site.btaToday's Observances: August 1

The world:

- National Day of Benin: Independence Day (1960);
- National Day of Switzerland: anniversary of founding of Swiss Confederation in 1291.

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1870: Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, whose mission is to work for liberation from Ottoman rule, publishes its first programme in Russian emigrees' newspaper in Geneva. 

1885: First Bulgarian banknote issue (20 and 50 leva) is printed in St. Petersburg, Russia.

1912: First airplane unit of Bulgarian armed forces is set up. Bulgarian Air Force marks sate as its birthday.

1928: Radio Service established at Press Directorate, of which BTA is part between 1912 and 1944 and then again between 1948 and 1951.

1947: Opera and Ballet opens in Varna (on Black Sea) (today's Varna Theatre and Music Production Centre).

1963: West Germany's Deutsche Welle Radio launches Bulgarian service.

1990: 7th Grand National Assembly elects Zhelyu Zhelev President of Bulgaria.