On this day

122 - Building of Hadrian's Wall began.

335 – Emperor Constantine the Great consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

1501 – Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.

1759 - British troops, under the command of General Wolfe, secured Canada for the British Empire after defeating the French at the Battle of Quebec.

1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

1902 - The first conviction in Britain using finger-prints as evidence was in the case against Harry Jackson by the Metropolitan Police at the Old Bailey. He had left his thumbprint in wet paint on a window sill and was tracked down through it.

1951 - In Korea, U.S. Army troops began their assault in Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long fight produced 3700 casualties.

1994 – Ulysses probe passes the Sun's south pole.

2008 – Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries.

1752 – The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven days (the previous day was September 2).

1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow. The Fire of Moscow begins as soon as Russian troops leave the city.

1917 – Russia is officially proclaimed a republic.

1954 – In a top secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40 kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.

1958 – The first two German post-war rockets, designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.

1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach it.

1960 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.

1985 – Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic.

1995 – Body Worlds opens in Tokyo, Japan.

2007 – The Northern Rock bank experiences the first bank run in the United Kingdom in 150 years.

1982: Hollywood princess dead
Princess Grace of Monaco has died of the injuries she sustained in a car crash near Monte Carlo yesterday.
The Hollywood actress Grace Kelly - who starred in the Alfred Hitchcock hits Dial M for Murder and Rear Window - suffered a brain haemorrhage.

A statement issued by the royal palace said she died at 2130 GMT after her conditioned worsened throughout the morning and become irreversible by the afternoon.

It also said the former film star's husband, Monaco's head of state Prince Rainier, and her three children were at her bedside when she died.

The US-born princess' youngest daughter Stephanie was in the car at the time of the accident, but suffered only light bruising.

Brake failure

The news of her death was unexpected as previous reports from the palace had indicated that despite broken ribs, leg and collarbone she was in a stable condition.

The Monaco royal family also released an account of yesterday's accident and said the princess had lost control of the car when the brakes failed.

After leaving the road her 10-year-old Rover tumbled 100 ft (30.5 m) down a ravine, turning over several times before coming to rest in a garden.

But a witness who was driving behind the two princesses said the car began zigzagging erratically some time before the crash happened.

Two engineers from British Leyland are on their way to Monte Carlo to examine the wreckage.


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Watch/Listen

Grace Kelly was a 1950s style icon


Grace Kelly's car crash investigation to continue




In Context
Princess Grace was given a full royal funeral at the Cathedral of St Nicholas in Monte Carlo.
Her daughter Stephanie - who was later reported to have suffered a serious cervical fracture rather than slight bruising - was too ill to attend.

The Leyland engineers who were sent to the crash scene said the car had been in a perfect state before the accident.

It was later determined the princess had probably suffered a minor stroke which had caused her to lose control of the car.


Stories From 14 Sep
1985: USSR expels 25 in tit-for-tat spy row
1982: Hollywood princess dead
1960: Violence follows army coup in Congo
1981: Queen's 'fantasy assassin' jailed
1993: UK tourist shot dead in Florida
1951: Refinery opens as oil row continues



http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...720723.stm

1821 – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica jointly declare independence from Spain.

1916 - Military tanks, designed by Ernest Swinton, were first used by the British Army, in the Battle of the Somme.

1935 - The Nuremberg Laws were enacted, depriving German Jews of their citizenship and civil rights.

1948 – The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).

1981 – The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.

1998 – With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.

2008 – Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

September 15th 1940.. Battle of Britain day

1485 - The Yeoman of the Guard, the bodyguard of the English Crown - popularly known as 'Beefeaters' - was established by King Henry VII.

1620 – The Mayflower starts her voyage to North America

1701 – James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.

1847 - The United Shakespeare Company bought the house in which playwright William Shakespeare was born at Stratford Upon Avon in Warwickshire for £3,000. It became the first building in Britain to be officially preserved.

1945 – World War II: The surrender of the Japanese troops in Hong Kong. The surrender is accepted by the Royal Navy Admiral Sir Cecil Harcourt.

1968 - Britain introduced a 'two tier' postal system, First and Second Class. Letters and parcels bearing the more expensive 1st class stamps would be given priority of delivery.

1970 – King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule following the hijacking of four civilian airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This results in the formation of the Black September Palestinian paramilitary unit.

1975 – The first prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.

1987 – The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.

1992 – Black Wednesday: the Pound Sterling is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the German mark.

2002 - The world's first self cleaning glass was launched after being developed by scientists at the leading glass company of Pilkington's in St Helens.

2007 – Mercenaries working for Blackwater Worldwide allegedly shoot and kill 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square, Baghdad; all criminal charges against them are later dismissed, sparking outrage in the Arab world.

1977: T-Rex singer killed in car smash
Pop star Marc Bolan has been killed in a car crash in south-west London.
The 29-year-old former T-Rex singer was killed instantly when the car being driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, left the road and hit a tree in Barnes.

Miss Jones - an American singer who had just returned from the US - broke her jaw and is suffering from shock.

The couple's 20-month-old son was not in the car when they crashed at 0400 BST on the way to Mr Bolan's home in Richmond after a night out at a Mayfair restaurant.

Miss Jones' brother - who was following their purple mini - told police the car was travelling at 30 mph (48.3 km/h) when it crashed at a notorious accident blackspot.

Phillip Evans-Lowe was driving to work at a local dairy when he witnessed the smash.

"When I arrived a girl was lying on the bonnet and a man with long dark curly hair was stretched out in the road - there was a hell of a mess, I rushed to get the police," he said.

Bottle of wine

According to the dead star's manager who was with them during the evening, Miss Jones had been drinking moderately at the restaurant.

"They did not have a lot to drink - just a bottle of wine with the meal and a few after," he said.

Mr Bolan had just completed a television series and was said to be poised to make a comeback after spending the last three years abroad as a tax exile.

His former manager, Tony Secunda, said the son of a Hackney porter whose real name was Mark Feld had always feared he would die in a car crash.

"He would never drive a car, he was always scared - Marc never had a driving licence, he refused to learn," he said.


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Marc Bolan: Ready to make a comeback



In Context
A few days after the crash fans broke into Mr Bolan's home and stole most of his possessions.
Gloria Jones went back to America after recovering from the accident.

She was later summonsed to appear in court in London on charges of being unfit to drive and driving a car in a dangerous condition, but she never returned to face the allegations.

The couple's son Rolan Bolan settled in Los Angeles and became a musician and model for clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger.


Stories From 16 Sep
1986: Kinross Miners 'killed where they stood'
1978: Thousands dead in Iran earthquake
1977: T-Rex singer killed in car smash
1992: UK crashes out of ERM
1968: Post Office backs first class service



http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witne...098138.stm

1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1862 - This was the bloodiest single day of fighting in the American Civil War; more than 26,000 men were killed, wounded, or missing in action at the Battle of Antietam in western Maryland.

1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.

1939 - World War II: A German U-boat U 29 sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. She sank in 20 minutes with the loss of 519 of her crew.

1940 – World War II: Following the German defeat in the Battle of Britain, Hitler postpones Operation Sea Lion indefinitely.

1976 – The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.

1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.

2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 Attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.

2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years.

14 – Tiberius is confirmed as Roman Emperor by the Roman Senate following the natural death of Augustus

324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire.

1809 – The Royal Opera House in London opens.

1837 – Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City. The store is called a "stationery and fancy goods emporium".

1879 – The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.

1911 - Britain's first twin-engined aeroplane, the Short S.39, was test flown.

1914 – The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.

1944 - World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoed Junyō Maru, a Japanese cargo ship used to transport prisoners. It was the world's greatest sea disaster at the time with 5,620 dead.

1972 - The first Ugandan refugees fleeing the persecution of the country's military dictatorship arrived in Britain.

1977 – Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together.

1981 – Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.

1995 - A Carlisle motorist was fined £140 for throwing a doughnut at a traffic warden.

2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.

1356 – Battle of Poitiers: an English army under the command of Edward, the Black Prince defeats a French army and captures the French king, John II.

1777 – American Revolutionary War: British forces win a tactically expensive victory over the Continental Army in the First Battle of Saratoga.

1783 - Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier sent up the first hot-air balloon with live creatures on board, in Versailles, France.

1846 – Two French shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, experience a Marian apparition on a mountaintop near La Salette, France, now known as Our Lady of La Salette.

1945 – Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) is sentenced to death in London.

1946 - The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich. It promotes co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.

1952 – The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.

1957 – The first American underground nuclear bomb test took place (the Rainier shot), part of Operation Plumbbob.

1970 - The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, starring T. Rex.

1982 – Scott Fahlman posts the first documented emoticons :-) and :-( on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System.

1991 – Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.

2006 – The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.