6th
1844
..... U.K ..... the FIRST press telegram in Britain was sent to The Times announcing the birth of Prince Alfred to Queen Victoria1890
..... U.S.A ..... William Kemmler of Buffalo, New York, was the FIRST criminal to be electrocuted in the electric chair. The execution was carried out in New York’s Auburn Prison and the victim took 8 minutes to die after a series of bungles which nearly caused the new execution method to be abolished1926
..... U.S.A ..... American Gertrude Ederle, at the age of 20, became the FIRST woman to swim the English Channel - France to Dover in a time of 14hrs 39 mins which was then an overall record ..... and ...... the sound era of motion pictures FIRST officially began . The place was on Broadway near 52nd Street at what was once the Warners’ Theatre and the big occasion was the debut of the Vitaphone sound system in conjunction with a feature-length film, “Don Juan” starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor. It had originally been made as a silent but on this night it became the FIRST feature shown publicly with a synchronized music score and sound effects. It also marked the FIRST time that movie music had emanated from discs rather than by live orchestras. All this occurred 14 months before the legendary Jazz Singer premiered in October 1927 with Al Jolson1929
..... U.K ..... the FIRST driving school in Britain opened in Bristol1932
..... ITALY ..... the FIRST regular film festival took place at the Hotel Excelsior in Venice and ran until 21st August. No awards were made1945
..... JAPAN ..... the FIRST atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. 78,150 Japanese were killed or injured and a further 59,000 died later. 70% of the city’s buildings were destroyed or badly damaged and radiation continued to damage survivors. The decision to drop the bomb was made by president F Truman because it was believed that it would shorten the war with Japan. On August 9th a second bomb devastated the city of Nagasaki when 73,884 people were killed and 76,796 injured. On August 14th Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies1961 ..... SPACE ..... the FIRST day-long space flight was achieved by the cosmonaut Gherman Titov in Vostok 2
1971
..... Chay Blyth completed the FIRST solo voyage round-the-world in a westerly direction1994 ..... the FIRST women’s world angling championships were held on the Plordu Canal in Bulgaria
2002 ..... U.K ..... MyTravel, England, became the FIRST holiday firm operator to launch their own airline
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