first performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeoman Of The Guard took place at the Savoy Theatre, London.

1906: SOS was established as an international distress signal, replacing the call sign CDQ.

1929: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was renamed Yugoslavia.

1941: The aerosol was patented by LD Goodhue and WN Sullivan.

1952: Britain’s first atomic weapon was exploded in the Monte Bello Islands, off Australia.

1956: The Bolshoi Ballet appeared at Covent Garden for the first time.

1959: The postcode, required in the addressing of mail for mechanical sorting, was first used in Britain in Norwich.

2016: Kim Kardashian West, pictured, left Paris on a private jet after she was robbed at gunpoint of £8m-worth of jewellery.

BIRTHDAYS Steve Reich, composer, 81; Chubby Checker, singer, 76; Lindsey Buckingham, musician, 68; Fred Couples, golfer, 58; Tommy Lee, rock musician, 55; Gwen Stefani, singer, 48; Neve Campbell, actress, 44; Seann William Scott, actor, 41.