Swindon

1951: Miss Florence England, a visitor from Antigua who spent much of the summer in Purton, wrote to the Adver in praise of Britain - and France. “Not for anything,” she said, “would I have missed this adventure in living, the six months spent in France and England. My only regret is that I could not stay longer in England. Although I saw so much, there is so much more I would like to see and know. However, I would be an ingrate if I did not thank Providence for permitting me to see and know what I have heard and read so much about - the English way of life and the English countryside.”

1961: The Swindon Moravian Church announced it would welcome a new preacher at its Harvest Festival celebration the following Sunday. Lancashire-born Bishop John Kneale had recently retired following 40 years’ service with the church in Jamaica. He had been involved in missionary work since the age of 16, but his ordination into the church had been delayed by World War One.

1971: Sudanese student Mohammed Idris Elhadi was off to Cardiff Polytechnic after a summer spent helping out staff on the wards of Stratton St Margaret Hospital. Mohammed, whose father was a mechanical engineer in Khartoum, had been in England for three years, and had studied zoology, chemistry and physics at Swindon College.

The world

1258: Salisbury Cathedral was consecrated.

1842: Sir James Dewar, Scottish physician and chemist, and inventor of the vacuum flask, was born at Kincardine-on-Forth.

1854: The Battle of Alma, fought by the British against the Russians in the Crimean War, produced six winners of the Victoria Cross.

1885: Jelly Roll Morton, pianist, composer and singer and one of the first jazz musicians, was born in New Orleans.

1917: The first RSPCA animal clinic was opened in Liverpool.

1931: Britain came off the gold standard to stop foreign speculation against the pound. The devaluation brought strikes and even a near mutiny on 15 navy ships berthed in Scotland.

1944: Guy Gibson, British pilot and Victoria Cross winner for his ‘’Dambusters’’ action against the Mohne and Eder dams, was killed when his aircraft crashed in Holland on its way back to base.

1946: The first Cannes film festival opened.

1961: The first non-stop swim across the Channel and back was started by Argentinian Antonio Albertondo; he successfully completed the feat after 43 hours 10 minutes.

1984: A suicide bomber drove a lorry load of explosives at the US embassy in Beirut, killing 40 people.

Birthdays Sophia Loren, actress, 83; Sir Jeremy Child, actor, 73; Jose Rivero, golfer, 62; Gary Cole, actor, 61; Kristen Johnston, actress, 50; Nuno Bettencourt, rock musician (Extreme), 51; Victoria Dillard, actress, 48; Julian Joachim, footballer, 43.