22nd

1797 ..... FRANCE ..... the FIRST parachute descent was made over the Parc Monceau in Paris by Andre-Jacques Garnerin from a balloon. He flew to 2000 feet in a balloon, then cut his basket free and floated to earth under an umbrella-shaped parachute. He survived to give further displays 

1821 ..... U.K ..... the 428-ton Rising Star set sail from Gravesend bound for Valparaiso and became the FIRST British steamship to cross the Atlantic although part of the voyage was made under sail

1878 ..... U.K ..... Broughton and Swinton ( Salford) played the FIRST floodlit rugby match 

1909 ..... FRANCE ..... the FIRST woman pilot, Mlle Elise Deroche, better known as Baroness de la Roche, made the FIRST solo flight by a woman. On the 8th March 1910 she became the world’s FIRST qualified woman pilot 

1958 ..... U.K ..... Stella Lady Reading took her seat in the House of Lords as the Baroness Swanborough.  The FIRST woman to sit in the House of Lords entered from the Bar, historically advanced to the Woolsack and then to the table to take the oath. She did not remove her hat as the male peers did and did her threefold bowing and kneeling

1966 ..... Briton David Bryant became the FIRST World Bowls champion

2004 ..... U.K ..... Manchester University and UMIST in the UK became the FIRST "superuniversity" in the country

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