1856 ..... U.K ..... the Victoria Cross was FIRST instituted by Queen Victoria. It was first made from the metal of cannon captured from the Russians at Sebastopol 

1881 ….. Theodore Billroth (1829-1894) made medical history when he performed the FIRST successful gastrectomy for cancer of the stomach.  The operation had been tried before but without success.  The gastrectomy took place under chloroform anaesthesia and lasted one and a half hours

1886 ….. GERMANY ..... Karl Benz patented the Tri-car, the world's FIRST automobile 

1927 ..... U.K ..... the Park Lane Hotel in London opened and was the FIRST hotel to have en-suite bathrooms 

1930 ….. U.K ..... Barton Airport, Manchester's FIRST international airport, was opened. It was known as Barton Aerodrome. Ringway opened in 1938 and Barton closed to commercial traffic 

1942 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST Desert Islands Discs radio programme was broadcast. Its inventor was its presenter Roy Plomley and the FIRST castaway was Vic Oliver (Victor Oliver von Samek  1898-1964). However several celebrities declined the privilege of being on the programme, notably Lord Olivier and Prince Charles. The programme ran for 1791 shows

1967 ..... U.K ..... Sir Francis Chichester returned to England via Cape Horn in 119 days and so made the FIRST solo one-stop circumnavigation of the globe. He had set off on August 27th 1966 from Plymouth, England, in Gypsy Moth and sailed 14100 miles to Sydney, Australia, in 107 days and returned to England on this day

2007..... CHINA ..... for the FIRST time a Bond movie was shown, uncut, in China when the remake of Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig was shown

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