6th
1863 ..... U.K ..... for the FIRST time trains could run from Manchester through to Blackpool when the railway line from Lytham to Blackpool was opened
1896 ..... GREECE ..... the FIRST Olympic Games of the modern era were inaugurated in Athens at the instigation of Pierre de Fredt, Baron de Coubertin ..... and ..... U.K ..... the FIRST motorized film projector was demonstrated publicly at the Royal Aquarium, London. It went on sale at the end of the year
1909 ..... ANTARCTICA ..... Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson became the FIRST people to reach the North Pole. They were accompanied by 4 Eskimos. Peary had decided in 1898 that he would attempt to reach the North Pole and so he travelled to Greenland where he spent 4 years preparing. In 1902 he reached latitude 84 deg 17 N before having to abandon the expedition. Then the Peary Arctic Club of New York raised funds and fitted out the ship Roosevelt to his specifications. A large expedition set out sailing to Cape Sheridan, Ellesmere Island , and then travelling by sledge 87 deg 6 N . In 1908 the party returned to Ellesmere Island having failed to reach the pole. In the following March another attempt was made and this time was successful. Peary was informed however, that Dr Frederick Cook, another American, claimed to have reached the Pole a year earlier but an enquiry established his claim to be false. Robert Peary died in 1920 in Washington DC
1924 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST round-the-world aeroplane took off from Seattle
1931 ..... the FIRST full length feature film on television - Police Patrol - was shown in 6 daily episodes. Starring James Kirkwood and Edna Murphy it ended on 11th April
1944 ..... U.K ..... P.A.Y.E. was FIRST introduced in Britain
1990 ..... U.K ..... married women in Britain became independent entities for income tax purposes for the FIRST time, making them responsible for their own tax declarations. Their income was no longer assessed with that of their husbands. All married women have their own personal tax allowance and their own capital gains tax exemption limit. The personal allowances can be set against savings as well as earnings and meant that for the FIRST time some non-working wives will be able to earn interest on their savings without paying tax. These changes enhanced the status of married women in Britain and abolished the former necessity for a wife to disclose her income to her husband when the converse did not apply
1994 ..... U.K ..... Evelyn Anthony was appointed at the FIRST woman High Sheriff of Essex