Swindon

1951: Mr and Mrs W Verrinder, who lived in Swindon’s Burford Avenue, had planted a yucca in their front garden at the end of World War Two. Nearly six years on, the exotic plant had reached six feet in height and flowered twice. The yucca had been taken as a cutting from one growing at the home of a relative in Euclid Street. Yucca are native to Mexico.

1951: Eight-year-old dancer Pauline Shinwell, of Newburgh Road in Highworth, passed her second grade test in ballet examinations held by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. In addition to passing, she received a commendation. Only a few months earlier, Pauline had been successful in the first grade examinations.

1961: Legendary jockey Sir Gordon Richards was invited to be a judge in a Swindon donkey derby. The event was being organised in aid of the Swindon branch of the Wiltshire Association for the Care of the Blind. It was due to be held at Westcott Recreation Ground in Wootton Bassett Road as part of a three-day carnival programme including sideshows, skittles and a funfair.

1961: Swindon Education Committee said the town expected to have a shortfall of 137 teachers for the coming academic year. According to figures it was about to share with Wiltshire Education Committee, the problem was most acute in Swindon’s junior schools, where 40 vacancies were expected. The Swindon Committee asked their Wiltshire counterparts to assign extra supply staff.

1971: A pre-cast concrete bridge was erected over Rodbourne Road between Dean Street and Redcliffe Street. It replaced a steel bridge and the project was completed over a single weekend by a civil engineering unit from British Rail’s Western Region. The bridge carried rail links between two sections of railway works over Rodbourne Road.

1971: More than 100 disabled people from all over Wiltshire were guests of the villagers of Brinkworth when they accepted an invitation to take part in a special church service. The service was conducted by the rector, the Rev G Wallis, and had been due to take place in the open air, but was transferred to the church due to rain. The Swindon Gorse Hill Section Salvation Army Band provided music.

The world

1745: The first recorded women’s cricket match took place at Gosden Common near Guildford, with neighbouring village Hambledon against Bramley.

1788: New York became the 11th of the United States.

1856: George Bernard Shaw, playwright, was born in Dublin. A failed novelist, he was 36 when his first play, Widowers’ Houses, was performed.

1875: Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist, was born. He was the founder of analytical psychology and first proposed the idea of extrovert and introvert character types.

1895 Robert Graves, English poet, novelist and critic, was born. He wrote I Claudius in 1934 and more than 100 other books.

1908: The Federal Bureau of Investigation was established in Washington, DC.

1945: Clement Attlee’s Labour post-war government came to power with a huge majority. He said: ‘’Labour can deliver the goods.’’ 1952: King Farouk of Egypt abdicated after a coup led by General Neguib. On the same date in 1956, President Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal just a month after taking power.

1952: Eva Peron (Evita), Argentina’s First Lady, died of cancer, aged 33.

1958: Debutantes were presented at the Royal Court in Britain for the last time.

Birthdays Barbara Jefford, actress, 87; John Howard, former prime minister of Australia, 78; Sir Mick Jagger, Rolling Stone, 74; Dame Helen Mirren, actress, 72; Roger Taylor, rock musician (Queen), 68; Susan George, actress, 67; Kevin Spacey, actor, 58; Sandra Bullock, actress, 53; Kate Beckinsale, actress, 44.