SWINDON..

1947: Mr W Townsend was elected chairman for the Stratton Parish Council. He received seven votes, while retiring chairman MR S C Casson received three and Mr W J Hathaway, the third nominee, withdrew. Tribute was paid to the courteous and efficient manner in which Mr Casson had carried out his duties.

1957: Pat Daniels, 10, of Crombey Street, Swindon, won second place with 89 marks in the Under 12 years Folk Song class in the Bristol Eisteddfod. The adjudicator commended her on her fine singing of the Dream Angus.

1977: Autograph hunters packed Swindon Brunel Plaza to catch a glimpse of TV personality Michael Aspel. Michael, compere and presenter of the children’s TV show Ask Aspel, was in town to open Argos, the show-by-catalogue store in the Murray John building.

2013: Swindon’s MPs were joined by thousands of other mourners at the funeral of former Conservative Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher at St Paul’s Cathedral.

THE WORLD...

73: Masada, a Jewish fortress, fell to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Great Jewish Revolt.

1746: The Battle of Culloden was fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland. After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.

1953: Queen Elizabeth launched the Royal Yacht Britannia.

1963: Dr Martin Luther King, Jr penned his Letter From Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.

2007: In the Virginia Tech massacre Seung-Hui Cho gunned down 32 people and injured 23 before committing suicide.

2012: The trial of Anders Behring Breivik began in Oslo, Norway.

BORN...

1821: Ford Madox Brown – French-English painter.

1889: Charlie Chaplin, – English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer.

1918: Spike Milligan – Indian-Irish actor, singer, screenwriter, and author.

1919: Merce Cunningham – American dancer and choreographer.

1921: Peter Ustinov – English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.

1922: Kingsley Amis – English author, poet, and critic.

1939: Dusty Springfield – English singer and producer.

1943: Ruth Madoc – English-Welsh actress and singer.

DIED...

1689: Aphra Behn – English author and playwright .

1828: Francisco Goya – Spanish painter.

1850: Marie Tussaud – French-English sculptor, founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

1904: Samuel Smiles – Scottish author.

1991: David Lean – English director and producer.

1995: Arthur English – English actor.