June 10: 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.
AD138 Death of Hadrian, Roman emperor who sponsored the building of a wall across northern Britain to keep the Scots out of England.
1099: El Cid dies of grief
The famed Spanish warrior Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, or El Cid as he was more commonly known, dies in Valencia – apparently of grief at the defeat of his forces against the Moors. His great achievement was the capture of the Muslim city of Valencia, after a siege of nine months, which he ruled absolutely over the previous five years. It seemed certain that with his death and the defeat of his forces, his wife Ximena would have been unable to withstand the onslaught of the Moors and Valencia would be abandoned, once again becoming a Muslim city. Born at Burgos around 1043 of a noble Castilian family, El Cid rose to fame for his successes in the war between Sancho of Castile and Sancho of Navarre. El Cid became a combination of ‘condottiere’ and compatriot at the tender age of 22 and had been fighting constantly since that time, sometimes for the Christians and sometimes for the Moors. He had served many rulers but none more faithfully than Alfonso VI of Castile, in spite of being exiled by the jealous king.
1754: Benjamin Franklin calls for unification
The representative for Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, presents the Albany Congress with a proposal for union between the British colonies. He and William Hutchinson drafted a plan which would give this hypothetical union the power to build forts, raise armies, equip fleets, levy taxes, declare war, make peace and negotiate treaties with other nations. The so-called Albany Plan was not ratified and it was unlikely that it would be, because no consensus could be found. The situation left colonies divided in the face of a unified French presence in North America.
1778: King Louis XVI of France declares war on England in support of the American rebels.
1851: Death of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, French pioneer of the photographic process.
1890: Wyoming becomes the 44th state of the Union.
1900: The Paris Metro opens.
1941: Jelly Roll Morton, American ragtime piano player and composer, dies in Los Angeles.
1964: The Bahamas gain their independence from Britain.
1976: Poison cloud hovers over Seveso
Leaked chemicals from a factory created a cloud of poison over the northern Italian town of Meda near Seveso, causing panic amongst residents. There was criticism that efforts to inform and evacuate were not made. A faulty pressure valve sprayed more than two tons of the toxic weed-killer TCDD, containing the cancer-causing agent dioxin into the atmosphere. Dioxin produced burning rashes, headaches, diarrhoea and vomiting in more than 250 people at that stage. Birds and animals died and plant life and water supplies were contaminated.
1978: Death of Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter who was the originator of Metaphysical painting.
1984: The Nigerian junta try to smuggle kidnapped foreign minister Umaru Dikko out of London in a diplomatic bag.
1985: Rainbow Warrior blown up in New Zealand
The Greenpeace protest ship ‘Rainbow Warrior’ sank in Auckland harbour after two explosions tore the hull apart below the waterline. Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira was killed in the blast, but nine other people on board escaped uninjured. There were suspicions that French secret agents were behind the explosions – Rainbow Warrior was preparing to lead a flotilla of seven peace vessels into the French nuclear testing site of Muroroa Atoll in the Pacific to coincide with Bastille Day. The international implications of French Secret Service involvement in the Rainbow Warrior sabotage plan was deemed very serious.
1989: Striker Maurice costs a pretty penny
Sectarian feelings ran a bit high in Glasgow after Rangers Football Club announced it had paid £1.5 million ($2.8 million) for a Catholic player. The signing of Scottish striker Maurice Johnston broke Rangers’ 100-year-old tradition of fielding only Protestant players. Johnston, then with the French club Nantes had been expected to return to Celtic FC.
1992: Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in jail on drug charges.
1995: Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Kyi is released.
2000: A giant landslide in Manila kills 200 people.
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