June 20: On This Day in World History … briefly
Interesting historic snippets and facts taken from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London.
1597: Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who led three expeditions to find the north-west passage and discovered Spitzbergen on is final trip, died at sea on the return voyage.
1756: Black Hole Horror
Of the 146 British men thrown into Calcutta’s notorious Black Hole prison, only 23 survived into the night. The Nawab of Bengal, Suraj ud-Daulah, attacked the English settlement in Calcutta because he feared invasion. Reports had reached him that the English in Bengal had fortified their without his permission and were abusing the trading privileges granted by the Imperial firman of 1717. The Black Hole measured only 18ft by 14ft (5.4m by 4.2m) in size.
1789: In France, the Third Estate of the States General forms a National Assembly to oppose the aristocracy’s domination of the proceedings.
1819: Steamship cracks the Atlantic
The first steamship to cross the Atlantic – or any ocean at all, for that matter – arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Liverpool, England. The ‘Savannah’ sailed from Savannah, Georgia, and took 25 days to make the momentous crossing. The ‘Savannah’ was 98ft (27m) longand her 90 horsepower engine was fuelled by wood and coal. She was also equipped with sails. During the crossing the crew regularly unfurled the sails when the engine was shut down to clean the salt from her boilers. This magnificent and innovative vessel was built by an American, Moses Rogers, for the express purpose of discovering if steamships could be considered practicable for ocean-going voyages. The ‘Savannah’s’ success proved that they most certainly could.
1837: Eighteen-year old Victoria accedes to the English throne on the death of her uncle, William IV.
1863: West Virginia, the Panhandle State, becomes the 36th state of the Union.
1887: Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee is celebrated all over Britain and the Empire.
1930: Broadway hot for Satchmo and Fats
The vogue for black music continued and people couldn’t seem to get enough of it. Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong took New York by storm when their hit revue ‘Hot Chocolates’ opened on Broadway. ‘Hot Chocolates’ – which took its title from the 12 gorgeous dancers who featured in the show – first opened at Connie’s Inn in May 1929 and critics couldn’t praise it enough. Armstrong was at his gravelly best singing ‘Ain’t Misbehaving’ and special praise had to go to Jazz Lips Richardson and his colleague Baby Cox. Pianist and vocalist Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller had to take credit for several of the excellent songs.
1949: American tennis player ‘Gorgeous Gussie’ Moran created a sensation at Wimbledon by exposing lace-trimmed panties under her short skirt.
1960: American Floyd Patterson knocks out Swede Ingmar Johansson to become the first boxer to regain the world heavyweight title.
1979: Film murder angers US
American TV reported Bill Stewart was gunned down by Nicaraguan National Guardsman as he walked towards a roadblock with a white flag in one hand and his official press card in the other. He had been ordered to get more action shots, so left his film crew accompanied by his Nicaraguan driver and interpreter. Suddenly one of the guardsmen ordered him first to kneel, then lie on the ground. As Stewart complied, he shot him in the head. The sequence was filmed and relayed on American TV, shocking the nation.
1990: Classic red bus terminates
The Routemaster, the world-famous London double-decker bus, was phased out because of old age. In its 30 years of faithful service, the red ‘open platform’ bus became a tourist attraction in its own right and passengers in a hurry came to rely on being able to hop on and off the bus. But despite cannibalising even older buses for spare parts, London Regional Transport was finding it an increasing struggle to keep the fleet on the road. “The problem is that earlier models are developing fundamental faults that cannot easily be repaired.” a spokesman said. The news saddened a lot of people; the Routemaster was universally acknowledged to be the ‘best designed bus of all times’.
1990: Nelson Mandela gets a ticker-tape welcome in New York.
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