swindon

1952: The National Youth Brass Band, conducted by Mr Harry Mortimer, played in the Central Hall, Swindon. The band, whose president was Sir Malcolm Sargent, was made up of boys aged 10 to 19 years from all over, including Ken Smith, the current champion of Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, who was guest artist.

1952: Nine Highworth Silver Threads, two British Legion members and three old age pensioners accepted invitations by the Saracen’s Head Social Club, Highworth, to accompany the club on its annual outing to Brighton and Lewis Races.

1962: The order had been placed from Vickers Armstrong, at South Marston, for six VC 10s, the 500 mile-an-hour airliner capable of carrying up to 150 passengers. Also a third nuclear submarine from the Swindon plant. But the orders came at the same time as the Ministry of Defence announced the scrapping of the Blue Water missile, with a nuclear warhead.

1962: A protest march by Park North children, against the ban on playing at a nearby public space, caused a stir way outside Swindon when the English National took up the story. Berlin Morgenpost, one of Germany’s leading daily papers, also featured the protest.

1972: The Evening Advertiser Baby of the Year was chosen at the final of the competition at the Goddard Arms Hotel. The winner was Sharon Louise Dean, 10 months, from Kennett Avenue, Swindon. Sharon’s mother, Mrs Susan Dean, received the silver Challenge Cup on the night, plus a replica to keep and a cheque for £20.

1972: A meeting in York agreed that national rail union leaders would visit Swindon for talks on the threatened redundancies at the railway works shops. The meeting of the railway committee of the giant Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union heard a plea for joint union executive representatives to visit Swindon.

the world

1675: Greenwich Observatory was established by King Charles II, who laid the foundation stone.

1787: Mozart completed his famous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. On the same day in 1788, he finished his Jupiter Symphony.

1842: The Mines Act was passed by the British Parliament, forbidding women and children to work underground.

1889: The screw bottle top was patented by Dan Rylands of Hope Glass Works, Barnsley.

1895: The first London Promenade Concert took place, founded by Henry Wood and Robert Newman, and played by an orchestra of 80 in the Queen’s Hall.

1897: The Royal Automobile Club was founded, under the name of The Automobile Club of Great Britain.

1949: “Acid bath” murderer John Haigh, who confessed to nine killings, was executed at Wandsworth Prison.

1954: Sir Gordon Richards, champion English jockey, retired after 4,869 wins.

1961: Britain first applied for membership of the EEC.

1990: The Magellan space probe reached Venus.

2003: The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5C (101.3F) in Kent.

2010: Archaeologists announced that they had discovered Britain’s earliest

house at Star Carr, near Scarborough, believed to date back to 8,500 years BC.

BIRTHDAYS

Ian Anderson, rock singer (Jethro Tull), 71; Patti Austin, singer and actress, 68; Rosanna Arquette, actress, 59; Antonio Banderas, actor, 58; Charlie Dimmock, gardening expert, 52; Roy Keane, football manager, 47; Lawrence Dallaglio, former rugby captain, 46.