this is the week that was
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Your support makes all the difference.31 July:
1910: Dr Crippen is arrested at sea, the first arrest by radio.
1965: Cigarette adverts are banned on British television.
1971: David Scott and Jim Irwin drive on despite a jammed front wheel on their Lunar Roving Vehicle (Moon Buggy).
1 August:
1793: France introduces the kilogram, the first metric unit.
1833: Parliament allocates pounds 20m compensation for owners of slaves freed on British territory.
1944: Germany introduces post codes.
1969: Britain abolishes the old halfpenny.
2 August:
1100: Death of William Rufus, shot by an arrow, probably fired by his brother Henry I.
1589: Death of Henry II, stabbed by a mad monk.
1876: Death of Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok, shot in the back by Jack McCall.
1987: Luis Reina becomes the first Spanish matador to enter a bullring with an advertising logo on his suit.
1990: Iraq occupies Kuwait.
3 August:
1921: A catalpa grove in Ohio infested with leaf caterpillars becomes the first crop to be sprayed from the air.
1925: An Indiana motorist who killed a pedestrian is ordered by a court to spend an hour alone with the body.
1926: England's first traffic lights are set up at Piccadilly Circus.
4 August:
1966: John Lennon claims the Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ. Beatles' records are promptly banned in South Africa and several American states.
5 August:
1891: The first American Express travellers cheques are cashed.
1914: The first electric traffic lights come into operation in Cleveland, Ohio.
1916: American chewing gum goes on sale in France.
1970: Penalty kicks are first used as a tie-breaker in a football match in England.
1986: Princess Anne wins her first horse-race at Redcar.
6 August:
1623: Death of Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway.
1637: Death of Shakespeare's contemporary, Ben Jonson.
1859: Beecham's Powders carry the first advertising slogan: "worth a guinea a box".
189 0: First use of the electric chair, to execute William Kemmler in Auburn prison, New York.
1926: Gertrude Ederle is the first woman to swim the channel.
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