June 24: 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.
1497: Cabot takes Maine chance
John Cabot sailed into Maine with his sons just 35 days after leaving Bristol in his ship Matthew. Armed with letters patent from King Henry VII authorising him to discover and possess lands ‘unknown to all Christians’, he immediately went to shore and finalised ownership. Cabot – real name Giovanni Caboto – was a Venetian explorer in the service of the English crown. Cabot’s mission, and the purpose for which he came to England in the first place, is to find an alternative westward route to ‘the Indies’.
1509: Henry VII of England is crowned.
1519: Death of Lucrezia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI.
1717: The Grand Lodge of English Freemasons is formed in London.
1876: Custer’s Last Stand
General Custer and his men were defeated in a bloody battle with the Indian chief Crazy Horse and his Sioux warriors. Custer had been ordered to take his regiment up the Rosebud Creek and into the valley of the Little Bighorn River to ferret out the hostile Indians believed to be camping there. Early in the morning, Custer spotted a large Indian village and, unaware that it was harbouring more than 1 500 fighting men, decided to attack at once. With Custer’s army totalling about 650 men, it was a lost battle from the start. The General divided his regiment into four detachments and led his own detachment in an attempted strike on the village’s eastern flank. He was unable to penetrate with mounted troops, however, and his cavalry were forced to dismount and fight on foot. The 225 officers and men were overwhelmed and every last one was killed.
1901: Exciting new artist emerges
An exhibition of work by Pablo Picasso, a young new Spanish painter, opened at the Ambrose Vollard gallery in Paris. Because of the restricted space the works were hung from floor to ceiling. Reviews included ‘There was some interesting work on display, notably the ‘Old Harlot’ and ‘Dwarf Dancer’.
1902: King Edward VII has an emergency appendix operation two days before his planned coronation.
1947: A pilot sees nine unidentifiable circular objects in the sky above Washington State.
1948: The Berlin airlift begins as the Allies fly food and essential supplies to Berliners after the Soviets blockade the city.
1953: Jacqueline Bouvier announces her engagement to US senator John F Kennedy.
1968: British comedian Tony Hancock commits suicide in Australia.
1973: Eamon de Valera resigns as president of Ireland, aged 90.
1978: Twelve white missionaries are massacred in Rhodesia’s bush war.
1983: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space when she blasts off in ‘Challenger’ with four male astronauts.
1985: Home videos in zero G
The shuttle ‘Discovery’ returns to Earth, having taken millions of French and Arabic viewers on a televised tour of the craft. Prince Sultan Salman Saud of Saudi Arabia and Colonel Patrick Baudry of Air France took it in turns to float around the cabin telling their respective audiences about the pleasures and peculiarities of the weightless life aloft. The Prince confessed that praying to Mecca up there made him dizzy. Colonel Baudry revealed that ‘in zero G, you can put your trousers on two legs at a time.’ The shuttle had a flawless rendezvous with the satellite ‘Spartan’, released into orbit two days earlier. ‘Spartan’ was videotaping observations of super-heated gases in the constellation Perseus and at the centre of the Milky Way.
1985: Keith Hardcastle, Britain’s longest surviving heart transplant patient, dies six years after he received his replacement heart.
1990: Women-ordained Anglican priests
For the first time in the history of Europe, two women deacons were ordained priests of the Anglican Church. The historic ceremonies were conducted by the Bishop of Connor and took place in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. The women were Kathleen Young, a 50-year old physiotherapist of Carrickfergus, county Antrim, and Irene Templeton, 49, from Belfast. The ordinations followed a two-thirds majority decision by the general synod of the Church of Ireland to give women equal opportunity with men. The Bishop said afterwards that the ordinations heralded a new era for the Church.
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