SWINDON

1952: The potential perils of breaking the sound barrier were mentioned by Mr LG Burnard of South Marston’s Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd engineering plant during a talk to Swindon Rotary Club. Mr Burnard had recently attended the British Aircraft Constructors’ Show at Farnborough, and reported hearing distinct bangs and feeling waves of pressure as he observed supersonic aircraft from the ground. He conceded that not enough was known of possible issues, although he didn’t believe there was any risk of harm.

1952: Swindon magistrates dismissed a summons against a young learner motorcyclist. He had been accused of riding his machine in Wood Street without L plates, but insisted that the plates he displayed had merely slipped. The front one, he said, was behind the lamp, while the rear had moved to the top of the mudguard.

1962: Swindon College’s head of graphic design, Kenneth Lindley, was to have a book, Town Time and People, published the following month. Described by the Adver as an unusual volume, it urged readers to find out as much as they could about the layout, fields, farms, architecture and industry of the places where they lived, so that a record of English life through the centuries might be preserved.

1962: A hall full of Swindon youngsters fell under the spell of pop singer Joe Brown at the Top of the Pop show held in the ballroom of department store McIlroys. The 21-year-old star barely made it to the show in time to perform, as he had been delayed by a TV appearance in London earlier in the evening.

1972: The Dowager Countess of Radnor visited Swindon to give the inaugural lecture at the Swindon Technocentre’s conservation exhibition. She appeared at the science venue in her role as president of the Wiltshire Trust for Nature Conservation, and described Swindon as an exciting new town in the midst of ancient countryside.

1972: Striking Swindon building workers attempted to persuade others on sites across the town to join their protest about pay and conditions, but with little success. A 40-strong team of flying pickets went from site to site and urged workers to down tools, but only a few agreed to do so. Other flying pickets were to be brought in from Bristol to boost numbers.

THE WORLD

1826: John Wisden, original compiler of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack of cricket statistics, price one shilling (5p), was born in Brighton. He had a sports goods shop in Leicester Square, London.

1847: Jesse James, American outlaw, was born near Kansas City. With his elder brother Frank, he led the first gang to carry out train robberies.

1963: Christine Keeler, one of the girls at the centre of the Profumo scandal, was arrested and charged with perjury.

1972: Palestinian terrorists, members of the Black September Group, killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.

1980: The 10-mile St Gotthard road tunnel in Switzerland, the longest in the world, was opened.

1982: Douglas Bader, famed pilot with false legs and leader of “the few” - the several hundred RAF pilots who defeated the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain - died.

1987: No Sex Please, We’re British closed after 6,671 performances over 16 years - the longest running theatre comedy in the world.

1991: The USSR was no more as the Congress of People’s Deputies in Moscow scrapped the old power structures built up over 70 years and gave the Soviet republics their independence.

2017: A new poll revealed that almost seven out of 10 people believed nurses were underpaid.

BIRTHDAYS

Johnny Briggs, actor, 83; Dick Clement, scriptwriter, 81; George Lazenby, actor, 79; Raquel Welch, actress, 78; Werner Herzog, film director, 76; Al Stewart, singer/songwriter, 73; Michael Keaton, actor, 67; Mark Ramprakash, cricketer, 49; Adam Hollioake, cricketer, 47.