28th
1742 ….. U.K ..... the FIRST indoor swimming pool in England opened in London
1842 ….. U.K ..... the FIRST public library was opened in Frederick Street, Salford
1929 ….. U.S.A ..... the FIRST musical in colour, On With The Show, starring Joe E Brown and Betty Compson, was premiered at the Winter Garden, New York
1934 ….. CANADA ..... in a Canadian farmhouse, Mrs Elzire Dionne gave birth to the world's FIRST surviving quintuplets. Annette, Marie, Yvonne, Cecile and Emilie weighed only 10lb 5oz between them and they instantly became the number one tourist attraction. The farmhouse was invaded by sightseers and sideshows and stalls sprang up all around, but the Canadian government stepped in when their father agreed to exhibit the girls at the Chicago World's Fair. The quins were isolated from the outside world and their mother said " I have to ring a bell like a stranger if I want to see them". A rift developed between parents and children which was never properly healed. The quins found themselves wealthy when they grew up thanks to shrewd investments on their behalf. Although 33 cases of quins had previously been recorded around the world, all had died at birth
1938 ….. the FIRST public display of barrage balloons was on Empire Air Day. The silvery sausage-shaped balloons sailed through the wartime sky anchored by cables to lorries below. They were designed to keep bombers too high for accuracy and worked in random with the Anti-aircraft guns. They had a combined radio show called, in Morse Code, Ack Ack Beer Beer. The Crazy Gang immortalized them by floating to Berlin on one in their film Gasbags in 1940
1951 ….. U.K ..... the FIRST Goon Show was broadcast by the BBC and starred Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe
1959 ….. U.K ..... the FIRST new theatre in the City of London since the time of Shakespeare, the Mermaid Theatre, was opened
1982 ….. Diego Maradona became the FIRST £5m football player when he moved from Argentinos Juniors to Barcelona
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