this is the week that was
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Your support makes all the difference.14 August:
1893: France becomes the first country to register motor vehicle licence plates.
1908: The first international beauty contest is held at the Pier Hippodrome in Folkestone, and is won by Nellie Jarman, 18, ahead of a field that included six English, three French, one Irish, one Austrian and "a number of fisher girls from Boulogne".
1932: Death of Rin Tin Tin, "in the arms of Jean Harlow" according to one report.
1941: A German spy becomes the last person to be executed in the Tower of London.
15 August:
1927: The length of cars in England is limited to 27ft 6ins.
1948: Don Bradman is out for 0 in his last innings.
1971: Harvey Smith makes a celebrated two-finger gesture at the British Showjumping Derby.
16 August:
1956: Death of Bela Lugosi. He is buried in his Dracula cloak.
1973: The USSR denounces Sesame Street as imperialistic.
17 August:
1896: Bridget Driscoll of Croydon, Surrey, becomes the first pedestrian to be killed by a car - despite a 4mph speed limit.
1896: Gold is discovered in the Klondike to start the gold rush.
18 August:
1587: Birth of Virginia Dare, the first white child of English parents to be born in America.
1743: The rules of boxing, as drawn up by Jack Broughton, are confirmed.
1930: The two halves of Sydney Harbour Bridge meet in the middle.
1947: It is announced that Princess Elizabeth will go on honeymoon without a trousseau, owing to the clothes shortage.
19 August:
1897: Electric-powered taxis are introduced in London. They are withdrawn three years later.
1941: US patent 2253125 is granted to H Heineke et al for his invention of a firing mechanism embedded in a fishing hook to enable fish to be shot.
1960: The USSR launch two dogs into space.
20 August:
1913: Stainless steel is first cast in Sheffield by Harry Brearley.
1913: Adolphe Pegond is the first person to bale out from a plane with a parachute.
1920: The Detroit News becomes the first newspaper to list daily radio programmes.
1940: Winston Churchill says: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
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