Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaUtilCD1.iso/Database/orgplus.dms/in.adf/Archive/Supps2.lha/Dates of Interest/Firsts

Text File | 1995-10-31 | 30.6 KB | 978 lines

JANUARY

January 1
First telegraph service, opened by Samuel Morse, Washington DC (1845).
First oil discovered in Texas, by the Spindletop drilling rig, at Beaumont (1901).

January 2
First photograph of the moon, by Louis Daguerre (1839).
First municipal crematorium, Hull, England (1901).

January 4
First appendicitis operation performed (1885).

January 5
First demonstration of X-rays by Röntgen, the German physicist (1896).
First demonstration of FM radio by Major Edwin H Armstrong (1940).

January 6
First public demonstration of the electric telegraph, by its inventor Samuel Morse (1838).
First opera broadcast in Britain, Mozart's 'Magic Flute' (1923).

January 7
First aerial crossing of the English Channel, by hot-air (1785).
First London to New York telephone service (1927).

January 9
First income tax, introduced by British Prime Minister Pitt the Younger (1799).
First flight of Concorde, from Bristol, England (1969).

January 10
First postage system idea, expressed by Rowland Hill, England (1840).
First subterranean transport system opened, The Underground, Paddington, London (1863).

January 11
First state lottery drawn, at the west door of St Paul's Cathedral (1569).
First disco, 'Whisky-a-go-go', opened in Los Angeles, USA (1963).

January 12
First transatlantic flight by a Boeing 747 airliner (1970).

January 13
First women astronauts selected by NASA, 15 years after a Russian woman orbited Earth (1978).

January 15
First telephone directory, with 255 numbers, published by the London Telephone Company (1880).

January 16
First meeting of the Council of the League of Nations, Paris (1920).

January 17
First ship to cross the Antarctic Circle, Captain Cook's Resolution (1773).

January 18
First English tragedy, 'Gordobuc', by Sackville and Norton, first performed (1561).
First landing of an aircraft on a ship's deck piloted by Eugene Ely, San Francisco (1911).

January 20
First English parliament met, in Westminster Hall, under King Henry III (1265).
First basketball gamed, Massachusetts, USA (1892).

January 21
First issue of The 'Daily News', the newspaper edited by Charles Dickens, published (1846).

January 22
First broadcast of a football match took place at Highbury, London (1927).

January 23
First woman doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell, graduated from New York medical school (1849).
First Labour Government formed under Ramsay McDonald (1924).

January 24
First Conscription Bill passed by the House of Commons (1916).
First beer cans sold, by the Kreuger Brewing Company, Virginia, USA (1935).

January 25
First Winter Olympic Games, Chamonix, France (1924).

January 27
First patent for the electric light by its inventor Thomas Edison (1879).
First public demonstration of television, Frith Street, London (1926).

January 28
First gas street lighting, Pall Mall, London (1807).
First country to legalise abortion, Iceland (1935).

January 29
First successful petrol-driven motor car patented by Karl Benz (1886).

January 30
First purpose-built lifeboat launched, England (1790).
First regular concert given by the Hallé Orchestra (1858).

January 31
First US satellite, Explorer I, discovered the Van Allen radiation belts (1958).

FEBRUARY

February 1
First issue of the Oxford English Dictionary (1884).
First London Times crossword puzzle (1930).

February 2
First parliament assembled of Great Britain and Ireland (1801).
First men's flushing toilets opened in Britain (1852).

February 3
First meeting of the League of Nations held in Paris (1919).
First soft landing on the Moon, by the Soviet Luna 9 (1966).

February 4
First film completed in Hollywood, titled 'In Old California', directed by D W Griffith (1910).

February 7
First publication of the Pall Mall Gazette (1865).

February 8
First showing of the film 'Birth of a Nation' by D W Griffiths (1915).
First flight of the Boeing 747 'Jumbo Jet', USA (1969).

February 10
First postage stamp system designed and submitted to Parliament, by Rowland Hill, England (1838).
First gold disk presented to Glenn Miller for 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' (1942).

February 11
First weekly weather report published by the Meteorological Office, London (1878).

February 12
First performance of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue', New York (1924).

February 14
First patient accepted at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, London (1852).
First regular broadcasting transmissions in England made by Marconi (1922).

February 15
First cargo of frozen meat left New Zealand for Britain (1882).

February 16
First British cheque written (1659).

February 18
First Italian parliament met, and proclaimed Victor Emmanuel as king (1861).

February 19
Women's Institute founded by Mrs Hoodless, Canada (1897).

February 21
First steam engine to run on rails, demonstrated by Richard Trevithick, England (1804).

February 22
First airmail service, Henri Pequet carried 6,500 letters from Allahabad to Naini Junction (1911).
First effective drug against tuberculosis discovered by Dr Selman Abraham Waksman, USA (1943).

February 24
First commercial nylon product produced in the USA (1938).

February 25
First paper currency, 'greenbacks', issued in the USA by Abraham Lincoln (1862).

February 26
First one-pound note issued by the Bank of England (1797).
First demonstration of radar by Sir Robert Watson-Watt, England (1935).

February 27
First Russian Embassy in London, England (1558).

February 28
First parachute jump, Missouri, USA (1912).

February 29
First pulsar discovered, announced by Dr Jocelyn Bell (1967).

MARCH

March 1
First edition of 'The Spectator' published (1711).

March 2
First ballet, 'The Loves of Mars and Venus', performed at the Theatre Royal, London (1717).

March 3
First performance of Bizet's opera 'Carmen' at the Opéra Comique, Paris (1875).

March 4
First illustrated daily paper, the New York 'Daily Graphic', published (1873).

March 6
First performance of Verdi's opera 'La Traviata', Venice (1853).

March 7
First telephone patented, by its US inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1876).
First Isle of Man TT motorcycle race (1907).

March 8
First pilot's licences issued, to Englishman J T C Moore Brabazon and Frenchwoman Elise Deroche
(1910).

March 10
First British Census began (1801).

March 11
First daily paper, The Daily Courant, England (1702).

March 12
First mainline electric train in Britain, Liverpool to Southport, England (1904).

March 13
First public striptease performed, Paris (1894).

March 14
First underwater telephone cable, laid by the submarine Monarch (1891).

March 15
First escalator, patented by US inventor Jesse Reno (1892).

March 16
First demonstration of the practicality of rockets by Dr Robert Goddard (1926).

March 17
First radio distress call sent, by a merchant ship aground on the Goodwin Sands, England (1899).

March 18
First public bus service, Paris (1662).
First walk in space, Soviet astronaut Alexei Leonov (1965).

March 19
First recorded solar eclipse, Babylon (721BC).

March 21
First production of the musical show 'Half a Sixpence', London (1963).

March 22
First demonstration of celluloid film by Auguste and Louis Lumière, Paris (1895).

March 23
First passenger elevator at the Haughtwout Company store, New York (1857).

March 24
First introduction of the national load into Britain (1942).

March 25
First passenger rail service (horse-drawn), between Swansea and the Mumbles, Wales (1807).

March 26
First rowing regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England (1839).

March 27
First successful blood transfusion, Brussels (1914).

March 28
First seaplane flew, Marseilles, France (1910).

March 29
First Coca Cola went on sale, USA (1886).
First use of the telegraph (1598).

March 30
First ambassador to Great Britain arrived at his post (1893).

March 31
First instalment of Charles Dickens' 'Pickwick Papers' appeared as a monthly number (1836).

APRIL

April 1
First franking system for postal payment, designed by Englishman William Dockwra (1680).
First weather satellite, Tiros I, launched by USA (1960).

April 3
First British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole (1721).

April 4
First 'cat's-eye', or reflective studs, appeared on the roads of Bradford, England (1934).

April 5
First sighting of the Spanish Armada invasion force approaching England (1588).

April 6
First modern Olympic Games, Athens (1896).
First commercial communications satellite, US launched 'Early Bird' (1965).

April 7
First matches sold in Stockton, England by their inventor John Walker (1827).

April 9
First closed-top double-decker bus was introduced, England (1909).

April 10
First bananas on sale in London (1633).
First British settlers landed at Algoa Bay, South Africa (1820).

April 11
First pillar post boxes erected, painted green, London (1855).

April 12
First adoption of the Union Jack as the official flag of England (1606).
First person to orbit the Earth, Yuri Gagarin, aboard spacecraft USSR Vostok 1 (1961).

April 14
First cordless telephone on sale in Britain (1983).

April 15
First public demonstration of a moving-picture machine, by its US inventor, Thomas Edison (1891).
First Impressionist Exhibition opened at Nadar's Photographic Studio, Paris (1874).

April 16
First women to fly across the English Channel, American Harriet Quimby (1912).

April 18
First launderette, called a 'washeteria', Fort Worth, USA (1934).

April 19
First orbital space station, USSR Salyut 1, named after the Russian word meaning 'salute' (1971).

April 22
First steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the British ship (1838).
First people to row across the Pacific Ocean arrived in Australia (1972).

April 24
First person killed in space research, V Komarov, when USSR Soyuz 1 crashed on Earth (1967).

April 25
First use of the Guillotine, Paris (1792).

April 28
First European to arrive in Botany Bay, Australia, the English explorer James Cook (1770)
League of Nations founded (1919).

April 30
First president of the USA, George Washington (1789).

MAY

May 2
First published 'Authorised Version' of the Bible, King James Version (1611).
First liver transplant in Cambridge Hospital, England (1968).

May 3
First duel fought from hot-air balloons, Paris (1808).

May 4
Britain's first women Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, came to power (1979).
First person to have a sex change operation (1952)

May 5
First American in space, Alan B Shepherd (1961).

May 6
First stamps issued, the Penny Black and Twopenny Blues, England (1840).
First under 4 minute mile (3:59.4 ) run by Roger Banister, Oxford (1954).

May 7
First Isle of Man TT motorcycle race (1907).

May 8
First Coca-Cola produced, by Dr J Pemberton, Atlanta, USA (1886).

May 9
First laundrette opened in Britain (1949).

May 12
First edition of 'John Bull' magazine, published by Horatio Bottomley (1906).
First muscle transplant, England (1988).

May 13
First permanent English settlement founded at Jamestown, USA (1607).

May 14
First space station launched, NASA's 'Skylab 1' (1973).
First telecommunication satellite retrieved from space, 'Intelsat 6' worth $150,000,000 (1992).

May 15
First machine gun, patented by James Puckle (1718).
First quiz show broadcast on TV, Canada (1935).

May 16
First stone at Westminster Abbey laid, by King Henry II, London (1220).
First Academy Awards presented at Hollywood (1929).

May 17
First 4 stroke internal combustion engine patented by Nikolaus August Otto (1876).
First package holiday, by Thomas Cook, a 6 day tour departing London Bridge to Paris (1861).

May 18
First Briton is space, Helen Sharmon aboard Soviet 'Soyuz TM-12' rocket (1991).
First woman to fly faster that speed of sound, American Jacqueline Cochrane (1953).

May 20
First Chelsea Flower Show, London (1913).

May 21
First solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, by US pilot Charles Lindbergh (1926).

May 24
First message transmitted by electric telegraph, 'What hath God wrought', by Samuel Morse (1844).

May 26
First 24 hour Le Mans race, won by French drivers Lagache and Leonard (1923).
First Volkswagen produced, Germany (1938).

May 27
First country to elect a government by proportional representation, Belgium (1900).

May 28
First public library opened, Salford, England (1942).
First 'Goon Show' broadcast (1951).

May 29
First Bank Holiday in Britain (1879).
First human catapult contest, won by John Miles flew 30m, Nottingham, England (1983).

JUNE

June 1
First public telephone box, New Haven, USA (1880).
First compulsory car driving test in Britain (1935).

June 3
First bikini, designed by Louis Réard, modelled at a Paris fashion show (1946).

June 7
First London production of the musical show 'Carousel' (1950).

June 9
First appearance of cartoon character Donald Duck (1934).

June 10
First ball point pen patented (1943).
First Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, Oxford won (1829).

June 11
First oil pumped ashore from British oil fields in the North Sea (1975).

June 13
First women's golf championship, won by Lady Margaret Scot, Royal Lytham, England (1893).
First free presidential election in Russia for 1,000 years, won by Boris Yeltsin (1991).

June 14
First Henley Regatta on the Thames, England (1839).

June 15
First vulcanised rubber, patented by Charles Goodyear (1844).

June 16
First Pepsi-Cola tradename registered (1903).
First woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova aboard USSR Vostok 6 (1963).

June 17
First operation under antiseptic conditions, Glasgow Infirmary, Scotland, by Joseph Lister (1867).
First kidney transplant operation by surgeon Mr R H Lawler, Chicago (1950).

June 18
First woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, US aviator Amelia Earhart (1928).

June 19
First postal system, created by King Louis XI of France for his own use (1464).
First police force, founded by Sir Robert Peel, London (1829).

June 20
First time Vikings sailed up the Seine, as far as Rouen (840).
First car stolen, the Peugeot belonging to Baron de Zuylen, Paris (1896).

June 21
First woman to parachute from an aircraft, Georgina Broadwick, over Griffith Park, L.A. (1913).
First long play record unveiled, Columbia Records, USA (1948).

June 22
First member of the Royal Family to act in a radio or TV programme, in 'The Archers' (1984).

June 23
First saxophone patented by Adolph Sax (1848).
First graduates of the Open University received their degrees at Alexander Palace (1973).

June 24
First use of the Elizabethan Prayer Book (1559).
First Freemason's Lodge inaugurated, London (1717).

June 25
First patent for barbed wire by Lucien Smith, Ohio, USA (1867).

June 26
First public cinema opened, New Orleans, USA (1896).
First Grand Prix motor race, at Le Mans in France (1906).

June 27
First women's magazine published, the 'Ladies Mercury' (1693).
First nuclear power station opened, Obninsk near Moscow (1954).

June 28
First potatoes brought to Britain (1586).
First national census in Britain, revealing a population of 8,872,000 (1801).

June 29
First regular weather forecast televised by the BBC (1949).
First credit card in Britain, the 'Barclaycard' introduced by Barclays Bank (1966).

June 30
First person to tightrope walk across Niagara Falls, Charles Blondin (1859).

JULY

July 1
First encyclopaedia published in Paris (1751).
First emergency telephone services (999), England (1937).

July 3
First person to sail around the world, American Captain Slocum (1898).
First colour television transmission, by Scotsman John Baird, Covent Garden, London (1928).

July 4
First employment agency, Paris (1631).
First regular scheduled bus service began, between Marylebone Road and Bank, London (1829).

July 5
First speed limit, at 2mph, on steam and petrol cars, Britain (1865).

July 6
First electric iron, patented by US Henry Seeley (1882).
First all-talking feature film, 'Lights of New York', opened, Strand Theatre, New York (1928).

July 7
First working laser, demonstrated by American Theodore Mainman (1960).
First solar powered aircraft to cross the English channel (1981).

July 8
First conviction by fingerprints, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1892).
First ascent of Mount Everest without oxygen by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler (1978).

July 9
First Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championship (1877).
First electric telegraph, developed by William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone (1839).

July 10
First live television in Europe from the USA (1962).

July 11
First chimes of Big Ben sounded, London (1859).
First transmission of BBC's children's programme 'Andy Pandy' (1950).

July 12
First pilot killed in Britain, Charles Stewart Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce cars (1910).

July 13
First monarch moved into Buckingham Palace, Queen Victoria (1837).
First World Football Cup, where the hosts, Uruguay, beat the 13 other competing countries (1930).

July 14
First demonstration of Dynamite by Swedish Alfred Nobel in a Surrey quarry, England (1867).

July 15
Margarine first patented by Parisian Hippolyte Mouries, France (1869).
First National Insurance tax (NI) introduced in Britain by Lloyd George (1912).

July 16
First bank notes issued, by the Bank of Stockholm (1661).
First atomic bomb, developed by Robert Oppenheimer, exploded at Los Alamos (1945).

July 17
First sewing machine patented, by cabinet-maker Thomas Saint, London (1790).

July 18
First Disneyland opened, California (1955).

July 19
First Tour de France cycle race, won by Maurice Garin (1903).

July 20
First landing on Mars, by the US unmanned spacecraft Viking 1 (1975).

July 21
First woman prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka (1960).
First man to set foot on the moon, American astronaut Neil Armstrong (1969).

July 22
First solo flight around the world flight, taking nearly 8 days, by Wiley Post (1933).

July 24
First road tramways, England (1801).
First public opinion poll, on voters' intentions in the US President Election, USA (1824).

July 25
First crossing of the English Channel by French aviator and designer Louis Blériot (1909).
First steam powered pumping engine, patented by Thomas Savery, England (1698).

July 26
First women's cricket match, between Hambledon and Bramley, in Guildford, England (1745).

July 28
First fingerprints used as a means of identification by Sir William Herschel, India (1858).

July 29
First regular television weather forecast, by the BBC (1949).

July 30
First World Cup held, final between Uruguay and Argentina. (1930).
First edition of the Beano went on sale in Britain (1938).

July 31
First person to climb Mount Godwin-Austin, or K2, Italian Ardito Desio (1954).
First drive on the moon by US astronauts David Scott and James Irwin (1971).

AUGUST

August 1
First time 'Rule Britannia' was sung in Thomas Arne's 'Alfred' (1740).
First metric weight, the Kilogram, was introduced in France (1793).

August 3
First traffic lights installed in Britain at Piccadilly Circus (1926).
First nuclear submarine to pass under the North Pole, USS Nautilus (1958).

August 5
First message transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean, through an underwater cable (1858).
First electric traffic lights installed in Cleveland, Ohio (1914).

August 6
First Venice Film Festival (1932).
First demonstration of a commercial solar-powered motor, by engineer Abel Pifre, Paris (1882).

August 7
First horse racing meeting at Ascot, England, established by Queen Anne (1711).
First motor racing Grand Prix, Brooklands, England (1926).

August 8
First demonstration of a hot-air balloon, by Father de Gusmâo, Lisbon, Portugal (1709).
First people to climb Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak (1786).

August 9
First campaign for antiseptic conditions in surgery published by Joseph Lister, London (1867).
First nudist beach in Britain, Brighton (1979).

August 10
First athletics world championships opened in Helsinki (1983).

August 12
First sound recording made onto a cylinder by Thomas Edison (1887).
First Giant Panda to be born in captivity was delivered in a Mexican zoo (1980).

August 14
First vehicle registration plates, driving licences and parking restrictions introduced, France (1893).
First British troops deployed in Northern Ireland (1969).

August 17
First Births, Deaths and Marriages registration introduced into Britain (1836).

August 18
First child born of English parents in the New World (1587).
First Mini Minor unveiled at the British Motor Corporation (1959).

August 19
First English colonists arrived on the coast of Maine in America (1605).
First eastern European country to end one-party rule, Poland (1989).

August 20
First nuclear power station in Britain, Calder Hall (1956).
First manmade object to leave our solar system, US Voyager I spacecraft (1977).

August 24
First Edinburgh Festival held (1947).

August 25
First swimmer of the English Channel, Captain Matthew Webb (1875).
First scheduled international air service began running between Paris and London (1919).

August 26
First high definition pictures were transmitted by the BBC from Alexandra Palace to sets at the
Olympia Radio Show in West London (1936).

August 27
First discovery of oil in the USA at Titusville by Edwin Drake (1859).
First jet-propelled aircraft, Heinkel 178, made its first public flight (1939).

August 29
First electrical transformer demonstrated by Michael Faraday at the Royal Institute, London (1831).

August 30
First vacuum cleaner patented by English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth (1901).

August 31
First Coca Cola on sale in Britain (1900).

SEPTEMBER

September 1
First triangular postage stamps, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (1853).

September 4
First electric power station started supplying its 85 customers, built by the Edison Electric
Illuminating Company, New York (1882).

September 5
First US coast-to-coast flight by US aviator James Doolittle (1922).

September 6
First circumnavigation of the world, by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1522).

September 10
First person convicted of drunken driving, London taxi driver George Smith (1894).

September 12
First policewoman appointed, Alice Stebbins Wells, Los Angeles Police Department (1910).

September 13
First baseball club founded, Knickerbocker Club, New York (1845).

September 14
First spacecraft to land on the moon, Soviet Lunik II (1959).

September 15
First ascent in a hot-air balloon, by Vincent Lunardi (1784).

September 16
First house purchased for preservation, place of Shakespeare's birth (1847).
First time Moor, from Shakespeare's Othello, performed in South Africa with a black actor (1987).

September 17
First passenger to die in an air crash, Lt Selfridge on a test flight with Orville Wright (1908).

September 18
First issue of the New York Times published (1851).

September 19
First carpet sweeper patented by US inventor Melville Bissell (1876).
First country to grant its female citizens the right to vote, New Zealand (1893).

September 20
First non-stop swim across the English Channel and back by Argentinean Antonio Abertondo (1961).

September 23
First commercial chewing gum, produced in the USA (1848).

September 24
First flight of a dirigible balloon from Paris to Trappe, by French engineer Henri Giffaud (1852).
First nuclear-powered aircraft carrier launched, USS Enterprise, Newport, USA (1960).

September 25
First European to sight the Pacific Ocean, Spanish explorer Vasco Balboa (1513).
First blood transfusion using human blood, Guy's Hospital, London (1818).

September 26
First Gramophone patented by US immigrant Emile Berliner (1887).

September 27
First commercial steam railway, between Stockton and Darlington (1825).

September 29
First regular police force, founded by Robert Peel , London (1829).
First billionaire, John D Rockefeller, created during the stock market boom (1916).
First automatic ansaphone tested by the US Bell Telephone Company (1950).

OCTOBER

October 1
First Model T introduced by Henry Ford, Detroit, USA (1908).
First microwave oven patented, by Englishman Percy Le Baron Spencer (1945).

October 2
First telescope demonstrated by Dutch lens maker Hans Lipperschey (1608).
First rugby football match played at Twickenham, England (1909).

October 3
First women's cricket match, between Hampshire and Surrey, England (1811).

October 4
First space satellite launched, USSR Sputnik I (1957).
First transatlantic passenger jet service, operated by BOAC, now British Airways (1958).

October 5
First ball pen, with its own ink supply and retractable tip, patented by Alonzoi T Cross (1880).

October 6
First talking feature film, Warner Brothers' 'Jazz Singer', premiered in New York (1927).

October 7
First carbon paper patented by English inventor, Ralph Wedgwood (1806).
First photograph of the far side of the Moon transmitted from USSR's Lunik I (1958).

October 8
First use of war rockets, when the British fleet fired 2,000 of them onto Boulogne (1806).
First permanent waving machine used on women's hair, by Charles Nessler (1905).

October 9
First Luddite riots, against the introduction of machinery for spinning cotton, Manchester (1779).

October 10
First dinner jacket worn, Tuxedo Park Country Club, New York (1886).

October 14
First photographic film patented by US entrepreneur and inventor George Eastman (1884).
First supersonic flight (670 mph), by US pilot Charles Yeagar in his Bell XI rocket plane (1947).

October 15
First aeronaut, François Pilâtre de Rozier ascended and descended by a tethered balloon (1783).
First transatlantic flight by the German airship, Graf Zeppelin (1928).

October 16
First commercial airline, flying airships, Count Zeppelin's Deutsche Lufftschiffhart
Aktiengesellschaft (1909).

October 17
First professional golf tournament, Prestwick, Scotland (1860)

October 19
First company to manufacture internal combustion engines, Florence, Italy (1860).

October 22
First woman solo flight, by French aviator Elise Deroche (1909).
First image Xerox image, printed on wax paper by its inventor Chester Calson (1938).

October 23
First meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, New York (1946).

October 24
First football club formed, by a group of Cambridge University Old Boys, England (1857).

October 25
First railway timetable published, Bradshaw's Railway Guide, Manchester, England (1839).

October 26
First woman to give birth aboard an aircraft, American T W Evans (1929).

October 28
First American University founded, Harvard (1636).
First dynamo demonstrated by English physicist Michael Faraday (1831).

October 31
First cable across the Pacific Ocean completed (1902).

NOVEMBER

November 2
First insubmersible lifeboat patented by coach builder Lionel Lakin, London (1785).

November 3
First animal in space, Russian dog named Laika aboard Sputnik II (1957).

November 5
First British Woolworth's store opened in Liverpool (1909).

November 7
First X-rays discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen in an experiment at the University of Wurzburg (1895).

November 10
First motorcycle demonstrated in public, by its creator Paul Daimler (1885).

November 11
First video recorder, demonstrated in Beverly Hills, USA (1952).

November 12
First reusable crewed spacecraft, by making its second mission, US space shuttle Columbia (1981).

November 13
First helicopter, rose 2m above ground in Normandy, France (1907).

November 17
First meeting of US Congress, Washington DC (1800).
First moonwalker vehicle released on the Moon, from USSR's spacecraft Luna 17 (1970).

November 18
First printed book in England, William Caxton's 'The Dictes or Sayinges of the Philosophers'
(1477).
First sound cartoon screened, Walt Disney's 'Steamboat Willie', starring Micky Mouse, USA
(1928).

November 21
First free flight, in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers (1783).

November 23
First juke box, installed in the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, USA (1889).

November 25
First evaporated milk, patented by John Mayenberg of St Louis, USA (1884).

November 26
First tidal power station, Brittany, France (1966).

November 29
First flight over the South Pole, US admiral Richard Byrd with his pilot Bernt Balchen (1929).

DECEMBER

December 1
First issue of Playboy, the centre page nude was Marilyn Monroe (1953).

December 2
First safety razor patented by US King Camp Gillette (1901).
First nuclear chain reaction, at the University of Chicago, USA (1942).

December 3
First public display of neon lighting, Paris Motor Show, France (1910).
First heart transplant, Groote Schurr Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa (1967).

December 4
First income tax (10%), introduced to finance the wars with France (1798).
First publication of the 'Observer' (1791).

December 5
First sale in London by James Christie, later founded Christies auction house (1766).
First British motorway, M6 opened (1958)

December 6
First state education system, Austria (1774).
First gramophone demonstrated by its inventor Thomas Edison, New Jersey, USA (1877).

December 7
First execution by lethal injection, Fort Worth Prison, USA (1982).

December 8
First traffic lights erected in Westminster, London (1868).
First nuclear arms reduction agreement signed by US and Soviet Presidents (1991).

December 9
First episode of 'Coronation Street' televised (1960).

December 10
First pneumatic tyres, patented by Scottish engineer Robert Thompson (1845).
First Nobel Prize awarded (1901).

December 11
First used for tooth extraction, Nitrous oxide or laughing gas (1844).
First Motor Show, with 9 exhibitors, Paris (1894).

December 12
First demonstration of radio by its inventor Guglielmo Marconi, London (1896).
First flight of an all-metal aircraft, the German Junker J1 (1915).

December 13
First mould for making the ice cream cone, patented by Italo Marcione, New York (1903).

December 14
First to reach the South Pole, Norwegian Roald Amundsen (1911).
First open table tennis tournament, London (1901).

December 15
First TV play in Britain was transmitted to a limited audience (1928).
First showing of the film 'Gone with the Wind', Atlanta, Georgia (1939).

December 17
First controlled flight in a powered aircraft, by Orville Wright, North Carolina, USA (1903).
First heart, lungs and liver transplant, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, England (1986).

December 18
First time the sound barrier broken at ground level, by Stanley Barrett, USA (1979).

December 20
First atomic ice-breaker, the Russian 'Lenin', began operating (1959).

December 21
First full length animated talking picture, Disney's 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937).
First newspaper crossword puzzle, by Arthur Wynne, appeared in the 'New York World' (1913).

December 22
First pantomime in England was staged at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre (1716).
First X-ray (of his wife's hand), by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (1895).

December 23
First non-stop flight around the world, by Dick Rutan and Jeana (1986).

December 24
First British self-powered vehicle tested by Richard Trevithick (1801).
First demonstration of transmitting the human voice by radio-telephone, Canada (1906).

December 25
First Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, crowned by Pope Leo III, Rome (800).
First Christmas tree in Britain put up at Queen's Lodge, Windsor, by Queen Charlotte (1800).

December 26
First feature film, 'The Story of the Kelly Gang' was shown, Australia (1906).

December 28
First public film show took place, Paris (1895).

December 29
First British ironclad warship, HMS 'Warrior', launched (1860).

December 30
First public concert, by violinist John Banister (1672).