SWINDON...

1947: Visitors enjoyed broad knock-about comedy, including Radio’s Rustic Riots, at the Empire Theatre. On the bill were Harry Lester and The Hayseeds, whose show was described as “for anyone willing to go crazy for a couple of hours”.

1957: Nearly 800 people, most of them members of the region’s youth organisations in the town, attended the 11th annual youth service, sponsored by Swindon Youth Committee held at the Central Hall.

1977: Triumph sewing machines gave Swindon another shot in the arm by announcing it would start recruiting 200 more machinists from August.

2013: Paul Paginton admitted Swindon’s five-wicket victory over Marlborough was the perfect way for the club to put the troubles of the previous season behind them. The former captain top-scored for the County Ground side with 72 from 105 balls to guide them to victory in their first game in the Wiltshire Division, having suffered relegation from Glos/Wilts at the end of 2012.

THE WORLD...

1937: Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.

1954: Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.

1960: More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.

1983: The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after examination by experts.

1994: Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.

1994: Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones files a lawsuit against United States President Bill Clinton, alleging that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.

2001: During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.

2013: Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio, while a 52-year-old man, Ariel Castro, is taken into custody.

BORN...

1895: Rudolph Valentino, Italian-American actor (d. 1926)

1899: Billy Cotton, English bandleader (d. 1969)

1904: Catherine Lacey, English actress (d. 1979)

1913: Stewart Granger, English-American actor (d. 1993)

1915: Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1985)

1953: Tony Blair, former Prime Minister

1961: George Clooney, actor, director, producer and screenwriter

DIED...

1882: Lord Frederick Cavendish, English-Irish politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1836)

1910: Edward VII 1992: Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (b. 1901)

1993: Ann Todd, actress and producer (b. 1909)