Happy Anniversary: Mrs Dale and others get the chop

SOME of the less celebrated anniversaries of the coming week, traditionally a good time for executions.

25 April

1792: First use of the guillotine in Paris.

1969: 'The Dales', formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary', ends on BBC radio after 21 years.

26 April

1921: First police on motorcycles in London.

1926: One-way traffic is instituted in Trafalgar Square.

27 April

1749: The premiere of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks is disrupted by fire.

1968: Abortion is legalised in Britain.

28 April

1789: Captain William Bligh is cast adrift from HMS Bounty.

29 April

1913: The modern zipper is patented by Gideon Sundback.

1935: Cat's eyes, invented by Percy Shaw, are first used on British roads.

1820: The Cato Street conspirators are hanged, then beheaded - the last to be beheaded in Britain.

1901: Table tennis is born as James Gibb launches his new game 'ping pong'.

1 May

1889: Aspirin is introduced, in powder form, in Germany.

1939: Birth of Bob Kane's invention 'The Batman' in No 17 of Detective Comics.