SWINDON

1952: A thousand butterflies and moths from tropical countries were to be exhibited at Swindon department store McIlroy’s by Mr JR Bennett of Maidenhead. The department store regularly hosted all manner of exhibitions. Mr Bennett told the Adver he had been a professional musician in a ship’s orchestra before World War Two, and that the international travel had given him plenty of opportunities to indulge in his butterfly-collecting hobby.

1962: Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, the South Marston engineering firm, took part in a food technology fair at the Olympia exhibition centre in London. The company was demonstrating its freeze-drying equipment, which was intended to be used by food companies throughout the world. Members of the public were invited not only to examine the technology but to sample some reconstituted freeze-dried food. Similar techniques were used to prepare food for use by astronauts.

1972: Swindon artist Ann Evans had a self-portrait accepted for display at an exhibition in London. Mrs Evans, who had five children and six grandchildren, had returned to art after an absence of many years, and had recently obtained an A-Level in the subject. She said she was delighted that her work had been recognised.

THE WORLD

1207: Liverpool was created a borough by King John.

1749: Johann von Goethe, poet, playwright and scientist, was born in Frankfurt. His masterpiece was Faust, and in 1867, 35 years after his death, the first part of that work became the first paperback book to go on sale in the world.

1849: Venice was taken by the Austrians after a siege.

1850: The Channel telegraph cable was finally laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez.

1850: Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It contains The Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes The Bride.

1895: RL Thomas, secretary and treasurer of Kinestoscope Co of New Jersey, USA, became the first film actor, playing the part of the Queen in The Execution Of Mary Queen Of Scots. A dummy was also used for the first time - for the

beheading.

1933: The BBC was used for the first time by the police hunting a wanted man. An appeal was broadcast for information on murder suspect Stanley Hobday.

1963: Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King made his famous “I have a dream...” speech to a rally of 200,000 people in Washington.

1988: Thirty-three people died when three Italian air force jets collided during an aerobatics display at Ramstein in Western Germany.

2012: The widow of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson said she hoped his campaign for a change in the law on assisted dying would continue in his memory.

BIRTHDAYS

Windsor Davies, actor, 88; David Soul, singer/actor, 74; Hugh Cornwell, rock singer (The Stranglers), 69; Emma Samms, actress, 58; Shania Twain, singer, 53; Jason Priestley, actor, 49; Jack Black, actor, 49; LeAnn Rimes, singer, 36; Lilli Schwarzkopf, heptathlete, 35; Florence Welch, singer, 32; Armie Hammer, actor, 32.