SWINDON...

1947: The Rev A Greenhill, former headmaster of the Church of England School at Purton, started off the marathon race that is run each year by the Purton school boys. The race began in the High Street.

1957: Swindon men completed a Wiltshire Table Tennis League double at the expense of Devizes when beating them 7-3. Maurice Perkins gained his revenge on the Devizes champion Alan Alexander. Swindon, with one match to play, had a 100 per cent record.

1977: A champagne reception was offered as a bonus for a few of the people lucky enough to see Dame Margot Fonteyn when she came to Swindon – but they had to pay £15 per head for the gala ballet evening at the Wyvern Theatre.

2013: Train operator First Great Western looked set to continue running rail services through Swindon from London Paddington to South Wales for another three years. New plans announced by the Government saw negotiations start over a deal up until July 2016.

THE WORLD...

1484: William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables.

1830: The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.

1839: The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.

1934: The driving test is introduced in the United Kingdom.

1939: Spanish Civil War: Nationalists begin their final offensive of the war.

1945: World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces.

1979: Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..

1999: A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.

1999: The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.

BIRTHS...

1859: A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (d. 1936)

1866: Fred Karno, English music hall manager and theatre impresario (d. 1941)

1874: Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (d. 1963)

1881: Guccio Gucci, Italian fashion designer, founded Gucci (d. 1953)

1931: Leonard Nimoy, American actor, singer, and director

1944: Diana Ross, American singer and actress (The Supremes)

1962: Richard Coles, English pianist, saxophonist, and priest (The Communards)

DIED...

1827: Ludwig van Beethoven, German pianist and composer (b. 1770).

1902: Cecil Rhodes, English-South African businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony (b. 1853).

1945: David Lloyd George, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863).

1959: Raymond Chandler, American author and screenwriter (b. 1888).

1983: Anthony Blunt, English historian and spy (b. 1907).