SWINDON...

1947: As the result of generosity of the people of Wootton Bassett and the fact the target figure of £600 was reached in a year, the town’s Welcome Home Committee was able to give the service personnel a reception in the Memorial Institute.

1955: Final plans for the £2m hospital which was to be built in Swindon, was set to include some ideas employed at the US Air Force Hospital, Burderop Park.

1975: Swindon careers officers were becoming concerned over the increasingly difficult task of finding job opportunities for the school leavers, with unemployment figures expected to rise sharply.

2013: Early deaths from cancer across the town were higher than the national average but overall premature mortality rates in the town were much lower, new figures suggested.

THE WORLD...

1184 BC: Trojan War: Troy was sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.

323 BC: Alexander the Great diedin the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon 1509: Henry VIII of England married Catherine of Aragon.

1770: British explorer Captain James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

1907: George Dennett, aided by Gilbert Jessop, dismissedNorthamptonshire for 12 runs, the lowest total ever in first-class cricket.

1963: Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burned himself with petrol in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.

1987: Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant were elected as the first black Parliamentarians in Great Britain.

2001: Timothy McVeigh was executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

BORN...

1456: Anne Neville, English wife of Richard III of England (d. 1485).

1776: John Constable, English painter (d. 1837).

1864: Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949).

1910: Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997).

1920: Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984).

1933: Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter.

1947: Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (King Crimson and Supertramp).

DIED...

1488: James III of Scotland (b. 1451).

1879: William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840).

1937: R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895).

1979: John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907).

1998: Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906).

1999: DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1920).

2013: Henry Cecil, Scottish-English horse trainer (b. 1943).