26th

1797 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST pound notes were issued by the Bank of England. Printed on watermark paper with a vignette of Britannia on the top left hand corner, the hand-signed white £1 notes were withdrawn in the 1820s. The FIRST time that a reigning monarch was featured on Bank of England paper money was when a portrait of Queen Elizabeth 11 appeared on a new issue of notes in 1960 

1839 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST Grand National was won by Jem Mason on the 5-1 favourite Lottery  

1870 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST pneumatic powered subway line was opened to the public in New York City

1909 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST public presentation of Kinemacolor before a paying audience took place at the Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. This FIRST programme consisted of 21 short films 

1935 ..... RADAR was FIRST demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt 

1972 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST boat race took place on the River Irwell between Manchester and Salford Universities 

1983 ..... U.K ..... Irishman Pat Jennings became the FIRST footballer to play in 1000 League matches 

1985 ..... U.S.A ..... Robert Penn Warren, poet, novelist and essayist was appointed the FIRST Poet Laureate in America 

2001 ….. EGYPT ..... Pope John 11 became the FIRST Roman Catholic Pope to visit a Moslem country when he made a visit to Mt. Sinai in Egypt ..... and ….. U.K ..... the Court of Appeal sat in Manchester for the FIRST time ever when it heard arguments from a legal team acting for three tearaway teenage brothers who had been banned from Beswick in December 1999 under an Anti-Social Behaviour Order

2005 ..... U.K ..... a mini field hospital was set up to patch up drunken revellers in Oldham, Manchester. It was the FIRST of its kind in England and was manned by St John Ambulance first-aiders who worked closely with a squad of uniformed police

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