What happened this week in history
1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescued the crew of the Forfarshire, a steamer wrecked off the Northumberland coast. She subsequently became a national heroine.
1880 - George Ligowsky patented a device to launch clay pigeons.
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Hide Ad1896 - The first successful heart surgery was conducted by Ludwig Rehn
1910 - Marie Curie announced she had isolated pure radium.
1923 - Interpol was founded in Vienna.
1928 - The first automatic car passed a series of road tests.
1929 - Britain won the prestigious Schneder Trophy for air speed. The winner was Flying Officer Waghorn in a Supermarine Rolls Royce 5.6.
1931 - King George V announced he would be taking a pay cut of £50,000 a year while the economic crisis continued.
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Hide Ad1936 - The last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, died alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
1940 - The German Luftwaffe began the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for more than 50 consecutive nights.
1945 - Cartoon chipmunks Chip and Dale made their debut in No Sail.
1963 - Sussex won the first domestic one-day cricket match.
1973 - Jackie Stewart became Formula 1 Champion for the third time.
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Hide Ad1978 - While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.
1986 - Bishop Desmond Tutu was appointed Archbishop of Cape Town. He became the first black head of South African Anglicans.
1992 - Classic FM, Britain’s first national commercial radio station, went on air.
1995 - Lester Piggott announced his retirement from horse racing.
2005 - Egypt held its first-ever multi-party presidential election.