this is the week that was

2 October:

1608: Dutch lens-maker Hans Lippershey demonstrates the first telescope.

1871: Mormon leader Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy.

1901: The first British submarine is launched in Barrow.

1950: First appearance of the Peanuts cartoon strip by Charles Schultz.

3 October:

1811: The first women's county cricket match, Hants vs Surrey.

1899: The first motor-driven vacuum cleaner is patented by J S Thurman.

1906: SOS replaces CQD as the international distress signal.

1921: Waiters in Berlin refuse tips and strike for higher pay.

1922: The first facsimile picture is transmitted over a telephone line in Washington.

1929: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed Yugoslavia.

1941: The aerosol is patented by L Goodhue and W Sullivan.

1959: Britain's first postcodes are introduced.

4 October:

1949: A memorial is unveiled at All Hallows by the Tower to "warrior birds who gave their lives on active service 1939-45".

1965: Pope Paul VI becomes the first pope to visit the US.

1988: The Bavarian environment minister, Alfred Dick, asks people not to yodel in the Bavarian Alps because it might frighten the chamois and golden eagle.

5 October:

1880: The earliest "ball pen" is patented by Alonso T Cross.

1969: First transmission of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

6 October:

1883: Maiden run of the Orient Express from Paris to Constantinople.

1941: Two men named Willburn and Frizzel are sent to the electric chair in Florida.

1978: The London Underground employs its first woman driver.

7 October:

1806: Carbon paper is patented by Ralph Wedgewood of London.

1876: The Hendon Cup becomes the first greyhound race run with an artificial hare.

1921: Turin plays host to the first international sociology conference.

8 October:

1891: The first street collection for charity in Britain.

1925: The Newmarket Town Plate is the first race won by a female jockey.

1967: First use of the breathalyser in Britain.