1405 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST English bishop to be executed was Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, who was beheaded for conspiring against Henry 1V

1876 ..... U.S.A ..... in New York, America, the FIRST advertisement was placed for commercially produced ice-cream by Mr Hall of Chatham Street. Ice-cream parlours soon sprang up coast to coast. However America was not the first to make ice-cream. The Chinese had mixed snow and fruit juices to provide water ices 3,000 years ago and Alexander the Great loved frozen fruit juice, honey and milk

1929 ..... U.K ..... Margaret Bondfield became Britain’s FIRST woman cabinet minister when she was appointed Minister of Labour in Ramsay MacDonald’s second Labour government . In 1924 she was appointed Under Secretary of State to the Minister of Labour in Ramsay MacDonald's first Labour Government and on February 18th  became the FIRST woman to answer a question on the Order Paper

1961..... U.K ..... the FIRST royal wedding to take place in York Minister in 600 years was that of the Duke of Kent to Miss Katherine Worsley. She was a local girl and the daughter of the Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The previous wedding in 1327 was when Edward the Third married Queen Philippa

1978 ..... U.K ..... Dame Naomi James completed the FIRST solo circumnavigation of the world by a woman

1982 ..... U.K ..... President Ronald Reagan became the FIRST American head of state to address a joint session of the British Parliament

1995 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST Thomas Paine Day was held on this day by the Thomas Paine Society in Norfolk, 186 years after his death. He was a Radical English writer who campaigned for the complete American Independence from Britain and coined the phrase "The United States of America"

1996 ….. U.K ..... Alex Greaves became the FIRST woman to ride a horse in the Derby at Epsom. Her horse was called Portuguese Lil 

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