swindon

1952: Swindon postman Mr WJ Brown, whose hobby for the past 23 years had been organising outings, received a record number of bookings for his fourth excursion to Blackpool and its illuminations. he reported that 138 people would be going, and that the trips had become so popular that some had booked as early as February in order to be sure of a place.

1962: Rehearsals of Swindon British Railways Staff Association Silver band were dominated by the dramatic music of Tchaikovsky. The choice was down to the fact that the band planned to play several pieces by the composer at the National Brass Band Championships in London the following month, and wanted to make sure it was note perfect.

1972: The 600-seat Wyvern Theatre was too small, according to a letter from Grahame Hill, president of Swindon Amateur Light Operatic Society, to the Adver. He said he had appealed for a 1,000-seat theatre during the planning stages, as a 600-seat venue could not support opera’s orchestra fees and other expenses. A council spokesman said the local population was not large enough to support a 1,000-seat theatre.

the world

1580: Sir Francis Drake arrived back in Plymouth aboard the Golden Hind - originally the Pelican - after 33 months, to make him the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world.

1687: The Parthenon in Athens was severely damaged when a mortar bomb, fired by the Venetian army, set off its gunpowder supplies.

1820: American frontiersman Daniel Boone died.

1887: The first gramophone, invented by Emile Berliner, a German immigrant living in Washington DC, was patented.

1934: The British liner Queen Mary was launched at John Brown’s Yard in Clydebank, Scotland.

1937: ‘Empress of the Blues’ Bessie Smith died in a car crash in Mississippi, amid rumours that she bled to death while a white person had been given preferential treatment.

1957: West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein’s musical based on Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet, opened in Broadway’s Winter Garden, New York.

1977: Sir Freddie Laker’s first Skytrain service began between Gatwick and New York.

1988: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson flew home from the Seoul Olympics in disgrace, stripped of his 100m gold medal after failing a drugs test.

birthdays

Ricky Tomlinson, actor, 79; Ian Chappell, former cricketer, 75; Anne Robinson, TV presenter, 74; Bryan Ferry, singer, 73; Olivia Newton-John, singer, 70; Linda Hamilton, actress, 62; Tracey Thorn, singer, 56.