Happy Anniversary: When success patently smells of roses
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Your support makes all the difference.HERE are some of the more obscure reasons for celebrating the forthcoming week.
19 April:
1637: Amye Everard becomes the first English woman to be granted a patent, for her tincture of saffron and essence of roses.
1927: Mae West is found guilty of indecent behaviour in a production called Sex on Broadway. She is sentenced to 10 days in jail and a dollars 500 fine.
1988: Western pop music first broadcast in China. However, the song 'Roll Over, Beethoven' is banned as disrespectful.
20 April:
1887: The first motor race, held in Paris, was won by Georges Bouton in his four- seater steam quadricycle. He was the only entrant.
21 April:
753BC: Allegedly the date Romulus founded Rome.
1918: The Ministry of Provisions in Paris encourages the eating of horse meat.
1964: BBC 2 begins transmissions, a day later than scheduled.
1977: Death of Milton 'Gummo' Marx, the Marx brother no one ever heard of.
22 April:
1760: First known appearance of roller-skates. They were worn by a Belgian, Joseph Mervin, at one of Mrs Cornely's masquerades in Carlisle House, Soho. He was also playing a violin and crashed into a mirror, causing pounds 500 damage and sustaining serious cuts.
1947: First use of a photo-finish camera, at Epsom.
1983: pounds 1 coins come into circulation.
23 April:
A bad day for literature.
1616: Deaths of Shakespeare and Cervantes.
1850: Death of Wordsworth.
1915: Death of Rupert Brooke.
1968: First decimal coins come in to circulation in Britain.
1984: Discovery of Aids virus announced.
24 April:
1919: The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) announced he is to become a freemason.
1957: First edition on BBC TV of The Sky at Night with Patrick Moore.
25 April:
The latest date on which Easter can fall.
1792: First use of the guillotine in Paris.
1969: Last transmission of The Dales (formerly Mrs Dale's Diary) on BBC radio.
1989: Italian MP and former porno star Ilona Staller releases a white dove to mark the departure of Soviet troops from Hungary. It sits in the road and is crushed by the leading tank.
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