Swindon

1950: The Phillumenist, the magazine for collectors of matchbox labels and booklets, announced the winner of its annual award for the most outstanding collector. He was Mr H Ulundi Bathe, who lived in Oxford Street, Swindon, and was president of the British Match Label Society. Nominations for that year’s accolade came from Sweden, India, Egypt and the US.

1961: Swindon composer Graham Whettam and his wife, former Swindon Schools Physical Education organiser Janet Lawrence, announced the birth of their third child, Andrew Felix Charles. The first name was for the composer’s father and the last for his friend, fellow composer Charles Groves. Andrew was a younger brother for Cordelia and Ralston.

1971: Amateur yet accomplished weather watcher Job Harvey had to build a replacement for the windmill in his Drove Road garden when it was stolen. The old windmill, including a decorative animated model of a man riding a penny-farthing bicycle, had been a familiar sight to visitors to nearby Queen’s Park. Mr Harvey vowed not to allow the theft to deter him from his observations.

The world

512: Michelangelo unveiled his painting of the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

1611: Shakespeare’s play The Tempest was performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.

1755: An earthquake reduced 85 per cent of Lisbon to rubble, killing up to 100,000 people.

1848: WH Smith opened its first railway bookstall at Euston Station, London, the start of multiple retailing in Britain.

1894: Nicholas II became the new (and last) Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies.

1922: The first radio licences went on sale in Britain at a cost of 10 shillings (50p).

1956: Computer ERNIE was born as Premium Bonds first went on sale in Britain.

1993: The Maastricht Treaty took effect - the precursor to the European Union.

2016: A climate scientist warned a Donald Trump triumph in the US presidential election would be a ‘’disaster’’ for the environment.

BIRTHDAYS Gary Player, golfer, 82; Larry Flynt, publisher, 75; Nick Owen, TV presenter, 70; Lyle Lovett, country singer, 60; Sharron Davies, former Olympic swimmer and TV presenter, 55; Rick Allen, rock drummer (Def Leppard), 54; Mark Hughes, former footballer turned manager, 54; Jenny McCarthy, actress and comedian, 45.