On This Day

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1521 Spanish conquistador Hernándo Cortés recaptured Tenochtitlán (Mexico City) and overthrew the Aztec empire.

1704 Anglo-Austrian forces defeated the French and Bavarians in the Battle of Blenheim.

1860 Annie Oakley, marksman who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, was born.

She was said to have been able to hit the thin edge of a playing card from 30 paces.

1868 Earthquakes killed over 25,000 people and destroyed four cities in Peru and Ecuador.

1881 United Ireland, the Parnellite paper, was first published.

1888 John Logie Baird, electrical engineer who invented television, was born in Scotland.

1889 The first coin-operated phone was patented in the USA by William Gray.

1899 Film director Alfred Hitchcock was born.

1915 Brides in the Bath murderer George Joseph Smith, who drowned his brides in a zinc bath after ensuring their finances were set up in his favour, was hanged.

It was Friday the 13th.

1923 Kemal Ataturk was elected the first president of Turkey.

1947 The Health Act extended the responsibility of County Councils in healthcare provision and introduced the 'mother and child' scheme.

1961 East German border guards stopped cars passing to the East through the Brandenburg Gate, thus sealing the border and preventing exodus to the West.

Barbed wire was erected, later to be replaced by the Berlin Wall.

1966 The Chinese Cultural Revolution began.

1972 The last US troops left Vietnam.

1974 Kate O'Brien, novelist and dramatist, died.

Her works included Distinguished Villa (1926), Without my Cloak (1931) and Theresa of Avila (1931).

1991 Prosecutors announced the discovery of one of the largest bank frauds in Japan's history, involving $25bn in fraudulently obtained loans.

[Bizarra]

On this day...

410 Alaric sacks Rome

1248 Construction of Cologne Cathedral begun

1385 Portuguese defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, retain independence

1457 Oldest known exactly dated printed book (c 3 years after Gutenberg)

1756 French capture Fort Oswego, NY

1765 Mass colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)

1813 British warship Pelican attacks & captures US war brigantine Argus

1842 Seminole War ends; Indians removed from Florida to Oklahoma

1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance

1848 Oregon Territory created

1862 Lincoln receives 1st group of blacks to confer with US president

1873 "Forest & Stream" begins publishing

1876 Prairie View State University forms

1880 Construction of Cologne Cathedral completed

1893 France issues 1st driving licenses, included required test

1900 Intl forces including US Marines enter Beijing to put down Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at ridding China of foreigners

1908 Race riot in Springfield Illinois

1910 6th International Congress of Esperantists held in Washington, DC

1912 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925

1917 China declares war on Germany & Austria at start of WW I

1919 Yankee Muddy Ruel hits into a triple-play

1932 10th Olympic Games at Los Angeles closes

1935 Social Security Act became law

1936 1st Olympic basketball game (Berlin)

1937 Detroit Tigers score 36 runs in double header vs St Louis Browns

1939 1st night games at Comiskey Park (White Sox 5, Browns 2)

1941 Atlantic Charter signed by FDR & Churchill

1945 V-J Day; Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II

1947 India granted independence within British Commonwealth

1947 Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000

1947 Pakistan gains independence from Britain

1948 14th Olympic games in London closes

1958 Canadian Football League plays 1st game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21)

1958 Cleve Indian, Vic Power steals home twice in 1 game

1958 KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99

1959 AFL organized with NY, Dallas, LA, Minneapolis, Denver & Houston

1961 Phila Phillies lose 17th straight game

1962 French & Italian workers break through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel

1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m

1962 US mail truck in Plymouth, Mass robbed of more than $1.5 million

1965 Beatles tape an appearance for the Ed Sullivan Show

1965 Continental Football League plays 1st games

1966 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting the Moon

1967 Pirate radio stations Radio 270, Radio London, Radio Ireland, Radio Scotland & Radio Swinging Holland go off the air

1969 British troops intervenes militarily in Northern Ireland

1969 NY Mets fall 9« games back, later to win the pennant

1970 City University of NY inaugurates open admissions

1971 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule

1971 British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland

1971 St Louis Cards Bob Gibson no-hits Pitts, 11-0

1972 East German Aeroflot Illyushin 62 crashes near Moscow, killing 156

1973 Johnny Unitas files $725,000 suit against Balt Colts

1973 US bombs Cambodia

1974 Congress authorizes US citizens to own gold

1977 77,691 see NY Cosmos beat Ft Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 at Giant Stad

1978 French TV announced a rating of "0" for a program about an Armenian's woman's 40th birthday, (comp: Napoleonic drama-67%, Knockout-33%)

1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hour duration

1981 George Foster hits his 8th HR into the red seats at Riverfront

1982 Pete Rose (Phillies) 12,365 at bat sets record (passes Aaron)

1984 IBM releases MS-DOS version 3.0

1986 Phillies & Pirates play a 6 game series in 4 days

1990 Angel's Louis Palonia is 74th to hit an inside the park grandslam

1990 Denver vote for a 1% sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise

1991 Comedian Jackie Mason marries his manager Jyll Rosenfeld (37)

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1769 Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica.

1771 Sir Walter Scott, creator of the historical novel, was born in Edinburgh.

1842 The first regular British detective force was formed.

This division of the Metropolitan Police assumed the name Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 1878.

1843 The Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen were opened to the public.

1888 T E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - was born in Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire.

1947 The Union Flag was run down for the last time in New Delhi as India gained independence from Britain.

1960 Britain's first motorway restaurant was opened on the M1 at Newport Pagnell.

1967 The Marine Broadcasting Act came into force, outlawing pop pirate radio stations within British territorial waters.

1969 The three-day Woodstock pop festival began in upstate New York.

More than 400,000 people watched artists like The Who, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Santana and Jimi Hendrix - but massive traffic jams, adverse weather and shortage of food led to the event being declared a disaster area.

1979 At the age of 22, Sebastian Coe became the first man to hold three world records simultaneously, setting the fastest ever 800m, 1,500m and mile times in the space of six weeks.

1987 Caning was officially banned in Britain, except in independent schools.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

FEAST day of St Stephen of Hungary, St Armel, and St Arsacius.

1819 Troops broke up a meeting to demand Parliamentary reforms on St Peter's Field, Manchester.

Eleven died in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

1925 Charlie Chaplin's film The Gold Rush was premiered in America.

1927 Wembley Stadium was sold for use as a greyhound racing track.

1948 Legendary baseball player George Herman ''Babe'' Ruth died in New York aged 53.

1949 Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind, died after being knocked down by a car two days earlier.

1956 Bela Lugosi, the horror actor who became a drug addict later in his life, died.

He was buried (as he had stipulated) in his famous Dracula cape.

1959 Cyprus became an independent republic, with Archbishop Makarios its first president.

1962 Pete Best, original drummer with The Beatles, was fired by Brian Epstein and replaced by Ringo Starr.

1977 Elvis Presley, died in the bathroom of his home in Memphis, Tennessee, though he was actually pronounced dead at 3.

30pm in the emergency room of the Baptist Hospital, Memphis.

1989 A ceasefire began between the Lebanese army and the Syrians with their Muslim militia allies.

[Bizarra]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On this day...

682 St Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope

1787 Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups

1807 Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River

1846 US takes Los Angeles

1858 1st bank in Hawaii opens

1863 Federal batteries & ships bombard Fort Sumter, Charleston

1869 1st international boat race (Thames River) (Oxford beats Harvard)

1870 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington

1870 Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)

1876 The opera "G”tterd„mmerung" is produced (Bayreuth)

1877 Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos

1894 Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4

1896 Gold is discovered on Klondike River

1904 Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chic White Sox, 6-0

1908 Bank of Italy opens new HQ at clay & Montgomery

1915 Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Ga after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life

1918 Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000

1933 Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th straight game

1938 Henry Armstrong won his 3rd concurrent boxing championship

1939 "Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY

1940 FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission

1942 US bombers staged 1st independent raid on Europe attack Rouen, France

1944 Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game

1945 Indonesia declares independence from Netherlands (National Day)

1948 Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent

1948 Phillies commit 8 errors in a game

1950 Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands

1951 Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica

1955 Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 & doing $1.8 billion damage

1958 World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec

1959 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park

1960 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow

1960 Gabon gains independence from France (National Day)

1961 Building of the Berlin Wall begins

1961 Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress

1962 Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr

1962 E German border guards shot & kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector

1963 Jim Hickman becomes the 1st NY Met to hit for the cycle

1963 Oriole's ***** Hall retires his 28th consecutive player in relief

1966 Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit

1969 Hurricane Camille claims more than 250

1969 NY Jets beat NY Giants 37-14 in their 1st meeting (pre season)

1970 Venera 7 launched by USSR for soft landing on Venus

1972 Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game

1973 Lee Trevino's 1st hole-in-one

1978 1st manned balloon crossing of Atlantic Ocean (Eagle II)

1982 LA Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game completed 8/18)

1982 South Bend, Ind jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin

1984 Pete Rose returns to Cin Reds as player-manager (gets 2 hits)

1985 Dave Kingman hits his 400th HR

1985 Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India

1986 Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market

1987 Dow Jones Industrial Avg closes above 2,700 for 1st time (2,700.57)

1988 Butch Reynolds of USA sets the 400m record (43.29) in Zurich

1988 LIRR says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991

1988 NYC 1st case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)

1990 "The Exorcist 3" premiers

1990 Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment

[Bizarra]

0410 King Alarik I's Visigoten occupies & plunders Rome

1289 Pope Nicolaus IV publishes degree "Supra montem"

1564 Spanish king Philip II joins Council of Trente

1572 King Navarra Henri de Bourbon marries Margaretha van Valois

1591 Governor of Roanoke Island colony returns from England & found everyone in the colony had disappeared [or Aug 17, 1590]

1605 Spanish army under of general Spínola conquerors Lingen

1674 Jean Racine's "Iphigénie," premieres in Versailles

1686 Cassini reports seeing a satellite orbiting Venus

1698 Russian czar Peter the Great arrives in Zaandam

1700 Swedish, English & Dutch army lands on Seeland, Denmark

1735 Evening Post begins publishing (Boston Mass)

1759 -19] 2nd sea battle of Lagos: England vs France

1769 Gunpowder in Brescia Italy church explodes, killing 3,000

1795 Curaçao governor De Veer sends miltia to stop rebellious slaves

1817 Gloucester, Mass, newspapers tells of wild sea serpent seen offshore

1834 Mt Vesuvius erupts

1835 Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago

1838 1st US marine expedition

1840 Organization of American Society of Dental Surgeons founded (NY)

1846 Gen Stephen W Kearney's US forces captures Santa Fe NM

1858 Netherlands & Japan sign trade agreement

1862 General Lee's adjutant major Stuart captured

1862 Sioux Indians begin uprising in Minnesota (it is later crushed)

1864 6th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia: Confederate assault

1864 Petersburg Campaign-Battle of Weldon Railroad day 1 of 3 days

1868 Pierre Janssan discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse

1870 Battle at Gravelotte Privat: Prussia beat France, 32,000 casualties

1872 1st mail-order catalog issued by A M Ward

1873 1st ascent of Mount Whitney, Calif (14,494')

1886 Carr Baker Neel & Samuel Neel win US Lawn Tennis Assn doubles

1891 Hurricane hits Martinique, about 700 die

1894 Congress creates Bureau of Immigration

1896 Adolph Ochs (39) buys NY Times

1914 -20] Belgian army withdraws to Antwerp

1914 French troops under general Dubail occupy Sarrebourg

1914 Pres Wilson issues "Proclamation of Neutrality"

1915 Braves Field opens in Boston to see Braves beat Cards 3-1

1917 Dutch Naval Air Force forms (MLD)

1919 Anti-Cigarette League of America forms in Chicago Illinois

1920 1st class debut of Walter Hammond

1920 Tennessee ratifies 19th Amendment, guarantees women voting right

1923 37th US Womens Tennis: Helen Wills Moody beats Molla B Mallory (62 61)

1924 France begins retracting troops out of Ruhrgebied

1925 Belgian & US sign treaty about war debts

1925 Cardinal Mercier warns Belgians against socialism/liberalism

1926 England regain Ashes with 5th Test Cricket win, to take series 1-0

1926 Weather map televised for 1st time

1930 Eastern Airlines begins passenger service

1931 Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game

1932 Auguste Piccard/Max Cosijns reach 16,201m in a balloon

1932 Englishman James Mollisson is 1st to fly east to west over Atlantic

1934 48th US Womens Tennis: Helen Jacobs beats Sarah H Cooke (61 64)

1934 Bradman scores 244 in 5th Test Cricket, 316 mins, 32 fours 1 six

1934 Ponsford & Bradman make 451 partnership in 316 minutes v Eng

1936 106.5°F-Hottest afternoon ever in Iowa

1937 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)

1938 FDR dedicates Thousand Islands Bridge connecting US & Canada

1940 71 German aircrafts shot down above England

1941 Concentration camp Amersfoort opens

1941 Phillies commit 8 errors in a game

1942 Carlson's Raiders land on Makin, Gilbert islands, kill 350 Japs

1943 Carl Hubbell wins his 253rd & final game, all with Giants

1943 Final convoy of Jews from Salonika Greece arrive at Auschwitz

1943 Otto Skorzeny's Heinkel-111 shot down at Sardinia

1944 Paris railroad workers strike against nazi occupiers

1944 US 15th Army corp reaches Mantes-Gassicourt near Paris

1944 US 20th Army corp conquers Chartres

1945 Scheduled demonstrations at Polo Grounds & Ebbets Field to end segregation in organized baseball are called off

1946 Golf Writers Associaton of America forms

1947 Naval torpedo & mine factory explodes at Cadiz, Spain killing 300

1949 Hungary adopts constitution

1949 Ralph Flanagan & his orch records "You're Breaking My Heart"

1951 Cricket 1st-class debut of Raymond Illingworth

1954 James E Wilkins is 1st black to attend a US cabinet meeting

1955 -19] Hurricane Diane, kills 400 in US

1955 46.1 cm rainfall at Westfield, Massachusetts (state record)

1955 Sjukri al-Quwatli re-elected president of Syria

1956 Cin Reds (8) & Cubs (2) combine to hit 10 HRs in a 9 inning game

1956 Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" reaches #1

1957 Amelia Wershoven sets record of female throwing a baseball (252'4«")

1957 Betty Dodd wins LPGA Colonial Golf Open

1957 Juan-Manuel Fangio, wins his last auto World Championship at 46

1957 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1958 "Lolita," by Vladimir Nabokov, published

1958 Betsy Palmer joins Today Show panel

1958 Fidel Castro makes a speech on Cuban pirate radio Rebelde

1958 Floyd Patterson TKOs Roy Harris in 13 for heavyweight boxing title

1958 Great Britain issues regional stamps (N Ireland, Scotland & Wales)

1958 Perez Prado "Mambo King," receives one of the 1st gold records

1958 TV game show scandal investigation starts

1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

1958 Verne Gagne beats Edouard Carpentier in Omaha, to become NWA champ

1959 Branch Rickey resigns as Pirates' CEO to be pres of Continental League

1960 1st commercial oral contraceptive, Enovid 10 debuts in Skokie Ill

1960 1st photograph bounced off a satellite, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

1960 Beatles give their 1st public performance (Kaiserkeller in Hamburg)

1960 Lew Burdette pitches to just 27 for a 1-0 no-hitter against Phillies

1961 Construction on Berlin Wall completed

1962 Peter, Paul & Mary release their 1st hit "If I Had a Hammer"

1963 James Meredith becomes 1st black graduate from U of Mississippi

1963 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Albuquerque Swing Parade Golf Tournament

1964 Beatles arrive in SF, 2nd US visit

1964 Charles Helu elected president of Lebanon

1964 South Africa banned from Olympic Games because of apartheid policies

1964 USSR launch 3 Kosmos satellites

1965 Hank Aaron loses a HR, because he hit it out of batter's box

1965 Orioles' Brooks Robinson hits into his record tying (George Sisler)

1967 Red Sox Tony Conigliaro is beaned by Angels jack Hamilton

1967 Rolling Stones release "We Love You"

1967 WCBS radio in NYC goes all-news

1968 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Holiday Inn Golf Classic

1969 Mick Jagger accidentally shot while filming "Ned Kelly"

1972 Police fine Paul & Linda McCartney œ800 in Sweden cannabis possession

1973 Gene Krupa, drummer, plays for final time with Benny Goodman Quartet

1973 Hank Aaron's record 1,378 extra base hit surpasses Stan Musial record

1974 Joanne Carner wins LPGA St Paul Keller Golf Open

1976 USSR's Luna 24 soft-lands on Moon

1977 2 girls are killed by a runaway car outside of Graceland

1977 Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton throws his NL record tying 5th one-hitter

1978 Memphis Tenn settles with striking police officers & firefighters

1979 Iran Ayatollah Khomeini demands Saint War against Kurds

1979 Nick Lowe marries singer Carlene Carter

1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1980 KC Royals' George Brett, batting avg reach .400

1981 "My Fair Lady" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 119 performances

1981 Jerry Lewis appears on "Donahue" to defend Telethons

1981 Football running back, Herschel Walker, of U of Georgia, takes out a Lloyd's of London insurance policy for $1 million

1982 1st time NYSE tops 100 M figure, 132.69 M shares traded

1982 LA Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game started 8/17)

1982 NYSE sets trading record of 132,690,000 shares traded

1982 Pete Rose sets record with his 13,941st plate appearance

1982 Longest baseball game at Wrigley Field in Chicago IL, ends after 22 innings - before LA Dodgers beat Cubs 2-1 (game started Aug 17th)

1983 Hurricane Alicia battered Houston & Galveston, Texas

1983 Samantha Druce, age 12y 119d is youngest woman to swim English Channel

1983 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

1983 Royals defeat Yanks, 5-4, completing "pine-tar" game (12 minutes). Hal McRae strikes out & Dan Quisenberry retires Yankees in order

1984 Triangle Oil Corp, above-ground storage tank at Jacksonville Fla, spills 2.5 m gallons of oil burned after lightning sparked a fire

1985 Amy Alcott wins LPGA Nestle World Championship of Women's Golf

1985 Muffin Spencer-Devlin wins MasterCard International Pro-Am Golf Tourn

1985 Suisei Launch (Halley's Comet Flyby)

1986 Crockett's Tavern opens in Fort Wilderness

1986 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Philadelphia PA on WYSP 94.1 FM

1986 Jim Kelly signs with NFL Buffalo Bills ($75 million for 5 years)

1986 John Tesh's 1st appearance on Entertainment Tonight

1986 WYSP-FM Philadelphia begins simulcasting Howard Stern Show

1987 Houston Oiler Earl Campbell, retires from NFL

1987 Ohio nurse Donald Harvey sentence to triple life (poisoned 24)

1987 Philip Rush of NZ, set record for triple crossing English Channel his time 28:21, 10 hours faster than 1st man to do it

1987 Straatsburg: Manuela Stellmach/Astrid Strauss/Anke Möhring/ Heike Friedrich swims female world record 4x200m freestyle (7:55.47)

1988 FDA approves Minoxidil as a hair loss treatment

1988 Largest house (130 rooms) on Long Island sold for $22 million

1988 Republican Convention in New Orleans select Bush-Quayle ticket

1989 Arturo Barrios of Mexico sets 10K record (27:08.23) in Berlin

1989 Bucky Dent replaces Dallas Green as NY Yankee manager

1991 Cindy Rarick wins LPGA Northgate Computer Golf Classic

1991 Hurricane Bob hits NC with 115 MPH wind

1991 Pan Am games closes in Havana

1992 "Real Inspector Hound" opens at Criterion NYC for 61 perfs

1993 Historical Kapelbrug in Luzern Switz, destroyed by fire

1994 5.6 earthquake in Algeria, kills 171

1994 Jimi Hendrix's guitar sells for Ÿ150.000

1995 Cards reliever Tom Henke earns his 300th career save

1996 Emilee Klein wins LPGA Weetabix Women's British Golf Open

1996 Record 6,654 tap at Macy's Tap-o-mania in NYC

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

14 AD Death of Augustus, first Roman emperor.

1504 Firearms were used for the first time in an Irish conflict when the Lord Deputy defeated the Southern Chieftains at Knockdoe, Co Galway.

1796 France and Spain formed an alliance against Britain.

1902 Ogden Nash, US humorist, born.

1934 A plebiscite was held in Germany giving sole power to Adolf Hitler, the Fu¨hrer.

1953 Israel's parliament conferred Israeli citizenship posthumously on all Jews killed by the Nazis during the years of the Holocaust (1933-45) in Europe.

1969 A meeting between Northern Ireland government representatives and the British Government in London ends in a Downing Street Declaration that Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK while a majority so wished.

1977 Comic Groucho Marx died.

Years earlier Irving Berlin had written the perfect epitaph for him: "The world would not be in such a snarl, If Marx had been Groucho instead of Karl.

" 1987 Michael Ryan shot dead 16 people in Hungerford, Berkshire, and then killed himself.

1989 Poland became the first eastern European country to end one-party rule, when a coalition government was formed with Tadeuz Mazowiecki as prime minister.

1991 Soviet hardliners briefly toppled President Gorbachev in a dramatic coup.

The plotters put tanks on the streets of Moscow, banned demonstrations and imposed a state of emergency.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1710 The French were defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Saragossa.

1798 Bernardo O'Higgins, father of Chilean independence, born in Chile.

His father, Ambrose O'Higgins, came from Co Meath.

1875 The IRB Supreme Council withdrew its support for Home Rule, and called on Republican MPs to leave Westminster.

1886 Twenty people held off over 700 police attempting to evict Thomas Saunders at Woodford, Co Galway, in what became known as the siege of Saunders' fort.

1890 US writer, H P Lovecraft, was born.

1913 Adolphe Pegond bailed out from a Bleriot aeroplane 700 feet above Buc in France.

His parachute brought him down safely, making him the first to parachute from a plane.

1914 German forces occupied Brussels.

1924 British sprinter Eric Liddell refused to run in the heat of the 100m at the Paris Olympics because it fell on a Sunday and was against his religious convictions.

1940 Leon Trotsky, exiled Bolshevik leader who found asylum in Mexico, died after being struck several blows on the head with an ice pick wielded by Ramon Mercader, an agent for Stalin.

1956 Calder Hall, Cumbria, the world's first large-scale atomic power station, began generating.

1968 Russia sent tanks into Czechoslovakia.

1977 The US Voyager I spacecraft was launched on its journey via Jupiter and Saturn to become the first artificial object to leave the solar system.

1988 Eight British soldiers were killed and 27 injured when a PIRA bomb blew up their bus between Ballygawley and Omagh, Co Tyrone.

1989 The Thames pleasure cruiser Marchioness was hit by a dredger and 51 young people attending a party on the boat were killed.

1989 George Adamson, naturalist and conservationist, best known for his work with his wife Joy and the lioness Elsa, was murdered by bandits in a game park in Kenya.

[Bizarra]

1754 William Murdoch, Scottish engineer who, with James Watt and Matthew Boulton, pioneered the use of coal-gas lighting in 1792, was born.

1808 French forces under General Junot were defeated by Wellington at Battle of Vimiero.

1858 Sir Sam Browne, VC, invented the Sam Browne belt to hold his sword and pistol after he had lost one arm in action.

It soon became standard military kit for the able-bodied as well.

1879 The apparitions at Knock, Co Mayo, made their first appearance.

1882 Parnell and Davitt founded the Irish Labour and Industrial Union to "promote and harmonise interests of agricultural labourers and industrial workers"1901 The Cadillac Motor Company was formed in Detroit, Michigan, US, named for French explorer, Antoine Cadillac.

1911 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) was stolen from the Louvre in Paris.

The thief was Italian waiter Vicenzo Perruggia who, posing as an official photographer, walked off with it under his arm.

It was recovered in 1913 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state of the USA.

1962 Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship, went on her maiden voyage.

1970 The SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party) was founded in Northern Ireland with Gerry Fitt as leader.

1991 An attempted coup d'état in the USSR failed; faced with international condemnation and popular protests led by Boris Yeltsin the junta stepped down and Gorbachev was reinstated.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1839 Hong Kong was taken by the British.

1914 The Battle of Mons, in Belgium near the French frontier, began.

1921 Faisal I was crowned as King of Iraq.

1926 Rodolpho Alfonzo Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglieimi Di Valentina D'Antonguolla, or Rudolf Valentino, ''the world's greatest screen lover'', died in New York aged 31 from complications of ruptured appendix and gastric ulcer.

Thousands of women lined his funeral route.

1927 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italo-American anarchists, were falsely accused of robbery and murder, and were sent to the electric chair.

1939 Germany and Russia signed a short-lived non-aggression pact which left Hitler free to attack Poland.

1940 The Blitz began as German bombers launched an all-night raid on London.

1960 Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist, died.

His collaboration with Richard Rodgers to produce Oklahoma in 1943 changed the whole form and shape of the musical.

They followed with South Pacific, The King And I, and The Sound of music.

1987 French racing driver Didier Peroni was killed in a power boat race off the Isle of Wight.

[Bizarra]

1998 Minnesota LPGA Classic

1995 Indians' Jose Mesa sets record with his 38th consecutive save

1995 Larry Hagman receives a liver transplant

1993 Dow Jones index reaches record high of 3,638.96 points

1993 Fred McGriff and David Justice are 6th to hit back-to-back home runs twice in same game

1992 Kris Tschetter wins LPGA Northgate Computer Golf Classic

1992 Dennis Eckersley, who previously set record for most consecutive saves (40), is 1st pitcher to record 40 saves in 4 different seasons

1990 Armenia declares independence

1990 East and West Germany announced that they would unite on Oct 3

1990 U.S. begins call up of 46,000 reservists to the Persian Gulf

1989 Los Angeles Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 1-0, in 22 innings (Rick Dempsey HR)

1989 Lewis/Everett/Burrell/Heard run world record 4x200 m (1:19.38)

1988 Mike Tyson and Mitch Green brawl at 4 A.M. in Harlem

1987 15-years old boy hijacks KLM B737, demands $1 billion

1987 Betsy King wins Atlantic City LPGA Golf Classic

1987 Violent rainfall/floods in Bangladesh, kills 100s

1986 "Rags" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater New York City after 4 performances

1985 Said Aouita of Morocco sets 1.5k record (3:29.46) in Berlin

1985 South African attorney/UDF leader "Dulah" Omar arrested

1985 West German top counter espionage Hans Tiedge moves to East Germany

1985 Paul Hornung awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against NCAA who barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games

1982 Lebanese falangist leader Bechir Gemayel elected as president

1982 Seattle Mariner pitcher Gaylord Perry ejected for throwing a spitter

1982 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.

1981 Beth Daniel wins LPGA World Championship of Women's Golf

1980 Charlie Finley sells A's for $127M to Haas (owners of Levi Strauss)

1979 Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defects in New York City

1979 Iran army opens offensive against Kurds

1978 Iranian students occupies Iranian embassy at Wassenaar

1977 1st man-powered flight of a mile (Bryan Allen in Gossamer Condor)

1977 Marxist philosopher Rudolf Bahro imprisoned in East Germany

1977 Yankees leap frog over Red Soxs game in 1st place to stay

1976 Heavy earthquake strikes China, 1,000s die

1975 Classical Way wins Championship Cup at Roosevelt Raceway

1975 Communists take over Laos

1975 Ethiopian junta under Mengistu Haile

1975 Free guitarist Paul Kossoff revived from dead after heart attack

1975 Philip Kapleau conducts 1st jukai ceremony in Poland

1975 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.

1974 John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in New York City

1974 Zaheer Abbas scores 240 Pakistan vs. England at The Cricket Oval

1973 Intelsat communications satellite launched

1972 Republican convention (Miami Beach, Florida) renominates Vice President Agnew but not unanimous - 1 vote went to NBC newsman David Brinkley

1972 Chicago's ***** Allen is 4th (Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, and Alex Johnson) to homer into Comiskey Park's center field bleachers

1971 WGTU TV channel 29 in Traverse City, MI (ABC) begins broadcasting

1970 Kathy Ahern wins LPGA Southgate Ladies Golf Open

1970 Roberto Clemente compiles his record 2nd straight 5-hit game

1969 Audrey McElmory (U.S.) wins World Cycling Championships, Brno,

1969 France's Une De Mai wins International Trot at Roosevelt Raceway Czechoslovakia (1st American to win cycling race title since 1912)

1968 Ringo quits Beatles over a disagreement, temporarily

1968 Yankees and Tigers play 3-3 tie in 19 due to 1 AM curfew

1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from Moon

1964 Marilynn Smith wins Albuquerque Professional Amateur Golf Tournament

1964 St. Louis Cardinals are 11 games back in NL, and win World Series

1963 Beatles release "She Loves You" in UK

1963 Ringo admits he wrote a song "Don't Pass Me By"

1963 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1962 1st Europe-U.S. live TV program (via Telstar)

1962 John Lennon weds Cynthia Powell

1961 Belgium sends troops to Rwanda-Urundi

1961 East Germany imposed new curbs on travel between West and East Berlin

1961 U.S. lunar probe Ranger 1 reaches 190 km from Earth, falls back

1960 World's largest frog (3.3 kg) caught (Equatorial Guinea)

1959 Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Spokane Golf Open

1958 China resumes fire on Quemoi and Matsoe

1958 Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record 133 hours

1957 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1955 Betty Jameson wins LPGA White Mountain Golf Open

1954 President Getulio Vargas of Brazil resigns temporarily

1953 Braves Phil Paine is 1st former major leaguer to play in Japan

1953 Cyclist Arie Van Vliet becomes world champion sprinter

1953 Dutch DC-6 crashes near Ymuiden in North Sea, 21 die

1953 KBAK TV channel 29 in Bakersfield, California (ABC) begins broadcasting

1953 Phil Grate sets record for throwing a baseball (443'3 ")

1953 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test

1952 Arab League security pact goes into effect

1952 Giants Bob Elliot is ejected for arguing a strike, Bobby Hoffman complete his at bat, he strikes out and is also ejected for arguing

1950 jack Holden wins marathon (2:32:12)

1950 West Germany and Japan readmitted to International Amateur Athletic Federation

1948 Earl Bernadotte asks aid for fugitives to Palestine

1948 World Council of Churches formed by 147 churches from 44 countries

1947 President Truman's daughter, Margaret's 1st public singing concert

1946 13th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 16, Los Angeles 0 (97,380)

1944 94.5 degrees F (34.7 degrees C) in De Bilt Netherlands and 101.5 degrees F (38.6 degrees C) in Warnsvelt

1944 Allied troops capture Mubikilles, France

1944 General George Leclercs troops advance towards Paris

1944 General Montgomery consults with Generals Bradley/Eisenhower

1944 King Michael of Romania ordered his forces to cease fire against Allies and dismissed the pro-Axis premier, Marshal Ion Antonescu

1944 Romania liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day)

1944 Sammellager Drancy freed

1944 U.S. 20th Army corp enter Fontainebleau/Melun de Seine

1944 U.S. B-24 crashes into school in Freckelton England, 76 killed

1943 Red army recaptures Charkow

1942 1st U.S. flights to land on Guadalcanal

1942 Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffers bomb Stalingrad (40,000 die)

1942 British Premier Winston Churchill flies back to London from Cairo

1942 Walter Johnson pitches to Babe Ruth in pregame attraction that draws 69,000 for New York - Washington game, raises $80,000 for Army-Navy relief

1940 German Luftwaffe begins night bombing on London

1940 Queen Wilhelmina fires premier De Geer

1939 John Cobb (Britain) drives 365.85 MPH (593.48 KPH) at Bonneville Flats

1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: East Europe divided between Hitler and Stalin

1939 U.S.S.R. and Germany sign a non-agression pact

1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop-pact (Soviet Union neutral/Poland divided)

1938 England score 7-903 decl vs. Australia Hutton 364

1936 17 year old Bob Feller's 1st game, he strikes out 15 St. Louis Browns

1933 1st TV boxing match - Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri in London

1931 45th U.S. Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen B Whitingstall (64 61)

1931 Count Gyula Karolyi becomes premier of Hungary

1931 Philadelphia A's Lefty Grove, loses 1-0 (Browns) after winning 16 straight

1930 44th U.S. Womens Tennis: Betty Nuthall beats Anna McCune Harper (61 64)

1929 Arabs attack Jews in Israel

1926 40th U.S. Womens Tennis: Molla B Mallory beats Elizabeth Ryan (46 64 97)

1924 Mars' closest approach to Earth since 10th century

1920 M R Rinehart and A Hopwood's "Bat," premieres in New York City

1919 "Gasoline Alley" cartoon strip premieres in Chicago Tribune

1917 Race riot in Houston Texas (2 blacks and 11 whites killed)

1916 Military court of Berlin sentences Karl Liebknecht to 4 years

1915 Czar Nicolaas II takes control of Russian Army

1914 German troops plunder Belgium

1914 Battle at Mons: general von Klucks troops beat Britten

1914 General von Hausen executes 612 inhabitants of Dinant Belgium

1914 Japan declares war on Germany in World War I

1911 British premier Asquith holds secret meeting about British strategy in case of war with Germany

1910 Fred Clarke makes a record 4 outfield assists for Pittsburgh

1907 Pitts Howie Camnitz no-hits New York Giants, 1-0 in 5 inning game

1906 Chicago White Sox win 19th straight, beating Washington Senators

1906 Cuba's 1st president Tomas Estrada Palma asks for U.S. intervention

1904 Automobile tire chain patented

1903 6th Zionist Congres, Theodor Herzl declares Jewish state

1898 18th U.S. Mens Tennis: Malcolm Whitman beats Dwight Davis (36 62 62 61)

1889 1st ship-to-shore wireless message received in U.S. (SF)

1883 Phillies make 27 errors against Providence (wild pitches, walks and and passballs count as errors prior to 1888)

1879 Governor-general Charles Gordon of Sudan returns to Cairo

1873 Albert Bridge creossing Thames opens

1869 1st carload of freight (boots and shoes) arrives in SF, from Boston

1866 Treaty of Prague ends Austro-Prussian war

1864 Union troops/fleet occupy Fort Morgan, Alabama

1862 Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (2 Federal regiments)

1850 1st national women's rights convention convenes in Worcester Mass

1839 British capture Hong Kong from China

1838 Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (South Hadley, Mass) 1st graduating class

1833 Britain abolishes slavery in colonies; 700,000 slaves freed

1821 Mexico declares independence

1813 Battle of Grossbeeren - Prussians under Von Bulow repulse French

1796 African Methodist Episcopal Church incorporated

1784 Eastern Tennessee settlers declare their area an independent state and name it Franklin; a year later the Continental Congress rejects it

1711 Admiral Hovenden Walkers fleet reach St. Lawrence

1617 1st one-way streets open (London)

1614 University of Groningen opens

1582 French van Valois pays tribute to earl of Flanders

1566 Beeldenstorm reaches Amsterdam

1566 Land guardian Margaretha van Parma grants Calvinists rights

1553 Bishop Stephen Gardiner appointed English Lord Chancellor

1542 Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur Code

1441 Holland and Hanzesteden sign cease fire treaty

1328 Battle at Kassel: French troops stop uprising of Flemish farmers

1328 King Philip VI of France, crowned

1046 King Henry III gives money to Utrecht Deventer diocese

476 Odoacer elected King of Byzantine

406 Battle at Florence: Stilicho's Roman army beats Radagaisus' Barbarians

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

79 Vesuvius erupted, destroying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing 2,000 people.

Paradoxically, the eruption not only destroyed Pompeii but it also preserved it for all time.

1572 The St Bartholomew’s Day massacre took place in Paris when thousands of French Huguenots were killed by order of the Catholic French court.

1724 George Stubbs, portrait and animal painter, and especially of horses, was born in Liverpool.

1814 British troops under General Ross invaded Washington and set fire to the White House and the Capitol.

Both were rebuilt and enlarged.

1875 Matthew Webb, British merchant navy captain, became the first person to swim the English Channel.

His preferred style was the breaststroke which he maintained from Dover to Cap Gris Nez for 21 hours, 45 minutes.

1891 The motion picture camera was patented by Thomas Edison.

1916 Eight people died when Zeppelins raided the outskirts of London.

1942 The Duke of Kent, youngest brother of King George VI, died when his Sunderland flying boat crashed en route to Iceland.

1951 The Mau-Mau rebellion began in Kenya.

1965 The 450,000-year-old body of a man was found in a Hungarian limestone quarry.

[Bizarra]

On this day...

1580 Battle of Alcantara, Spain defeats Portugal

1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers

1689 Montr‚al taken by Iroquois

1718 Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans, founded

1804 Alice Meynell becomes 1st woman jockey (England)

1814 British capture Washington DC

1825 Uruguay declares independence from Brazil (National Day)

1830 Belgium revolts against Netherlands

1835 NY Sun publishes Moon hoax story about John Herschel

1862 Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves

1864 Combination rail & ferry service available from SF to Alameda

1864 Petersburg Campaign-Battle of Ream's Station

1875 Matthew Webb becomes 1st to swim English Channel (21h 45m)

1886 1st intl polo meet (US vs England)

1888 Henry Slocum wins US Lawn Tennis Assn singles title

1904 Jim Jefferies KOsJack Munroe & retains boxing heavyweight title

1908 Allen Winter wins US 1st $50,000 trotting race

1912 1st time an aircraft recovers from a spin

1915 Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage

1916 National Park Service established in the Dept of the Interior

1919 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane (Paris-London)

1920 1st US woman to win in Olympics (Ethelda Bleibtrey)

1921 US signs peace treaty with Germany

1921 Yankee pitcher Harry Harper hits 3 batters in an inning tying record

1922 Cubs beat Phillies 26-23 in highest scoring major-league game

1924 Wash Senator Walter Johnson 2nd no-hitter beats Browns, 2-0 in 7 inn

1925 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizes (Harlem NY)

1925 Helen Willis wins her 3rd straight US Lawn Tennis Open

1929 Graf Zeppelin passes over SF for LA after trans-Pacific voyage

1932 Amelia Earhart completes transcontinental flight

1936 3 Braves hit twice in an inning getting 2 hits each

1940 1st parachute wedding

1943 US forces overran New Georgia in Solomon Islands during WW II

1944 Paris liberated from Nazi occupation

1945 Jewish immigrants are permitted to leave Mauritius for Palestine

1946 Ben Hogan wins the PGA championship

1947 Marion Carl in D-558-I sets world aircraft speech record, 1,047 kph

1950 Pres Truman orders army to seize control of RR to avert a strike

1950 Sugar Ray Robinson KOs Jose Basora to win middleweight boxing title

1952 Det Tiger Virgil Trucks 2nd no-hitter of yr, beats Yankees, 1-0

1960 17th summer olympics opens in Rome

1960 AFL begins placing players names on back of their jerseys

1963 Paul McCartney is fined œ31 & 1 yr suspended license for speeding

1967 Minn Twin Dean Chance 2nd no-hitter of month beats Cleveland, 2-1

1967 Paraguay accepts its constitution

1968 NY Yankee outfield Rocky Colavito pitches 2 2/3 innings & beats the Tigers 6-5; he played right field in the 2nd game & homered

1969 Det Lions beat Boston Patriots 22-9 in Montr‚al (NFL expo)

1974 LA Aztecs defeat Miami Toros to win NASL cup

1976 Yanks beat Twins 5-4 in 19 innings

1979 California Angels trounce Toronto Blue Jays, 24-2

1981 Jeff Schwartz, sets solo record for trampoline bouncing (266:09)

1981 Mark Chapman, John Lennon's murderer, is sentenced to 20 years

1981 Voyager 2's closest approach to Saturn (63,000 miles/100,000 km)

1983 Triple A baseball's Louisville breaks 1 million fan mark

1983 US & USSR sign $10 billion grain pact

1985 Met Dwight Goodin becomes youngest pitcher to win 20 games (20y 9m 9d)

1985 STS 51-I scrubbed at T -9m because of an onboard computer problem

1987 Dow Jones industrial stock avg reaches record 2722.42

1988 Challenger Center opens its classroom doors in Houston

1988 NASA launches space vehicle S-214

1989 Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune (0400 GMT)

1990 Li Hui Rong of China sets the triple jump women's record (47'8«")

1990 UN security council authorizes military action against Iraq

1991 Carl Lewis runs 100m in 9.86 seconds

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1902, It is announced that the General Post Office in London and the American Express Company have agreed to carry parcels between the U.K and the U.S.

1920, The 19th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was declared in effect.

1928, Chicago: The offices of The Star blown up by gangsters.

1933, Dublin: Five thousand blue shirts meet illegally at the point where their hero Michael Collins had been murdered.

1934, Irish Free State: Ex-IRA leaders begin recruiting a Citizens' Army with the aim of setting up a workers' state.

1961, Burma becomes world's first Buddhist republic.

1975, FDA warns birth control pills raise heart attack risk.

1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Paul VI.

The new pontiff took the name John Paul I.

1986, Two experts in Vienna say 24,000 will die of cancer as result of Chernobyl disaster.

1994, Police in Mubikilles, France arrest one of ETA's most wanted terrorists, Irene Idola Lopez Riaro, known as the Tigress.

1996, Pakistan's cricket team wins the final Test against England at the Oval to take the series 2-0.

1997, In an interview published in Le Monde, in Paris, Diana, Princess of Wales says the former British Conservative govt.

was “hopeless” on the issue of landmines, and praises the attitude of Labour.

1998, Attorney General Janet Reno reopened the investigation of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

, focusing on two allegations of a conspiracy beyond James Earl Ray.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1813 Napoleon defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Dresden.

1816 Algiers, then a refuge for Barbary pirates, was bombarded by Lord Exmouth.

1859 The world's first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake.

1882 Sam Goldfish, Hollywood film producer and founder of MGM, was born.

He changed his name to Goldwyn before becoming famous.

1883 Krakatoa, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, erupted with thousands killed by the resulting tidal waves.

1870 The Oceanic, the first modern liner, was launched.

It was built for the White Star Line by Harland and Wolff, Belfast.

1874 Sculptor John Henry Foley died.

He created the statues of Daniel O'Connell, Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith in central Dublin.

1899 CS Forester, English novelist, was born.

1912 Tarzan Of The Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first went into print as a magazine serial.

1913 A Russian pilot, Lieutenant Peter Nesterov, became the first to perform the loop-the-loop.

1928 The anti-war Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed by 15 nations.

1939 The first jet-propelled aircraft, the Heinkel 178, made its first flight.

1958 The USSR launched Sputnik 3 into space, carrying two dogs.

1967 The man who helped make The Beatles, Brian Epstein, died in his London home from an overdose of sleeping pills.

1975 The last descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Jah Rastafari Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, died, aged 83.

1979 The IRA killed Earl Mountbatten with a remote-controlled 50lb bomb on his boat Shadow V off Co Sligo.

They also killed 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Warrenpoint, Co Down.

1991 EC members recognised the independence of the Baltic states.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1207 Liverpool was created a borough by King John.

1749 Johann von Goethe, poet, playwright and scientist, was born in Frankfurt.

His masterpiece was Faust, and in 1867, 35 years after his death, the first part of that work became the first paperback book to go on sale in the world.

1828 Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian author of War And Peace, was born.

1849 Venice was taken by the Austrians after a siege.

1850 The Channel telegraph cable was finally laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez.

1850 Franz Liszt conducted the first performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin.

It contains The Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes The Bride.

1895 RL Thomas, secretary and treasurer of Kinestoscope Co of New Jersey, USA, became the first film actor, playing the part of the Queen in The Execution Of Mary Queen Of Scots.

A dummy was also used for the first time - for the beheading! 1933 The BBC was used for the first time by the police hunting a wanted man.

An appeal was broadcast for information on murder suspect Stanley Hobday.

1963 Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King made his famous ''I have a dream.

'' speech to a rally of 200,000 people in Washington.

1988 Thirty-three people died when three Italian air force jets collided during an aerobatics display at Ramstein in Western

Germany.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1896, The Chinese-American dish chop suey was invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang.

1900, Italy: The assassin of King Umberto, Bresci, is sentenced to penal servitude for life.

1912, Dublin: Strike riots following the arrest of a transport worker.

1930, Death of Rev Dr William Spooner, Irish academic, known for linguistic confusion.

1935,Queen Astrid of Belgium is killed in a motor accident in Switzerland.

She was aged 30 years.

The King, who was driving the car, was seriously injured.

1958, Birth of Michael Jackson, U.S. pop singer

1965, Gemini 5, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles (''Pete'') Conrad, splashed down in the Atlantic after eight days in space.

1966, The Beatles performed their last concert, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

1966, Soviet spacecraft Luna II orbits the moon.

1976, Irish statesman Eamon de Valera died near Dublin at age 92.

1979, Pope John Paul II will not visit Northern Ireland on his tour to Ireland in Sept because of IRA violence there.

1989, Voyager 2 sends impressive data from Neptune.

1996, President Clinton's chief political strategist, ***** Morris, resigned amid a scandal over his relationship with a prostitute.

1997, Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam accepts the IRA ceasefire as genuine and asks Sinn Fein to take part in peace negotiations next month.

2000, Pope John Paul II laid down moral guidelines for medical research in the 21st century, endorsing organ donation and adult stem cell study, but condemning human cloning and embryo experiments.

[Bizarra]

30BC At the age of 38, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, committed suicide with the bite of an asp.

1797 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, second wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and author, in 1818, of Frankenstein, was born in London.

1860 The first tram service in Britain opened, at Birkenhead on Merseyside.

1871 Lord Rutherford, pioneer of sub-atomic physics, was born in Spring Grove, New Zealand.

In the 1920s he was the first to split the atom.

1881 The first stereo system was patented by Clement Ader of Germany, for a telephonic broadcasting service.

1901 Scotsman Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner.

1937 Joe Louis defeated Welshman Tommy Farr in an epic fight in New York to retain the world heavyweight boxing title.

1939 The great evacuation of children from British cities be gan.

With the Second World War four days away, thousands of youngsters were moved to the country to avoid anticipated German bombing.

1941 The siege of Leningrad by German forces began.

1963 The Hotline between the US President and the Soviet Premier was established to re duce the risk of an accidental nuclear war.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

12AD Caligula, or 'Little Sandals', Roman emperor, born.

1422 King Henry V of England died of dysentery in Vincennes, France.

He was succeeded by his nine-month-old infant son, Henry VI.

1602 Red Hugh O'Donnell, chief of the O'Donnells of Donegal and ally of Hugh O'Neill, died suddenly at Simancas in Spain.

Aged 30, he was poisoned by James Blake of Galway - who was probably working under the orders of Sir George Carew, President of Munster.

1867 Charles Pierre Baudelaire, poet, died.

1870 Maria Montessori, Italian educator, born.

1928 The Brecht / Weill musical The Threepenny Opera was premiered in Berlin.

1942 The German offensive was halted by the British at the Battle of Alam al-Halfa, marking the turning point in the North African Campaign.

1969 Rocky Marciano, American world heavyweight boxing champion from 1952 to 1956, who retired undefeated, was killed in an air crash in Iowa.

1972 US swimmer Mark Spitz won five of the seven gold medals he achieved in total at the Munich Olympics.

1983 The USSR shot down a South Korean airliner, killing 269 people aboard.

1984 A tropical storm hit the Philippines, killing over 1,000 people.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

AD70 The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus took place.

1159 Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope, died.

1715 King Louis XIV of France, called The Sun King, died in Versailles after reigning for 72 years the longest in European history.

1737 The first edition of the Belfast News Letter was published, the oldest newspaper in Ireland.

1830 The Wild Colonial Boy, John Donahue not jack Duggan was shot dead in a gunbattle with police at Campbelltown, Sydney.

Donahue was born in Castlemaine, Co Kerry, and was transported from Ireland in 1824.

1856 John Redmond, the leader of the Parnellite MPs after the split in the Irish Party in 1891, was born in Co Wexford.

1864 Roger Casement, Irish nationalist and British colonial service official, born at Sandycove, Co Dublin.

1886 The Severn Tunnel was opened for goods traffic.

1920 The state of Lebanon was created by the French.

1923 An earthquake in Japan left the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama in ruins and killed more than 300,000 people.

1928 Albania was declared a kingdom, with Zog I as king.

1933 The Shape of Things to Come, the classic science fiction novel by H G Wells, was published.

1939 Germany invaded Poland, starting WWII.

1969 Colonel Ghadhaffi seized power in Libya, after overthrowing King Idris I.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

31BC Emperor Augustus (Octavian) defeated Antony at the Battle of Actium.

1652 José Ribera ('Lo Spagnoletto'), Spanish painter, died.

1666 The Great Fire of London began in Pudding Lane.

It ended on September 6 at Pye Corner when it rained.

Although 13,000 buildings were destroyed, only six people died.

1752 The Julian calendar was used in areas under British control "officially" for the last time; as in the rest of Europe, the following day became September 14 in the Gregorian calendar.

1865 Sir William Rowan Hamilton, mathematician, linguist and astronomer, died.

Born in Dublin in 1805, his The Elements of Quaternions, published after his death, put him on a par with Descartes in terms of thought.

1898 The British, led by Lord Kitchener, defeated the Sudanese at the Battle of Omdurman and re-occupied Khartoum, the capital.

1906 Roald Amundsen completed his sailing trip round Canada's Northwest Passage.

1913 Two tenement houses collapsed, killing seven people, at Church Street, Dublin.

1920 The RUC was established.

1937 Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, died.

1939 The Dáil and Senate met in emergency session to enact two neutrality bills.

1945 The formal Japanese surrender to the Allies was signed on board the American battleship Missouri.

1969 The Northern Irish government announced a three-week amnesty for the surrender of arms and ammunition.

1973 JRR Tolkien, creator of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit, died aged 81.

1987 The CD-video, combining digital sound with high-definition video, was launched by Philips.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1189 Richard Lionheart crowned at Westminster after the death of his father, Henry II.

1513 Great Earl of Kildare Garret More Fitzgerald, virtual ruler of Ireland for 40 years, died of wounds received in a skirmish.

1783 Britain finally recognised the United States of America by signing the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence.

1842 John Devoy, Fenian and member of Clan Na Gael in America, born at Kill, Co Kildare.

1913 American film star Alan Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Being only 5ft 6in tall, it did not hamper his career since leading ladies stood in trenches or he stood on boxes.

1916 The first Zeppelin was shot down over England.

1930 Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, was destroyed by a hurricane which killed 5,000 people.

1935 Malcolm Campbell reached a new world land speed record of 301.

13 mph in Bluebird on Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

1939 Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and France declared war on Germany.

1943 The Allies landed at Salerno, on mainland Italy, and the Italian government surrendered.

1953 The National Development Committee was established by Seán MacEntee; it led to the establishment of the National Development Fund.

1963 Louis McNiece, poet and broadcaster, died.

Among his poetry collections are Holes in the Sky (1947), and The Strings are False (1965).

1967 Sweden changed from driving on the left to the right.

1969 Ho Chi Minh, president of North Vietnam, died.

1976 The US spacecraft Viking II landed on Mars after a journey lasting six days short of one year.

[Bizarra]

Battle of Britain Day.

On This Day Over The Years

National day of Costa Rica Battle of Britain Day.

FEAST day of St Nicetus the Goth, St Nicomedes, St Aachard or Aichardus, St Mirin, and St Catherine of Genoa.

53 Trajan, Roman emperor, born.

1321 Italian poet Dante Alighieri died in Ravenna.

1649 Titus Oates, English Anglican priest and fabricator of the ‘Popish Plot’ in 1678, was born.

1812 The Russians set fire to Moscow in order to halt the French occupation.

1830 The Manchester-Liverpool railroad opened; during the ceremony, William Huskisson, MP, became the first person to be killed by a train.

1866 John Blake Dillon, Nationalist and co-founder of The Nation (1842), died.

1871 The Army and Navy Co-operative began the first mail order business to meet the needs of its members in Britain and overseas.

1890 Agatha Christie, creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple — she sold more that 300 million copies of her books — was born in Torquay.

1917 Alexander Kerensky proclaimed Russia a republic.

1935 At a Nuremberg rally, Adolf Hitler issued decrees relegating Jews to sub-human status.

1946 Freddie Mercury, rock singer, born.

1964 The Sun, which became Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, was first published.

1974 Mrs Sydney Czira (born Sydney Gifford), a Republican who wrote under the pen-name John Brennan, died.

1975 Civil war broke out in Beirut between Christians and Muslims.

1985 Tony Jacklin’s European team won the Ryder Cup from the US who had long dominated the competition.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1387 Henry V was born in Monmouth Castle.

'Bluff' Prince Hal became a ruthless king who fought two bloody campaigns which came to a climax at Agincourt.

Shortly afterwards, in 1422, he died unheroically of dysentery.

1498 Tomás de Torquemada, Spanish Inquisitor-General, died.

1620 The 101 Pilgrim Fathers set sail from Plymouth in the Mayflower, captained by Myles Standish.

1736 The Shah of Iran, Reza Khan Pahlavi, abdicated.

1859 David Livingstone discovered Lake Nyasa.

1861 The Post Office Savings Bank was instituted.

1908 The American car firms Buick and Oldsmobile merged to form General Motors.

1941 16 soldiers died in an anti-tank mine explosion test in the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow.

1945 John McCormack, Irish tenor, died.

1946 Have A Go began on the Light Programme, with Wilfred Pickles and his wife as Mabel at the Table.

The show ran for more than 20 years.

1963 Malaysia became independent and a mob celebrated by burning down the British embassy.

1970 NIHE Limerick (now the University of Limerick) was opened for student enrolment.

1976 The Episcopal Church in the US approved the ordination of women to the priesthood.

1977 Maria Callas, opera singer, died.

1987 For the first time in South Africa, Othello was performed with a black actor, John Khani, playing the Moor.

1991 All Iran-Contra charges against Oliver North were dropped.

1996 Government backbench TDs threatened revolt over demands for a vigorous canvass to ensure a 'yes' vote in the divorce referendum.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1787 39 delegates out of 42, under the chairmanship of George Washington, approved the Constitution of the United States of America.

1862 General McClellan repulsed General Lee's invasion of the North at Antietam, ending one of the decisive battles in the American Civil War.

1877 Our Boys, a comedy by a Mr Byron was the opening performance in the Athenaeum, later known as the Cork Opera House.

1900 The Commonwealth of Australia, a federation of six colonies, was proclaimed.

1903 Frank O'Connor, writer, born Michael O'Donovan in Cork City.

Among his works were The Saint and Mary Kate, and Guests of the Nation.

1908 Lt Selfridge, on a test flight with Orville Wright, was killed when the plane crashed, becoming the first passenger to die in an air crash.

1930 The Irish Free State was elected to the council of the League of Nations.

1931 The first long-playing 33 rpm records were demonstrated in New York by RCA Victor.

1939 Poland was invaded by the USSR.

1944 The Allied airborne invasion of Arnhem and Eindhoven in the Netherlands began as part of Operation Market Garden.

The objective was to secure a bridge over the Rhine to aid an invasion of Germany, but after a battle which lasted until September 27, the attempt failed.

1948 Count Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat, assassinated.

1961 One of London's biggest 'ban the bomb' demos ended with 830 arrested, including actress Vanessa Redgrave and playwright John Osborne.

1983 George Colley, politician and former Tánaiste, died.

1991 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia were admitted to the United Nations.