SWINDON

1951: More than 20 unframed watercolours from the series of pictures Recording Britain have been acquired by the Libraries Committee of Swindon Town Council, and a long term loan agreed from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Chief Librarian has been authorised to purchase frames and to have the pictures on display in the Arts Centre in Swindon.

1961: There were more than 220 entries for a cake-making competition held at the St John Ambulance Hall, Lagos Street, Swindon. The joint organisers, the Swindon and District Grocers’ Association and a firm of flour manufacturers, provided the prize money which amounted to £25. The competitors were divided into classes which were judged by Miss Atwell.

1971: A 90-minute flight in Concorde 002 took off from Fairford with five MPs including David Steel, and the first woman to fly in Concorde in Britain, Miss Virginia Evans, private secretary to David Price, the Joint Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, who was also on the flight. British Aircraft Corporation chief test pilot Brian Trubshaw was at the helm.

THE WORLD

1135: Henry I died “of a surfeit of lampreys’’.

1581: Jesuit martyr Edmund Campion was hanged at Tyburn.

1640: The Portuguese drove out the Spanish to reclaim their independence.

1761: Madame Marie Tussaud, waxworks modeller, was born in Strasbourg.

1887: The 28th Beeton’s Christmas Annual went on sale. It featured A Study In Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, which introduced the detective Sherlock Holmes.

1906: The Cinema Omnia Pathe, the world’s first purpose-built picture palace, opened in Paris.

1959: Twelve countries signed an agreement to preserve Antarctica for peaceful scientific research.

1989: Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev met in Rome to end 70 years of hostility between USSR and the Vatican.

1990: The two halves of the Channel Tunnel were joined under the sea.

2009: International agreement The Treaty of Lisbon, also known as the Reform Treaty, came into force.

2016: Prince Harry and Rihanna took HIV tests together in Barbados to raise awareness about the illness on World Aids Day.

BIRTHDAYS Woody Allen, film director, 82; Lee Trevino, golfer, 78; Bette Midler, singer and actress, 72; Gilbert O’Sullivan, singer, 71; Stephen Poliakoff, playwright, 65; Charlene Tilton, actress, 59; Jeremy Northam, actor, 56; Sarah Silverman, comedian,47; Janelle Monae, musician, 32.