SWINDON

1952: Four Swindon youths returned home following a holiday with a difference. They were all keen engine spotters and they spent their time either on stations, in engine sheds or travelling on trains. They had permits to visit 28 sheds and they used 21 of them. Altogether the Swindon four spotted 2,780 engines.

1952: Coun E T A Free, the Mayor of Marlborough, took the salute at Marlborough High Street when the 1st Battalion Gloucester Regiment, of Korean fame, beat The Retreat, after giving a programme of music. The band gave a display before a large crowd which included the Carnival Queen Miss J Noble.

1962: For the second time in a week Swindon Fire Brigade carried 1,200 gallons of water to an Aldbourne Farm which had been hit by drought. Mr G Wentworth, owner of the farm at Ewing Hill, said there was no piped water on the farm. They would collect water in a 20,000 gallon rainwater storage tank. When the water dropped to 1,000 gallons he called the brigade for help. He had a herd of 20 cows and used 200 gallons of water a day.

1962: A high standard of accuracy made choosing the three people to represent Swindon in the Associated Television’s Pencil and Paper programme very difficult, but the three winners were: Mr J Woodward of Lansdown Road, Mr D Gardner of Edgware Road and Mrs M A Timbrell of The Lawns. They would represent Swindon against a panel from Blackpool

1972: After a five day rush to get the Shelter shop ready for business, the Mayor of Swindon, Coun Peter Furkins, officially opened the charity store. Shelter only heard five days beforehand that they could go ahead and use the new premises in Swindon’s Commercial Road. A small workforce toiled day and night to fit the shop out.

1972: Swindon Town ‘s newest centre forward Ray Treacy joined colleagues in a skittles match against members of the North Swindon Workingmen’s Club, Cheney Manor Road, Swindon. The other Town players were Rod Thomas, Joe Butcher, and Steve Peplow.

THE WORLD

1265: The Battle of Evesham took place, in which Simon de Montfort was defeated and killed by Royalist forces, led by the future King Edward I.

1792: Percy Bysshe Shelley, romantic poet, was born near Horsham, Sussex. After his death from drowning in Italy at 29, his wife kept his heart in her desk until she died.

1875: Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer most famous for his fairy stories, died.

1914: Great Britain declared war on Germany for violating the Treaty of London - and the First World War began. President Wilson proclaimed the USA neutral.

1917: Captain Noel Chavasse, of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the second of only three men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice, died from his war wounds.

1978: Jeremy Thorpe, a former leader of the Liberal Party, was charged with conspiracy to murder Norman Scott. He was later cleared.

1991: Greek cruise ship the MTS Oceanos sank off the coast of South Africa’s Wild Coast. All 571 passengers and crew members were saved.

2006: 17 members of Action Against Hunger / ACF-USA were executed while carrying out humanitarian programs in Muthur, Sri Lanka.

2007: NASA’s Phoenix Spaceship was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to find out whether Mars could have once supported life.

2011: Mark Duggan, 29, was shot by police attempting to arrest him in Tottenham, London.

BIRTHDAYS

Jack Cunningham, Labour politician, 79; Martin Jarvis, actor, 77; Georgina Hale, actress, 75; Billy Bob Thornton, actor, 63; Ian Broudie, musician/producer (Lightning Seeds), 60; Mary Decker, former track athlete, 60; Bernard Rose, director, 58; Barack Obama, former president of the United States, 60; Lee Mack, comedian, 50; Greta Gerwig, actress/director, 35.