Happy Anniversary: The pig that the French had to hang for murder

SOME DATES to remember during this week, traditionally an interesting time for executioners and the Royal Family:

12 July:

1543: Henry VIII celebrates his sixth and final marriage, to Catherine Parr.

1794: Nelson loses the sight in his right eye.

1930: Don Bradman scores 334 against England in the Leeds Test match.

1989: A judge in Cleveland, Ohio, orders a shouting woman to have her mouth taped shut.

13 July:

1837: Buckingham Palace become the official royal residence as Queen Victoria moves in.

1860: Marine private John Dalliger, of HMS Leven, becomes the last member of the Royal Navy to be executed at the yard-arm.

1871: Crystal Palace, London, hosts the world's first cat show.

1955: Ruth Ellis become the last woman to be hanged in Britain.

14 July:

1867: Alfred Nobel demonstrates his new invention of dynamite at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey.

1945: Ban lifted on allied troops in Germany fraternising with local women.

15 July:

1795: La Marseillaise becomes official French national anthem.

1869: Margarine patented by Hippolyte Mege Mouries of Paris.

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

16 July:

1935: The world's first parking meters, invented by Carlton Magee, become operational in Oklahoma City.

1945: First atom bomb exploded in New Mexico.

17 July:

1408: A sow is hanged in the town of Pont de Larche, France: 'for the crime of having murdered and killed a little child'.

1917: The British Royal Family decide to change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.

1967: Britain's first Anti-Litter Week is launched.

18 July:

1927: The British Medical Association expresses concern at the 'threat' of a possible medical service.

1969: Mary Jo Kopechne drowns in Chappaquidick river after an accident in an Oldsmobile driven by Edward Kennedy.