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1835 ..... U.K ..... the British Municipal Corporations Act FIRST came into force and introduced the modern style of local government

1876 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST hare in greyhound racing which was made of rabbit fur and was doused with the scent of a romantically inclined bitch was used in a race 

1911 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST scheduled airmail service in Britain. Although it only covered the 19 miles between Hendon and Windsor Great Park, one of the three planes that took off failed to make it. However the service was officially beaten into the record books by India. The Hendon-Windsor service only operated for three weeks. This was the special Coronation Aerial Post and was part of the coronation celebrations of George V. The FIRST regular air mail service was inaugurated between London and Paris in 1919. As international routes developed so did the airmail service of the Post Office. In 1934 the Post Office carried all first class mail by air without payment of the special air mail fee hitherto charged. By then air mail traffic had already travelled 122 tons a year compared with the 30 tons carried in 1930            ( reproduced by courtesy of Post Office Archives) 

1970 ..... U.K ..... a British plane was hijacked for the FIRST time when a VC10 with 114 people on board was commandeered by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of  Palestine.  The hijackers eventually released all but 54 of their captives and blew up three jets at Jordan where they had diverted to. The remaining 54 were later rescued from refugee camps by Jordanian troops

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