this is the week that was
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Your support makes all the difference.3 July:
1928: the first commercially available television set goes on sale in the US for $75.
1954: the end of post-war rationing in Britain.
4 July:
1776: King George III writes in his diary: "Nothing of importance happened today," overlooking the American Revolution.
1826: Death of two American presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
1829: London's first horse-drawn buses come into service.
1848: On American Independence Day, the Communist Manifesto is published.
1984: Dog licences abolished in the UK.
5 July:
1817: The first gold sovereigns are issued in Britain.
1841: Mr Thomas Cook organises the first excursion, by rail from Leicester to Loughborough, for members of the temperance movement.
1865: Britain introduces the world's first speed limits: 2mph in towns, 4mph in the country. There are two cars in Britain at the time.
1948: Jean Murray, of Ashton-in-Makerfield, near Wigan, becomes the first baby born on the National Health.
6 July:
1806: Pope Pius VII is arrested for excommunicating Napoleon.
1952: The last tram runs in London.
1957: John Lennon, 17, first meets Paul McCartney, 15.
1979: Elizabeth Ryan, winner of 19 Wimbledon titles, dies on the day Billie-Jean King beats her record.
7 July:
1906: The first hot-air balloon race in the UK.
1942: The Vatican allows women without stockings to enter St Peter's in Rome.
1982: The Queen is disturbed in her bedchamber by intruder Michael Fagan.
8 July:
1905: May Sutton becomes the first foreigner to win a Wimbledon title.
1932: Harold Davidson, the rector of Stiffkey, is found guilty of disreputable association with women, after allegations that he made improper advances to a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. He died in 1937 after being mauled by a lion in Skegness.
9 July:
1887: Paper napkins are introduced at the annual dinner of John Dickenson in Hastings.
1969: An Irish zoo celebrates the first rhino born in captivity.
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