Week in week out

Today The first newspaper interview appeared in 1728 when Brice's Weekly Journal, Exeter, featured a man condemned to be executed in the local prison. Alex Waugh, the initially more famous brother of Evelyn, claimed to have invented the cocktail party in 1924, although only one guest showed up.

Saturday Regent's Park Zoo was opened to the public in 1828; it began with a small but decorous collection of animals, but by the 1990s it had become, financially speaking, an absolute jungle.

Sunday Before the first FA Cup final held at Wembley, in 1923, an invasion of the pitch was dispersed by a single mounted policeman, after which Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham 2-1. Britain's first daily drama series began in 1941; a sort of Archers with attitude, Front-Line Family went out on the BBC Overseas Service to show Our Boys that the folks back home were standing firm.

Monday William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate and original for Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, was born in 1863. The first television interview was in 1930, transmitted over a short cable at the Ideal Home Exhibition, Southampton: "it's rather a jolly experience," said actress Peggy O'Neil, "top-hole." At the Strand Theatre, London, in 1987, Cabaret was put on without music - something of a disadvantage for a musical - when the orchestra went on strike over the sacking of five members.

Tuesday This is Walpurgis Night, the Witch's Sabbath, when evil stalks the mountains of Germany. In 1951, Britain's first 3D films, five shorts, were premiered at Telekinema on the South Bank.

Wednesday The May 1939 issue of Detective Comics featured the first appearance of Batman. Legoland Family Park in Denmark was slotted together in 1968.

Thursday In 1903 a Mrs Spock was delivered of a baby boy, little knowing that she had given birth to childcare guru Dr Benjamin. Thanks to a 1992 industrial tribunal verdict allowing her into the business, Susan Thompson became the first woman professional pool player.