1535 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST complete English version of the bible, Coverdale’s Bible, was published 

1895 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST US Open golf championship took place at Newport, Rhode Island. Englishman Horace Rawlins was the winner 

1911 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST public escalator in Britain opened at Earl’s Court tube station 

1926 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST talking film seen by a paying audience was premiered at The Empire, Plumstead. There were singing and orchestral shorts by Phonofilm and Sidney L Bernstein explained how it worked 

1937 ..... U.K ..... The Plums, radio's FIRST regular family, FIRST began with an anonymous cast but public demand soon revealed them as Foster Carlin, Minnie Rayner, Audrey Cameron and Clifford Bean

1952 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST external pacemaker was fitted to David Schwartz to control his heartbeat. It was developed by Dr Paul Zoll at the Harvard Medical School 

1957 ..... RUSSIA ..... the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s FIRST space satellite. The space age had begun and later the same year a dog named Laika was launched in Sputnik 2, survived its mission and set the stage for man’s entry into space  

1958 ..... aviation history was made when 2 British designed and built De Havilland Comet 4 airliners made the FIRST scheduled jet passenger service flights across the North Atlantic. One flew from New York to London and the other from London to New York 

1993 ..... Albania's FIRST set of traffic lights began operating in the capital of Tirana

1996 ….. POLAND ..... Wislawa Szymborska became the FIRST Polish woman to receive a Nobel Prize

2004 ..... SPACE ..... Spaceship 1 was the FIRST private craft to blast into space