SWINDON...

1945: Seventy-eight pigeons belonging to members of Ferndale Homing Society were convoyed by the West of England North Road Combine and liberated at Ripon into a south-west wind. Heavy storms hampered their progress and the winner was clocked at three hours and 42 minutes.

1955: A total of 505 members of the Swindon branch of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen received their first week’s strike pay at the Union Hotel. Branch chairman Roy Green, said well over £1,000 had been paid out.

1975: Swindon-based Radio Rentals TV hire company took the world’s largest flying model aircraft and turned them into its opn aero display team. The company signed a sponsorship deal for two quarter-scale models of a Spitfire.

2013: Tickets for the summer concerts at the County Ground went on sale online but were advertised at £45 (plus a £3 booking fee) for the cheapest ticket, even though they were billed as being £35 for the cheapest.

 

THE WORLD...

1913: Emily Davison, a suffragette, ran out in front of King George V’s horse,at the Epsom Derby. She died a few days later.

1939: The MS St Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps.

1940: The Dunkirk evacuation ended. British forces complete the evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.

1957: Dr Martin Luther King, Jr delivered his famous Power of Nonviolence speech at the University of California, Berkeley.

2012: The Diamond Jubilee Concert was held outside Buckingham Palace in The Mall, London. Organised by Gary Barlow, the concert was part of the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations.

 

BORN...

1907: Patience Strong – English poet and journalist.
1932: John Drew Barrymore – American actor.
1944: Michelle Phillips – American singer-songwriter and actress with The Mamas And The Papas.
1987: Mollie King – English singer-songwriter  with The Saturdays.

 

DIED...

1394: Mary de Bohun – English wife of Henry IV of England.
1798: Giacomo Casanova – Italian adventurer and author.