SWINDON

1952: Swindon Sketch Club has held its first London exhibition at the Foyle’s Gallery. The opening ceremony was performed by Col GE Bates who said the work was by the enthusiastic club members from all walks of life. The club was started five years ago and had already held six outdoor exhibitions in Swindon under the lime trees in Regent Circus, near the Town Hall. Their exhibitions attracted thousands of people from Swindon and the surrounding area.

1952: Laurie Lammin of Perrys Lane, Wroughton, a National Serviceman with The Wiltshire Regiment, was helping to restore the flood-devastated beauty spot of Lynmouth in Devon. He was working 12-hour shifts a day with his regiment to cleat the thoroughfares following the disaster.

1962: Thirty-five members of the Walcot and Parks British Legion Veterans Club set off for Southsea equipped with an accordion, tambourines and paper hats. The trip was the first to be organised by the month-old veterans club and was arranged by the secretary Mrs Grace Crust. The party spent the day by the sea before returning to Park North.

1962: A Swindon soldier, Lt Col Les Wright, 23, of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers made a brief tour of Aden with his cine-camera. He was homeward bound with the regiment from Mombasa after two and a half years in East Africa. His parents, Mr and Mrs F Wright lived at Raleigh Avenue, Walcot.

1972: Swindon artist Ann Evans, from Manchester Road, who painted a self portrait, has had it accepted for display at a London art exhibition. Mrs Evans, mother of five, grandmother of six, also recently achieved a GCE A-level pass in art. The London exhibition had 206 paintings on display, including Mrs Evans’s, at the Festival Hall.

1972: The sickening score after the Swindon Town versus Bristol City football derby included 18 youths arrested and charged, three people hurt and a trail of havoc. It was one of the most violent Saturday afternoons, and thousands of fans had been kept away for for fear of the violence. Last year 20,000 attended the Swindon v Bristol derby game and this time it was only 15,000.

THE WORLD

1782: The 100-ton battleship HMS Royal George sank off Spithead with the loss of more than 900 lives.

1831: Michael Faraday demonstrated the production of electricity from magnetism with the first transformer.

1842: The Treaty of Nanking was signed, ending the Opium War (1839-42) between China and Britain, and ceding Hong Kong to Britain.

1882: England cricketers lost to Australia in England for the first time, and from an epitaph that appeared in the Sporting Times the word “Ashes” came into being.

1885: The first motorcycle was patented by Gottlieb Daimler in Germany.

1895: The Rugby League was formed at a meeting in the George Hotel in Huddersfield, with 21 representatives of the leading Lancashire and Yorkshire Rugby Union clubs - the present title of “Rugby League” was adopted in 1922.

1897: “Chop-suey” (meaning ‘various things’), the most famous Chinese dish, was devised by a New York chef to appeal to Chinese and American tastes.

1930: The Rev William Spooner, who gave the world spoonerisms, died.

1966: The Beatles gave their last live concert performance in Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

2005: Michael Schumacher won his 5th consecutive Formula One Drivers Championship.

2012: The London 2012 Paralympic Games started with a spectacular opening ceremony.

2017: Surviving members of the Brazilian football team that was devastated by a plane crash in the mountains of Colombia the previous year met with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

BIRTHDAYS

Elliott Gould, actor, 80; Joel Schumacher, film director, 79; Chris Copping, musician, 73; Lenny Henry, actor/comedian, 60; Joe Swail, snooker player, 49; Lea Michele, actress/singer, 32, Liam Payne, singer, 25.