this is the week that was

4 September:

1733: Britain's first lioness dies in the Tower of London where she had been looked after by the Keeper of the Lion Office.

1909: The first Boy Scout rally is held at Crystal Palace.

1955: Richard Baker becomes the first TV newscaster to appear in vision.

5 September:

1930: Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II wins a libel action against the Morgenpost newspaper.

1960: Cassius Clay wins the heavyweight boxing gold at the Rome Olympics.

6 September:

1666: The Great Fire of London burns itself out.

1852: Britain's first free lending library opens in Manchester.

1879: Britain's first telephone exchange opens in Lombard Street, London.

1880: England meet Australia in the first home test match.

1987: Indian military scientists announce the invention of the long-life chapati.

1989: As a result of a computer error, 41,000 Parisians receive letters charging them with extortion, murder and organised prostitution instead of traffic fines.

1994: Ear amputation and tattooing are added to the list of penalties in the Iraqi penal code.

7 September:

3446BC: End of the Great Flood, according to the calculations of 19th- century theologian Gustav Seyffarth.

1921: Margaret Gorman, 15, becomes the first Miss America.

1931: King George V takes a pay cut of pounds 50,000 a year, while the economic crisis lasts.

1973: A Royal Navy frigate is accused of throwing carrots at an Icelandic gunboat.

8 September:

1906: Robert Turner invents the automatic carriage return for typewriters.

1974: Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon for Watergate.

1983: A denim codpiece is first seen in public at the premiere of Blondel by Tim Rice and Stephen Oliver.

9 September:

1911: Britain's first airmail service begins operating between Hendon and Windsor.

1950: End of soap rationing in Britain.

10 September:

1813: A 48kg meteor falls on Adare, County Limerick.

1910: George Smith, a London taxi driver, becomes the first person convicted of drunken driving. He is fined pounds 1.

1987: Westminster Council lifts a 35-year ban on stage hypnotists.