The week that was

A look back at the week ahead.

10 March 1886: The first Cruft's Dog Show opens in London.

10 March 1910: China abolishes slavery.

10 March 1974: A Japanese soldier emerges from hiding on Lubang Island in the Philippines. He had not been told that the Second World War was over.

11 March 1845: Henry Jones invents self-raising flour.

11 March 1988: The £1 note ceases to be legal tender.

12 March 604: Death of St Gregory, who gave his name to Gregorian Chant.

12 March 1832: First appearance of a ballet tutu, at a performance of Les Sylphides.

13 March 1781: Sir William Herschel discovers Uranus and names it "Georgius Sidus" after King George III.

13 March 1894: An act called "Le Coucher d'Yvette" at the Divan Fayonau Music Hall in Paris becomes the first professional striptease.

14 March 1757: Admiral John Byng is shot by firing squad for failing to relieve Minorca from attack by the French. He was executed, according to Voltaire, "pour encourager les autres".

14 March 1939: The longest ever Test match is abandoned on its 12th day to allow the English cricket team to catch their boat home from South Africa.

14 March 1985: Five lionesses at Singapore Zoo are put on the pill because the lion population had rapidly increased from two to 16.

15 March 44BC: The Ides of March, which Julius Caesar was warned to beware.

15 March 1877: Charles Bannerman scores the first ever Test match century, in the first ever Test, for England against Australia in Melbourne.

16 March 1904: James Joyce wins a bronze medal in a singing contest in Dublin and throws it into the River Liffey.