SWINDON

1951: A journalist who started his career in Swindon retired after working for many years in South Africa. GEP Jones first worked at the Swindon Advertiser and then, in 1911, moved to the Sussex Daily News. From there he went to South Africa, where he joined the Rand Daily Mail as a reporter in 1915 and rose to the position of chief assistant editor. He was secretary of the Transvaal Society of Journalists before the South African Society was formed.

1951: A children’s nursery in Broad Street was about to close in spite of protests by parents to the county education authorities and the Ministry of Health. Protesters pointed out that the nursery could accommodate 40 children, while only 20 could be accommodated at its replacement, which was at Gorse Hill Community Centre and had cost £125 to convert.

1961: A stone through a windscreen in Chertsey delayed the opening of the annual Swindon College prize distribution ceremony. The scheduled speakers were Charles Pike, architect of the extension to the college, and former Army Education Corps director general Major-General WD Beddall. As they shared a car from London, a stone thrown up by another vehicle shattered the windscreen. Mr Pike knocked a hole in it before driving to a garage and having the screen replaced.

1961: The British Legion was preparing for a recruitment drive in the new Walcot estate, with 1,000 letters due to be sent, saying the organisation meant “...an insurance for yourself and family, and that you are helping those thousands of other ex-Service men and women - a big proportion disabled in the service of their country - and others meeting ‘hard times’ through no fault of their own, or through unseen circumstances.”

1971: Ashton Keynes physical education student Christopher Ross, 20, devoured nearly eight steak and kidney pies in 20 minutes to become Cricklade pie-eating champion at the Cricklade and District Community Services Donkey Derby. He declined to attempt a world record of 15 pies at a sitting, saying he couldn’t eat another bite.

1971: Rain didn’t stop play at the Rodbourne Cheney Old People’s Welfare fete. The crowd and events were simply moved to Moredon Secondary School. Those events included a display by the Pinehurst Evening Centre Ladies’ Keep Fit Class.

THE WORLD

1793: The Reign of Terror, in which thousands went to the guillotine in the French Revolution, began.

1809: Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer, died in Vienna.

1837: Joseph Grimaldi, English clown of stage and circus, died. His stage motto was ‘’Hence, loathed melancholy’’ and for 14 years before he died, he was so crippled that the landlord of his local tavern had to carry him home every night.

1859: Big Ben, in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London, first began recording time.

1902: The Boer War ended with the Peace of Vereeniging.

1910: The colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony united to form the Union of South Africa.

1910: Lord Baden-Powell’s sister, Agnes, announced the formation of the Girl Guides.

1916: The Battle of Jutland was fought in the North Sea.

1927: The last ‘’Tin Lizzie’’ car came off the production line, almost unchanged since it was introduced as the model T Ford in 1908.

1930: Don Bradman became the first Australian to score 1,000 runs in England by the end of May.

2016: Scotland’s ‘’luckiest’’ lottery family were celebrating again - after picking up a second £1 million prize thanks to a winning Lotto Millionaire Raffle line.

BIRTHDAYS Clint Eastwood, actor and director, 87; John Prescott, former deputy prime minister, 79; Terry Waite, Anglican emissary and author, 78; Sharon Gless, actress, 74; Tom Berenger, actor, 68; Joe Longthorne, entertainer, 62; Brooke Shields, actress, 52; Colin Farrell, actor, 41.