Happy Anniversary: End of the world was nigh

SOME of the more or less noteworthy happenings during the forthcoming week in history.

31 January:

1606: Guy Fawkes is hanged, drawn and quartered.

1747: The first venereal disease clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.

1876: From this date all American Indians are required to move into reservations, or be deemed hostile.

1910: The first labour exchanges open in Britain.

1983: The wearing of seat- belts becomes compulsory in the front seats of cars in the United Kingdom.

1 February:

1884: A-Ant, the first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, is published.

1902: China abolishes the compulsory binding of women's feet.

1911: Edward Mylius is jailed for one year for libel, after calling George V a bigamist.

1915: Photographs become a requirement in British passports.

1965: The singer P J Proby is banned by the BBC after splitting his trousers on stage.

1973: Women are allowed for the first time on the floor of the Stock Exchange.

1989: Death of Omiuri, a 16ft python believed by the Luo tribesmen of Kenya to possess magical powers.

2 February:

1709: Alexander Selkirk is rescued after five years as a castaway on the island of Mas a Tierra and the legend of Robinson Crusoe is born.

1852: The first public flushing lavatory for men is opened in London's Fleet Street.

1880: The first frozen meat to be imported to Britain arrives from Australia.

1962: A conjunction of eight planets portends the end of the world. Indian astrologers lead a pray-in to chant the liturgy 4.8 million times and the Burmese Prime Minister sets free animals to placate the gods. Apparently it worked.

1971: Idi Amin declares himself absolute ruler of Uganda.

1986: Lichtenstein gives women the vote.

3 February:

Feast Day of Saint Margaret who burst from a dragon's stomach after being eaten whole, an experience which qualified her to become the patron saint of pregnant women.

1877: Chopsticks (properly titled The Celebrated Chop Waltz) is registered at the British Museum, arranged as piano solo or duet by Arthur de Lull, a pseudonym of Euphemia Alten who wrote the tune when aged 16.

1942: The government announces the maximum permissible prices for clothes. A suit cannot cost more than pounds 4 18s 8d.

4 February:

1962: The Sunday Times produces Britain's first colour supplement.

1963: A learner driver is fined for driving on after her instructor had shouted 'This is suicide,' and jumped from the car.

5 February:

1905: In the cold spell in America, a polar bear freezes to death in Chicago zoo.

1924: The Greenwich time-signal pips are heard for the first time on BBC radio.

1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain.

6 February:

Death of two kings: Charles II (1685) and George VI (1952) and birth of one queen: Anne (1665).

1901: The first public telephones come into operation at railway stations in Paris.

1961: Danny Blanchflower says no when Eamonn Andrews says: 'This is your life'.

(Photograph omitted)