SWINDON

1952: There was disappointment for Swindon and district pigeon racers at their birds' latest competition. Older birds flew against rivals from Pau in France and Thurso in Scotland. The Thurso birds were held over for a few days because of unfavourable weather, while only three birds from Swindon and district - one from Stratton St Margaret and two from Westbury - made it back from France in time to earn an official place.

1962: Former Commonweal Grammar School pupil Keith Browning, 23, whose parents lived in Marlborough Road, was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree by the University of London. He was planning to travel to the United States later in the year to continue research as an atmospheric physicist at the United States Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories in Boston.

1973: Wootton Bassett bagpipes expert Bill Mather was called in by the Swindon Amateur Light Operatic Society to add authenticity to its production of Brigadoon. The musical is about a Scottish village which emerges from the mist only once every century. There were to be 13 performances at the Wyvern Theatre that October, and some cast members were already growing beards in anticipation.

THE WORLD

1453: The Hundred Years War ended when the French defeated the English at Castillon.

1717: George I, Hanoverian King of England, held a public concert on the Thames for Handel to conduct his hour-long Water Music. The King enjoyed it so much he asked for two complete encores.

1841: The first issue of the magazine Punch was published in London.

1889: Erle Stanley Gardner, US author and lawyer who created Perry Mason, was born.

1917: The British Royal Family adopted the name House of Windsor in place of House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1945: The Potsdam Conference began with world leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill planning for the future peace at the end of the Second World War.

1955: Walt Disney's Disneyland was opened in California.

1959: Billie Holiday, jazz singer was arrested on her death bed in hospital for possession of narcotics. She died later that day.

1969: Oh Calcutta!, the sex revue devised by theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, opened in New York. Critic Clive Barnes said the show gave pornography a dirty name.

1975: An international space link-up between US astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts took place when they crossed over from their docked spacecraft and shook hands 140 miles above Britain's south coast.

2017: Scientists had discovered two genes linked to a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's, which could help in the hunt to find a cure for the disease, it was revealed.

BIRTHDAYS

Tim Brooke-Taylor, comic actor, 78; Peter Sissons, newscaster, 76; Alun Armstrong, actor, 72; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, 71; Wayne Sleep, dancer, 70; David Hasselhoff, actor and singer, 66; Darren Day, actor, singer and television presenter, 50; Jaap Stam, retired footballer, 45; Konnie Huq, TV presenter, 43.