23rd

1571 ..... U.K ..... the Royal Exchange in London was FIRST opened by Queen Elizabeth 1 

1839 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST Anti-Corn Law dinner was held to raise funds 

1849 ..... U.S.A ..... Elizabeth Blackwell became the FIRST woman in the world to qualify as a doctor

1929 ..... U.K ..... the very FIRST “Women’s Town Institute” was formed at Haywards Heath in Sussex but due to strong objection from the Women’s Institute (which was formed in 1915) the name was changed the following month to the Townswomen’s Guild. Guilds began to be formed in other areas and the movement never looked back. By the end of the second year there were 113 Guilds in existence.  In 1932 the National Union of Guilds for Citizenship came into being and in 1933 formally became the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds taking on the powerful role of a national social and educational organisation for all women 

1960 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST open-heart operation took place at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, and by 2001 10,095 such operations had been carried out. In 1990 it became one of the FIRST hospitals in the North West of England to provide an NHS service for keyhole general surgery and in 1999 the Manchester Diabetes Centre, the FIRST of its kind in the UK, was established there

1970 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST Jumbo jet airliner landed at Heathrow Airport when the Boeing 747 flew in. It was owned by Pan Am, weighed 350 tons and could carry 362 passengers 

1978 ..... SWEDEN ..... became the FIRST country to ban aerosol cans 

1979 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST space invader machine came to Britain making its debut at the Amusements Trade  Exhibition and by the end of 1980 it had been installed in 70,000 clubs, pubs and arcades. 4 million machines were sold in Western Europe and a third came to Britain. It was reported that Americans had fed $5 billion into theirs 

1985 ..... U.K ..... the House of Lords debate was televised live for the FIRST time

1997 ..... U.K ..... Sylvia Trounce became the FIRST woman chairman at Penarth Computer Club in Wales

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