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1777..... U.K ..... the Royal Bank of Scotland was the FIRST in Europe to introduce colour into their banknotes when an engraving of King George 111 was printed in red and the denomination - one guinea - in blue. The colour placed another hurdle in the path of the counterfeiters. 150 years later the Bank of England followed suit 

1853 ..... the FIRST tri-angular Cape of Good Hope stamp was issued 

1878 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST woman telephone operator, Emma Nutt, began working for Edwin Holme’s Telephone Despatch Company Exchange in Boston, Massachusetts 

1913 ..... FRANCE ..... Louis Bleriot performed the FIRST loop-the-loop at Paris 

1919 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST film of the newly created United Artists film studio was ‘His Majesty, the American’ which opened at the newly-built Capitol Theatre in New York. At the time it was the world’s largest movie theatre. The film’s star and producer was Douglas Fairbanks and the female lead was played by Marjorie Daw 

1928 ..... U.S.A ..... the FIRST cartoon talkie was Paul Terry’s “Dinner Time” which was premiered at the Mark Strand Theatre in New York ..... and ...... The Air Circus was the FIRST sound-on-film feature and it opened at the Gaiety in New York. It starred Louise Dresser and David Rollins  

1935 ..... women workers in Mexico were given the vote for the FIRST time 

1939 ..... POLAND ..... the FIRST witness to German armour striking across the Polish border was Miss Clare Hollingworth, a war correspondent, who gained a reputation for taking risks. In 1991 a special dinner was held to celebrate her 80th birthday. For some years she was the Daily Telegraph's correspondent in Peking and was then resident in Hong Kong ..... and ..... U.K ..... the British Home Service FIRST began 

1951 ..... U.K ..... Britain’s FIRST supermarket, the Premier, opened in Earl’s Court, London ..... and .....  U.K ..... Don Whillans of Salford was one of the members of the British mountaineering team which was the FIRST in the world to climb Fenery Ridge on Mont Blanc

1972 ..... Bobby Fischer became the FIRST American world chess champion when he beat Boris Spassky at Reykjavik after a long, ill-tempered contest. During the match the two men hardly spoke to each other. Fischer frequently complained about the lighting, noise and the size of the board and accusations of intimidation and unfair practices flew between the two camps. Although Fischer's success aroused renewed enthusiasm for chess in the West, he soon became a recluse given to wearing disguises. In 1975 he lost his title by default after turning down a lucrative offer to play Anatoly Karpov

1979 ..... SPACE ..... Pioneer 11 reached Saturn six years after its launch and took the FIRST close-up pictures of the planet, including its rings and moons

2007 ….. U.K ..... advertisements for gambling were allowed on British television for the FIRST time. The new Gambling Act allows commercials to be screened after the 9 p/m watershed but can, by a loophole in the law, be shown during daytime coverage of sporting events

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