Happy Anniversary: Day Arsenal did manage to score

LITTLE did Stanley think, on that memorable day when he met Dr Livingstone, that exactly 86 years later there would be a dog in space. Here are some other fascinating facts about the forthcoming week.

1 November:

1848: W H Smith opens first railway bookstall at Euston Station, London.

1922: Radio licences go on sale in Britain, priced at 10 shillings.

1956: Premium bonds go on sale in Britain.

1959: First stretch of the M1 is opened.

1988: Robin the Boy Wonder, a close friend of Batman, is killed by the Joker after a readers' poll voted to write him out.

2 November:

Birthday of two American presidents: James Polk (1795) and Warren Harding (1865).

1785: Lionel Lukin of London patents an unsinkable lifeboat.

1871: The Rogues' Gallery is begun with photographs of all prisoners in British jails.

1896: Issue of the first motor insurance policies - which exclude damage caused by frightened horses.

1924: The Sunday Express publishes the first crossword in a British newspaper.

3 November:

1843: Nelson's statue is lifted to the top of his column.

1871: Henry Morton Stanley says 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?'

1912: M Popov of Bulgaria becomes the first pilot to be killed in warfare.

1927: Windsor bookies go on strike in protest at the imposition of a betting tax.

1957: Laika becomes the first dog in space aboard Sputnik II.

4 November:

1862: Richard John Gatling patents the first effective machine gun.

1879: James Ritty, a saloon owner of Ohio, patents the cash register.

1914: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York hosts the world's first fashion show.

5 November:

1909: The first Woolworths store opens in Liverpool

1927: Britain's first automatic traffic lights are installed in Wolverhampton.

1932: Gillespie Road underground station in north London changes its name to Arsenal, after a request by a nearby football club.

6 November:

1814: Birth of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone.

1893: Probable date of the death of Dracula in Bram Stoker's novel.

7 November:

1783: Last public hanging in Britain at Tyburn. The unlucky victim is a forger, John Austin.

1974: Lord Lucan disappears.