Happy Anniversary: Inventing the patently obvious

SOME of the more curious anniversaries of the forthcoming week.

Today:

1882: England lose to Australia at cricket for the first time, a defeat that led to an obituary in the Sporting Times.

1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the first motorcycles.

Tomorrow:

Feast Day of St Rose of Lima, the first American saint, who took a vow of virginity, lived in a garden hut and died in 1617.

30BC: Death of Cleopatra.

1881: Clement Ader of Germany patents the first stereo- system.

1901: Herbert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum-cleaner.

Wednesday:

1900: Coca-Cola goes on sale in Britain.

1963: The 'hot-line' betwen the Kremlin and the White House comes into operation.

Thursday:

1830: Sarah J Hales publishes the poem 'Mary had a little lamb'.

1878: In Boston, Massachusetts, Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator.

1951: Britain's first supermarket opens, the Premier in Earl's Court.

1971: The old penny and threepenny-piece cease to be legal tender.

1988: The New York Health Department announces that in the past year 8,064 people have been bitten by dogs, 1,587 by people and one by a penguin.

Friday:

1858: The song 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' is copyrighted in New York by an anonymous person with the initials J K.

1932: The International Rugby Board condemns modern scrummage methods.

Saturday:

1752: The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Britain and the date promptly becomes 14 September.

1967: Sweden switches to driving on the right.

Sunday:

1733: Britain's first lioness dies in the Tower of London. She had been maintained by the Keeper of the Lion Office.

1955: Richard Baker becomes the first television newscaster to appear in vision on the screen.