this is the week that was

10 July:

1921: Mongolia becomes an independent state.

1947: The Government announces that Princess Elizabeth will receive extra ration coupons to buy her wedding dress.

1958: Britain's first parking meters appear in Mayfair.

11 July:

1804: Aaron Burr, US vice-president, fights a duel with Alexander Hamilton, a former treasury secretary. Hamilton is wounded and dies the next day.

1938: Arctic Eskimoes complain of a heatwave as temperatures hit 67F (19C).

1956: The makers of 4711 perfume sue Herr Koelsch of Siegen, a cesspit emptier whose phone number, 4711, is prominently displayed on his van.

1962: US frogman Fred Baldasare is the first person to swim the Channel underwater.

12 July:

1910: Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, becomes the first British aeroplane fatality, killed at a flying competition in Bournemouth.

1930: Donald Bradman scores 334 against England at Leeds.

1989: A woman shouting after a conviction for theft in Cleveland, Ohio, is ordered by the judge to have her mouth taped shut.

13 July:

1837: Buckingham Palace becomes the official royal residence.

1860: Marine private John Dalliger is the victim of the last naval execution at the yard-arm.

1871: Crystal Palace stages the first cat show.

1883: Death of "General Tom Thumb" (Charles Stratton). He is 40ins tall.

1920: London County Council bans the employment of foreigners in almost all jobs.

14 July:

1867: Alfred Nobel first demonstrates dynamite at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey.

1945: The ban is lifted on allied troops fraternising with German women.

15 July:

1869: Margarine is patented by Hippolyte Mege Mouries.

1913: A woman is arrested for wearing a split skirt in Richmond.

1948: Formation of the British branch of Alcoholics Anonymous.

16 July:

1661: Sweden issues Europe's first banknotes.

1935: The world's first parking meters - invented by Carlton Magee - appear in Oklahoma.

1945: The first atom bomb is exploded in New Mexico.