Happy Anniversary: Rome calls it a day

Some memorable anniversaries in the coming week, with Tuesday a particularly good day for nakedness.

23 August:

410: Visigoths sack Rome to put an end to Roman civilisation.

1977: Bryan Allen makes the first mile-long man-powered flight.

24 August:

79: Vesuvius shows that it is not extinct by burying Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae.

1906: Kidney transplants performed on dogs and cats at a Toronto medical conference.

1946: At Newquay, Maisie Dunn becomes the first to wear a bikini on a British beach.

1975: Annabel Hunt becomes the first actress to appear nude on British television during a broadcast performance of the opera Ulysses from Glyndebourne on STV.

25 August:

325: The General Council of Nicaea decide on the rules for working out the date of Easter.

1928: Anfield's Kop terrace is opened, named after the Battle of Spion Kop (from the Afrikaans Kopje, a hillock) during the Boer War. On the same day Ahmed Zog becomes the first King of Albania.

26 August:

1346: At the battle of Crecy, English soldiers become the first to use the longbow in warfare on the European mainland. They also pioneer the two-finger insult.

1959: First firing, in New Mexico, of an anti-missile missile.

1987: A sex-crazed elephant, running amok in Bangkok in search of a mate, is shot after killing two people and flattening a radio station.

27 August:

1883: Krakatoa erupts killing thousands in the resulting tidal waves, later inspiring the film, Krakatoa, East of Java. Actually, Krakatoa is west of Java. 1913: Lieutenant Peter Nesterov, of Russia, becomes the first pilot to loop the loop.

28 August:

1207: Liverool is created a borough by King John.

1988: The Yan Hee Polyclinic in Bangkok claims that pressing lettuce seeds in your ears 10 times before a meal kills hunger.

29 August:

1882: England lose to Australia at cricket for the first time.

1897: Chop Suey is invented by a New York chef to appeal to both Chinese and American tastes.