this is the week that was

25 September:

1769: Honoretta Pratt is cremated, the first official cremation in Britain.

1818: The first blood transfusion using human blood is performed at Guy's hospital.

1897: Britain's first motorbus service begins in Bradford.

1968: The censorship of stage plays is abolished.

26 September:

1887: Emile Berliner is granted a patent for the gramophone.

1950: A blue moon is visible in south-east England.

1955: Birds Eye fish fingers go on sale in Britain.

27 September:

1888: First appearance of the name "Jack the Ripper" - on a letter to the Central News Agency.

1919: Lloyd George calls the railwaymen's strike an "anarchist conspiracy".

28 September:

1745: "God Save the King" is first sung in public at the Drury Lane Theatre.

1894: Simon Marks and Tom Spencer open their first Penny Bazaar in Manchester.

1904: A woman is arrested for smoking on 5th Avenue, New York.

29 September:

1930: George Bernard Shaw turns down a peerage.

1946: The BBC Third Programme begins broadcasting.

1950: Bell Telephone Co begin testing the first telephone answering machine.

30 September:

1906: The first hot-air balloon race is staged in Paris.

1938: Neville Chamberlain says: "I believe it is peace in our time."

1939: Identity cards are issued in Britain for the first time.

1947: The Government tells women it is in the national interest for them to save cloth by avoiding the fashion for longer skirts.

1 October:

1760: Lady Coventry dies after painting her face with white lead - one of the earliest recorded martyrs to cosmetics.

1870: Introduction of the postcard and the halfpenny stamp.

1880: The Edison Lamp Works in New Jersey manufactures the first electric light bulbs.

1908: The Model T Ford becomes the first left-hand drive car.

1928: Elastoplast dressings are first manufactured in Hull.

1961: The last steam train runs on the London underground.

1971: Disneyworld opens in Florida.

1974: London's first McDonalds opens.