Swindon

1951: Student nurse Rena Skane, whose family lived on Prospect Hill, learned she had been chosen from among 50 candidates for voice training at a conservatoire of music in London.

1961 A leading Swindon rock group of the era, the Off-Beats, was appearing at the Springfield Theatre in St Helier, Jersey. The group, formerly known as The Rebels, included a young musician called Justin Hayward, whose family home was in The Mall, Old Town. He would later become rather better known as a member of another band, the Moody Blues.

1971: It was announced that a Princess Margaret Hospital resident called Percy had fallen 15 feet from a window. Two nurses found he was missing from his bed and launched a 45-minute search until he was found lying shivering on the grass beneath a second floor window. After checking him for injuries, they took him back inside and put him in a cage. Percy was a hamster belonging to a nurse called Sally Revell. She revealed that he had escaped after being allowed out of his cage briefly.

The world

1274: Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland who defeated the English at Bannockburn, was born at Turnberry, Ayrshire.

1690: William of Orange defeated the deposed Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

1754: Shakespearean censor Thomas Bowdler was born. Though he loved the Bard’s works, he considered some to be vulgar and ‘’unfit to be read by a gentleman in the company of ladies.’’ His solution was to cut lumps wholesale - and from this came the verb ‘’to bowdlerise.’’ 1776: Explorer Captain James Cook, pictured, set sail from Plymouth on his third voyage of discovery, in search of a passage around the the northern coast of America from the Pacific side.

1804: A duel took place in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounded the former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

1895: Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrated movie film technology to scientists.

1937: George Gershwin, American composer, whose work included Rhapsody In Blue and Porgy And Bess, died aged 38 of a brain tumour.

1949: The first film made specially for British television, A Dinner Date With Death, was shot at Marylebone Studios between July 11 and 14.

1950: Puppets Andy Pandy, Teddy and Looby Loo first appeared on BBC Television. The episodes were repeated for more than 25 years, until the film began to wear out, and Andy waved his last goodbye from the basket.

1975: China’s great Terracotta Army was uncovered near the ancient capital of Xian. More than 6,000 life-sized warriors were made around 206BC to guard the tomb of the first emperor.

1979: America’s Skylab I returned to Earth after 34,981 orbits in six years.

1989: Theatre lights were dimmed in London and around Britain as a mark of respect to Lord Olivier, who died in his sleep, aged 82.

2016: Theresa May emerged as the last woman standing as the race to be the next prime minister ended just weeks after it began.

BIRTHDAYS Giorgio Armani, fashion designer, 83; John Kettley, TV weatherman, 65; Leon Spinks, former boxer, 64; Richie Sambora, rock guitarist (Bon Jovi), 58; Suzanne Vega, singer, 58; Craig Charles, comedian/actor, 53; Tony Cottee, former footballer, 52.