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1853 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST woman Minister of Religion, the Rev. Antoinette Brown was ordained at the South Butler Congregational Church, New York 

1916 ..... FRANCE ..... tanks FIRST appeared in the Battle of The Somme in France in WW1. They were designed by Sir Ernest Swinton and went into action at Delville Wood near Flers. The British deployed 49 to gain a temporary advantage but these early tanks were mechanically inefficient, vulnerable to land mines and gunfire and could not cope with difficult terrain. The first spectacular tank successes took place in WW2 when the Germans overran Poland, the Low Countries and France. Although French tanks were superior in armour, fire power and number, the Germans achieved victory by using theirs together and supporting them with other ground-based fire power and tactical aircraft 

1928 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST working robot opened the Model Engineering Exhibition at the Royal Agricultural Hall.  It was designed by Captain Rickards and A H Refell and made an opening speech by means of a radio transmitter concealed in its throat. The word robot comes from the Czech ‘robota’ which means statute labour and was used for the first time by the playwright Karle Capek in 1920 in his play RUR 

1930 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST international bridge match was held at Almack's in London, between a British team captained by Lt Col Walter Buller and an American team led by Ely Culbertson. America won

1960 ..... U.K ..... traffic wardens were FIRST introduced onto London streets 

1978 ..... U.S.A ..... Muhammad Ali became the FIRST boxer in history to win the heavyweight title three times when he defeated Leon Spinks in front of 70,000 fans. The 36 year old fighter won on points against an opponent 11 years his junior. He first won the heavyweight title in 1964 when he beat Sonny Liston and after 3 years out of the ring for refusing the draft he knocked out George Foreman to take the title for the second time 

1997 ….. U.K ..... the FIRST pay-per-view concert on British television was held at the Royal Albert Hall. Rock stars Eric Clapton, Elton John, Paul McCartney and others starred for free to raise money for the victims of the Montserrat volcano eruption 

1998 ….. U.K ..... Eddie George was the FIRST governor of the Bank of England to address a TUC conference 

2001 ..... U.K ..... the Dutch Experience, Britain's FIRST Amsterdam-style cannabis cafe opened in Stockport, Manchester

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