ON THIS DAY
1825: The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the world’s first public passenger service – built by George Stephenson – was inaugurated.
1930: Bobby Jones of the US won the US National Amateur Championships to complete the first golfing grand slam.
1938: The 80,000-tonne liner Queen Elizabeth was launched at John Brown’s Yard in Clydebank.
1940: Imperial Japan signed a 10-year military and economic alliance, known as the ‘axis alliance’, with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
1960: Bank Underground station in London opened the first travelator, or “moving pavement”, in Europe.
1968: The rock musical Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, the day after censorship in the theatre was lifted.
1979: Dame Gracie Fields, English comedienne, singer and music hall entertainer, died in retirement at her home on the Isle of Capri, Italy, aged 81.
1979: BBC’s Question Time was broadcast for the first time, with Robin Day in the chair. He stayed with the show for 10 years.
1987: The Great Britain and European Ryder Cup Team defeated the US for the first time on US soil to retain the trophy.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Two rehabilitated beluga whales took their first swim in an Icelandic open water sanctuary.