SWINDON...

1947: For two and a half hours the game little troupers from the Pinehurst Primary School gave a show of their talents to a packed hall of parents and visitors. The entertainment involved folk dancing, two short plays, songs, maypole dancing and PT display.

1957: The Rev and Mrs R C Maycock of Upper Stratton were both elected to high posts in the Wiltshire and East Somerset Baptist Church Association at the annual assembly. Mr Maycock became vice-president of the association and his wife is the women’s president.

1977: Little Ingrid Laysell, who lived at Carlisle Avenue, Swindon, looked set to become rich and famous over the following weeks. The three-year-old had entered the Miss Pears 1977, sponsored by Pears Soap, which had a top prize of a £1,000 cheque and a portrait painted and hung in the Pears Gallery.

2013: The UK Minister for Business visited one of the town’s biggest firms to open its new HQ and distribution centre. Michael Fallon spent an afternoon in Swindon and toured Oak Furniture Land, the UK’s largest retailer of solid hardwood furniture.

THE WORLD...

1533: Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn, wife number two. The result was a break with the church in Rome.

1706: Marlborough defeated the French at the Battle of Ramilles in Belgium.

1873: The North West Mounted Police were established in Canada – the name was changed to The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

1887: The French crown jewels went on sale and raised six million francs.

1931: Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire opened.

1960: The Israelis announced the capture of war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

BORN...

1795: Sir Charles Barry, architect, was born in Westminster. With assistant Augustus Pugin, he designed the new Houses of Parliament. (d. 1860).

1928: Nigel Davenport, actor.

1933: Joan Collins, actress.

1938: Johnny Ball, presenter

1951: Anatoly Karpov, chess champion

1954: Marvin Hagler, former boxer.

1958: Drew Carey, actor.

1966: Graeme Hick, cricketer, pictured.

1967: Phil Selway, rock drummer (Radiohead).

1972: Rubens Barrichello, F1 driver.

1974: Jewel, singer.

DIED...

1125: Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081).

1701: William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645), hanged at Execution Dock in London for piracy.

1754: John Wood, the Elder, English architect, designed The Circus and Queen Square (b. 1704).

1934: Bank robbers Clyde Barrow (b. 1909) and Bonnie Parker (b. 1910) shot dead in an ambush by Texas Rangers.

1945: Heinrich Himmler German commander and politician (b. 1900).