Happy Anniversary: Hats off to bowler

THE column that reaches the dates that you might otherwise have overlooked in the coming week.

4 October:

1911: Britain's first escalator comes into operation at Earl's Court underground station.

1950: Three generations of the Bowler family attend celebrations of the centenary of the bowler hat, though the first was sold on 17 December 1849.

1965: Pope Paul VI becomes the first pope to visit the United States.

1988: Alfred Dick, the Bavarian environment minister, asks people not to yodel in the Alps because it frightens the chamois and disturbs the golden eagle.

5 October:

1880: The earliest ball pen, with retractable tip, is patented by Alonzo T Cross.

1969: First transmission of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

6 October:

1883: Maiden run of the Orient Express from Paris to Constantinople.

1941: Two men, named Willburn and Frizzel, are sent to the electric chair in Florida.

1978: First woman driver on a London underground train.

7 October:

1806: Carbon paper patented by Ralph Wedgewood of London.

1876: The Hendon Cup becomes the first greyhound race to be run with an artificial hare.

1921: First International Sociology Conference opens in Turin.

8 October:

1891: Lifeboat Day in Manchester and Salford becomes the first street collection for charity in Britain.

1925: The Newmarket Town Plate becomes the first race won by a woman jockey.

1967: First motorist breathalysed in Britain.

9 October:

1947: First call between a car phone and a plane, in Wilmington, Delaware.

1952: A servant runs amok at the home of the Earl of Derby, shooting two butlers dead and wounding the Countess.

1973: Elvis Presley divorced.

10 October:

1886: First appearance of the dinner jacket, worn by its creator at the Tuxedo Park Country Club, New York.

1973: Spiro Agnew resigns as US vice-president.