Today in History

World History

Thursday, October 27, 1904. : The first underground line of the New York subway opens.

The New York City Subway was the world's first underground and underwater rail system. Elevated train lines around the city were not enough to facilitate the easy flow of increasing traffic, and it was seen that there was a need for another method to clear street congestion and spread city development into the outlying areas. Chief engineer William Barclay Parsons oversaw almost 8000 men constructing the 33.6km route. The subway officially began operating on 27 October 1904. Today, the New York City Subway has the world's largest fleet of subway cars, at over 6,400 cars as of 2002.
 

27th October

1662 Charles II of England sold the coastal town of Dunkirk to King Louis XIV of France.

1914 Birth of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

1914 World War I: The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious was sunk off Tory Island, north-west Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin. The Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, Sir John Jellicoe, proposed that the sinking be kept a secret, to which the Board of Admiralty and the British Cabinet agreed, and for the rest of the war, Audacious' name remained on all public lists of ship movements and activities.

1936 American Wallis Simpson, the future Duchess of Windsor, was granted a divorce from her second husband Ernest, leaving her free to marry King Edward VIII.

1968 An estimated 6,000 marchers, demonstrating against the Vietnam War, faced up to police outside the US Embassy in London.
 

Australian History

Saturday, October 28, 1916. : Australia's first referendum on conscription fails.

William Morris 'Billy' Hughes was Australia's seventh Prime Minister. Born in London on 25 September 1862, he migrated to Australia in 1884. After many years of wandering from job to job, he established a mixed business which sold, among other things, political pamphlets. As a result, his shop came popular with young reformers, and listening to their discussions piqued Hughes's interest in politics. In 1894, he won preselection for the seat of Lang, allowing his debut into state parliament.

Although initially opposed to Federation, Hughes saw the advantages Federation offered for his particular areas of interest, those being defence, immigration and industrial relations. He won the federal seat of West Sydney in 1901, and held it until 1916, being an eloquent speaker and shrewd tactician. During the opening years of World War I, Hughes, as attorney-general, was active in his ministry. When Prime minister Andrew Fisher resigned due to ill health in 1915, Hughes was chosen to succeed him.

One of the most controversial of Hughes's policies was conscription, an issue which not only created a rift in the Labor Party, but divided the young nation as well. On 28 October 1916, the first referendum to introduce compulsory military enlistment was voted on, and narrowly defeated.

Two weeks later, on 13 November, the Labor Party expelled Hughes over his support for conscription. However, just a few days earlier Hughes had formed the Nationalist Party which incorporated both expelled Labor Party members and members of the opposition. Hughes formed a new cabinet and remained as Prime Minister, a position he retained until 1923.

Monday, October 28, 1940. : The Advisory War Council is formed in Australia.

The Advisory War Council (AWC) was an Australian Government body established during World War 2 to strengthen Australia’s war effort. The purpose of the Council was to “… consider and advise the Government with respect to such matters relating to the defence of the Commonwealth or the prosecution of the war as are referred to the Council by the Prime Minister and may consider and advise the Government with respect to such other matters so relating as it thinks fit.”

At the outbreak of World War 2, Prime Minister Robert Menzies formed a War Cabinet in September 1939 as the main government body advising on the Australian war effort. The War Cabinet consisted of eight Australian Government ministers chosen by the Prime Minister and was crucial to the war effort. However, an air crash in August 1940 killed three members of the Cabinet: Minister for Air James Fairbairn; Minister for Navy Frederick Stewart; and Minister for Information Henry Gullet. This tragedy was one of several circumstances which considerably weakened the United Australia Party-Country Party coalition leading to the loss of several seats for the Menzies Government in the general election in September 1940.

Menzies approached opposition leader John Curtin to form a national government. Curtin declined but proposed an Australian War Council, made up of members of both the government and the opposition, to help enhance the war and defence efforts. Menzies agreed and the AWC was established under National Security regulations on 28 October 1940. Jurisdiction of both the War Cabinet and the AWC was to cover military strategy, armaments and munitions, aircraft production, transport, and railways. When John Curtin’s Labor Party achieved victory in 1941, it was agreed that the War Cabinet would automatically acept any AWC recommendation supported by the majority of ministers, giving the AWC greater power and authority during the war years.

After the war ended, the Advisory War Council was disbanded, on 30 August 1945.
 
World History

Thursday, October 28, 1886. : The first ticker-tape parade is held as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

The Statue of Liberty stands on Liberty Island, formerly Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor. Its full title is "Liberty Enlightening the World". Gustave Eiffel was the Structural Engineer of the Statue of Liberty and its Sculptor was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The Statue was completed in Paris in June 1884, presented to America by the people of France on 4 July 1884, then dismantled and shipped to US in 1885 as 350 individual pieces in 214 crates. In response, the American community in Paris gave a return gift to the French of a bronze replica of the Statue of Liberty, standing about 11 metres high, and sculpted to a quarter-size scale.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on 28 October 1886. Over a million people lined the streets for the dedication. The New York Times reported that as the parade passed by, the office boys "… from a hundred windows began to unreel the spools of tape that record the fateful messages of the 'ticker.' In a moment the air was white with curling streamers." This began the tradition that came to be known as the ticker-tape parade.

Tuesday, October 28, 1919. : The Volstead Act is passed, resulting in Prohibition in the USA.

Prohibition generally refers to the time between 1920 and 1933, during which the Eighteenth Amendment was in place. The Eighteenth Amendment, forbidding the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes", was passed by Congress and ratified on 16 January 1919. The ensuing Volstead Act, which made provisions for the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment, was passed on 28 October 1919.

Advocates of Prohibition were disturbed by the other vices, such as gambling and prostitution, which many saloonkeepers introduced in an attempt to increase their profits. The strength of the movement grew after the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. Prohibition began on 16 January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect.

Sunday, October 28, 1962. : The Cuban Missile Crisis ends, after bringing the world to the brink of nuclear warfare.

Cuba is an island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 150 km south of Florida, in the USA. In 1962, it was controlled by a socialist government under Fidel Castro. Castro had already sought support from the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, during which the country had adopted Marxist ideals. This had put the country in direct conflict with the USA, and Cuba needed a powerful ally.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was seen as the point in the Cold War when the USA and USSR were closest to engaging in nuclear warfare. Reconnaissance photographs taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane on 14 October 1962 revealed that Soviet missiles were under construction in Cuba. A tense standoff ensued for two weeks, during which the USA placed a naval quarantine around Cuba to prevent further weapons being conveyed to the island.

It was not until 28 October 1962 that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, and remove Soviet light bombers from Cuba. This occurred on the condition that the United States would not invade Cuba.

Friday, October 28, 2005. : A Dutch-Mauritian research team discovers an intact layer of dodo bones, allowing for the first modern research into the extinct dodo.

The dodo was a flightless bird believed to be endemic to the island of Mauritius. Standing about a metre tall and weighing around 20kg, the dodo had only small, rudimentary wings which were useless for flight.

The dodo was first sighted by Dutch travellers, who originally referred to it by the name of "Walghvogel". This translated to "wallow bird" or "loathsome bird" because the early travellers who killed it for food found the meat to be tough, as they cooked it for too long. The dodo's existence was first recorded by vice-admiral Wybrand van Warwijck in 1598 and, eight years later, was described in more detail by Cornelis Matelief de Jonge.

Once the island of Mauritius was settled, dodo habitat was cleared, while new species were introduced, including dogs and pigs which killed the dodos, cats and rats which were a threat to the chicks, and Crab-eating Macaques, which ate the eggs of the dodo. Controversy surrounds the date the last dodo was sighted, but it was believed to have been between 1662 and 1690.

On 28 October 2005, a research team consisting of Dutch and Mauritian scientists uncovered the first known intact layer of dodo bones, along with botanical matter at a Mauritian sugar cane plantation. The find included the bones of adult birds and chicks, along with part of a beak. It also included the bones of other extinct bird species and some tortoise bones, all together in a mass grave which may possibly have been due to a natural disaster. The discovery opened the way for the first modern research into the dodo bird.
 
28th October

1664 The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly referred to as the Royal Marines, was established. It was originally known as The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot.

1959 The first use of a car phone, with a call from Cheshire to London. A mere twenty five people had paid the astronomical sum of £200 each for one of the phones.

2014 Tesco's Aberystwyth store made a blunder on a Welsh sign which was supposed to advertise 'free money' from the supermarket's cashpoint. The sign read "codiad am ddim", meaning free erections when it should read "arian am ddim" which means free money.
 
Australian History

Friday, October 29, 1880. : Bushranger Ned Kelly is sentenced to hang.

Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger, was born in December 1854 in Victoria, Australia. Kelly was twelve when his father died, and he was subsequently required to leave school to take on the new position as head of the family. Shortly after this, the Kellys moved to Glenrowan. As a teenager, Ned became involved in petty crimes, regularly targetting the wealthy landowners. He gradually progressed to crimes of increasing seriousness and violence, including bank robbery and murder, soon becoming a hunted man.

Many of Ned Kelly's peers held him in high regard for his stand of usually only ambushing wealthy landowners, and helped to keep his whereabouts from the police, despite the high reward posted for his capture. However, he was betrayed to the police whilst holding dozens of people hostage in the Glenrowan Inn in June, 1880. Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shootout with police. The Kelly brothers were killed, but Ned was shot twenty-eight times in the legs, being unprotected by the armour. He survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging, by Judge Redmond Barry on 29 October 1880. Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne on 11 November 1880.

Friday, October 29, 1982. : Lindy Chamberlain is convicted of the murder of her baby daughter after the child's disappearance at Ayers Rock.

Uluru, formerly Ayers Rock, is a huge monolith in central Australia. It has long been a popular tourist destination, but gained a new notoriety on the night of 17 August 1980, when two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain went missing from the nearby camping ground. When baby Azaria disappeared, her mother Lindy claimed that a dingo had stolen her baby. No trace of the child was ever found, although her bloodstained clothes were found a week later by another tourist. At the first inquest into her death, commencing in February 1981, it was found that the likely cause of Azaria's disappearance was a dingo attack.

Police and prosecutors, unhappy with this judgement, moved for a second inquest which began on 13 September 1981. This time, the new finding was made that Azaria had been killed with a pair of scissors and held by a small adult hand until she stopped bleeding. Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on 29 October 1982, and her husband Michael was found guilty of being an accessory.

Lindy Chamberlain's acquittal came four years later when a matinee jacket worn by Azaria was found partially buried in a dingo's lair at Ayers Rock. New evidence was presented showing that earlier methods of testing evidence had been unreliable, and no conviction could be made on those grounds. Both Chamberlains were officially pardoned, Lindy was released, and eventually awarded AU$1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
 
World History

Tuesday, October 29, 1929. :The stock market on Wall Street plunges dramatically, sparking off the Great Depression.

During the 1920s, the stock market boomed in the US. General optimism was high as businessmen and economists believed that the new Federal Reserve would stabilise the economy, and that the pace of technological progress guaranteed rapidly rising living standards and expanding markets. By 1928 and 1929 the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to curb the unnaturally high growth of the stock market, raised interest rates to make borrowing money for stock speculation difficult and costly.

An initial recession ensued and stock prices began to fluctuate. The unrealistic stock market began to catch up with the economy: stock prices were out of proportion to actual profits, and sales of goods and the construction of factories were falling rapidly while stock values continued to climb. Then, on October 24, 1929, people began dumping their stocks quickly. Following the weekend, a new wave of selling began. 29 October 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, saw the stock market on Wall Street collapse as prices plunged and wiped out all the financial gains of the previous year. By mid-November, 30 billion dollars had disappeared, which was the same amount of money spent during World War I. The Depression lasted from 1929 to 1941, when the USA entered WWII.

Friday, October 29, 1999. : Over 10,000 are killed and about 1.5 million left homeless after a super-cyclone hits India.

The cyclone which hit India on 29 October 1999 came to be classified as a super-cyclone due to the combination of very high winds and a powerful tidal surge. The cyclone, with winds of over 250kph, was the second to hit the state of Orissa in two weeks. A powerful tidal wave also swept across low-lying plains along the coast, wiping out entire villages, with flooding reaching inland as far as 16km. Whilst true figures will never be known, it is estimated that over 10,000 people were killed, and 1.5 million left homeless.

Two years later, Orissa's worst monsoon floods in 50 years killed nearly 100 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses. Many of those affected were still living in temporary shelter after the 1999 cyclone.
 
Oct 29th
1863
The International Committee of Red Cross forms at a Geneva held conference
1872
JS Risdon patents metal windmill
1945
The 1st ballpoint pen goes on sale manufactured by Brio
1998
former astronaut/U.S. Senator,John Glenn age 77, becomes oldest person to go into space.He was aboard Space Shuttle Discovery
2015
China announces the end of 1 child policy after 35 yrs
 
29th October

1618 Sir Walter Raleigh, English seafarer, courtier, writer and once a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I (he named Virginia after her) was beheaded at Whitehall. He had been falsely accused of treason and sentenced to death, commuted to imprisonment. He was released after 13 years to try and find the legendary gold of El Dorado. He failed, and returned to an undeserved fate.

1656 Edmund Halley, British astronomer, was born.

1843 The world's first telegram was sent, from Paddington to Slough.
 
Australian History

Thursday, October 30, 1890. : Oodnadatta, in far north South Australia, is surveyed and declared a township, ahead of becoming a significant railway terminus.

Oodnadatta is a tiny town in the remote region of far north South Australia. With a 2006 population of just 277, it lies approximately 1,011 km from Adelaide. Close to the edge of the Simpson Desert, its name is derived from the Arrernte word "utnadata", meaning "blossom of the mulga".

The first explorer to arrive in the region was John McDouall Stuart, who explored and mapped the area in 1859. The Overland Telegraph line followed in the wake of Stuart's exploration. Soon after, the railway line from Adelaide was also constructed, with its terminus at Warrina. Oodnadatta was surveyed on 30 October 1890, and on that day it was also declared a Government township. Less than three months later, the railway line was opened from Warrina to Oodnadatta, and Oodnadatta became the terminus of the Great Northern Railway, later The Ghan.

With the development of the railway, Oodnadatta became a busy town in South Australia's far north, being a government service centre and supply depot for the surrounding pastoral properties. A post office was established in 1891, and an Anglican Sunday School a year later. A General store and Butcher also followed, among other businesses. Until the railway was extended to Alice Springs in 1929, the town was largely supplied from Alice Springs by Afghan camel trains. Oodnadatta's importance continued through to World War II, when the Australian Defence Forces established facilities to service troop trains and fighter aircraft en route to Darwin.

In 1981, the railway line was moved to the west, and the town became a residential freehold town for indigenous Australians.
 
World History

Sunday, October 30, 1938. : Actor Orson Welles creates panic as his radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' is taken as live action.

Orson Welles was an actor and director of unusual talent. Born in 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, by 1934 he was acting and directing on American radio. In 1938, Welles and the Mercury Theatre began weekly broadcasts of short radio plays based on classic or popular literary works.

The night of 30 October 1938 began as any other peaceful Sunday evening. Welles’s 'Mercury Theatre on the Air' had been playing on CBS radio for 17 weeks and, as Halloween loomed in the United States, Welles sought to present something that would fire people's imagination. At 8:15 pm, there was a report during the broadcast that Martians had landed in New Jersey. Almost instantly, people listening responded to the shocking news, with reports of panic coming in from across the country.

Unknown to the people, Welles and the Mercury Theatre were performing an adaptation of the science fiction novel by H G Wells, "War of the Worlds", in which Martians invade the Earth. The adaptation involved performing the play so that it sounded like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars, a technique which heightened the dramatic effect. The program created such panic among some listeners who found it completely convincing, that they failed to hear the short explanations, every forty minutes, assuring the audience it was just a radio play.

The broadcasters of the program, upon hearing of the furor created, quickly reassured the public that the technique used in the program would not be repeated. Orson Welles also expressed his regrets.

Monday, October 30, 1944. : WWII Holocaust diarist, Anne Frank, is deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929. As persecution of the Jews escalated in WWII, she was forced to go into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She, her family and four other people spent two years in an annex of rooms above her father’s office in Amsterdam. After two years of living in this way, they were betrayed to the Nazis and deported to concentration camps. On 30 October 1944, Anne was deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Bergen-Belsen was in Lower Saxony, southwest of the town of Bergen, near Celle.

At the age of 15, Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. The date was March, 1945, just two months before the end of the war. Anne Frank's legacy is her diary. It was given to her as a simple autograph/notebook for her thirteenth birthday. In it she recorded not only the personal details of her life, but also her observations of living under Nazi occupation, until the final entry of 1 August 1944.
 
Oct 30th
1873
PT Barnum's 'Greatest Show on Earth' debuts in NYC
1894
The time clock is patented by Daniel Cooper of Rochester,NY
1973
pitcher,Tom Seaver becomes the 1st non 20 game winner to win CY Young Award
1987
George Michael's debut album as a solo artist'Faith' sells over 20 million copies world wide
 
Oct 31st
1913
The 1st paved coast to coast 3,000mile highway was dedicated.The Lincoln Highway started in Times Square in NYC,ended in San Francisco
1941
After 14 yrs of work,designer,Gutzon Borglum finished Mount Rushmore Monument in South Dakota.He chose George Washington,Thomas Jefferson,Theodore Roosevelt,Abraham Lincoln to represent the nation's birth,growth,development and preservation.The monument was named for NYC lawyer,Charles Rushmore who traveled to the Black Hills in 1885 inspecting claims in the region
1988
The 1st Monday Night NFL football game was played in Indianopolis.The Colts defeated Denver Broncos 55-23
 
Australian History

Tuesday, November 1, 1791. : A party of convicts escapes from Parramatta, intending to walk to China.

Australia was originally settled by convicts and officers of the First Fleet. The fleet assembled in Portsmouth, England, and set sail on 13 May 1787. They arrived in Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. After determining that Botany Bay was unsuitable for settlement, Captain Arthur Phillip led the Fleet northwards to Port Jackson, arriving on 26 January 1788.

Conditions in the new colony were tough. The English tools could not stand up to the hard work of tilling the Australian soil, and they broke easily. The convicts were disinclined to work hard, many of them not being used to manual labour, and the heat and humidity of the Australian climate only added to their discomfort and lack of motivation to work. In addition, rations had to be meted out very carefully until farms could start producing crops. Many convicts were hungry enough to steal food, and punishment for theft was severe, ranging from lashing with a cat o' nine tails, or even death by hanging. Governor Phillip could not afford for any rations to be lost to theft, so he felt compelled to enforce harsh disciplinary measures. As a result, many convicts attempted escape.

It was not known what lay beyond the boundaries of the colony at Port Jackson, but many believed that China lay beyond the Blue Mountains. On 1 November 1791, a group of 20 or 21 male convicts and one pregnant female convict escaped from the gaol at Parramatta in an attempt to reach China. They took with them rations, tools and clothes. Whilst some of the convicts were recaptured, many simply died in the unfamiliar bushland of New South Wales.

Sunday, November 1, 1914. : The First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) departs from Albany, Western Australia to prepare to take part in the war in Europe.

Australia’s involvement in World War I began in earnest in early August 1914 after Australian Prime Minister Joseph Cook pledged support, offering Britain 20 000 troops, and stating that "...when the Empire is at war, so also is Australia." Cook's offer was accepted by the British government, which requested that the troops be sent "as soon as possible". At this time, Australia had a population of approximately 4 million, which meant there were around 820 000 men of ‘fighting age’, considered to be those ages 19-38. By the end of 1914, 50 000 eligible men who met the minimum height requirement of 5 feet 6 inches, or 168cm, had joined up, and thousands more turned away on medical grounds.

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) saw the first major military action, when they were deployed to seize German interests in New Guinea. The next major action was to take place in Europe.

The first convoy of ANZACs, or Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, departed from King George Sound, Albany in Western Australia on 1 November 1914. Around 30 000 troops from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand aboard 38 ships made up the first flotilla that left from the whaling station in Australia’s southwest. Among these first ships were the HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Sydney and the HMS Minotaur of the Royal Navy. Two days later, the convoy was joined by ships carrying troops from Western Australia and South Australia, escorted by the Japanese cruiser HIJMS Ibuki. The troops spent several months training in Egypt before being deployed at Gallipoli and in Europe.

Australian Explorers

Wednesday, November 1, 1865. : The first European explorer who would see Ayers Rock, William Christie Gosse, is appointed Government Surveyor in the South Australian colony.

William Christie Gosse was born on 11 December 1842 in Hoddesdon, England. His parents migrated to Adelaide in 1850, where his father became a leading figure in Adelaide, being elected to the Board of the Adelaide Hospital, establishing the Home for Incurables, forming the second branch of the British Medical Association outside England and becoming the first warden of the Senate of the University of Adelaide.

William attended John Lorenzo Young's Adelaide Educational Institute on North Terrace, and joined the Government Survey Office in 1859. Gosse was appointed Government Surveyor on 1 November 1865. He gained considerable expertise and understanding of travel in the outback while working on the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872.

In 1873, Governor Goyder sent Gosse to open up a route from the recently completed Overland Telegraph Line at Alice Springs in Central Australia, to Perth. It was while on this expedition that Gosse made perhaps his greatest discovery: Uluru, or Ayers Rock. Gosse became became the first European explorer to see Ayers Rock, which he named in honour of former South Australian Premier, Sir Henry Ayers. Gosse discovered the rock, now known by its native name of Uluru, by accident during an expedition through Australia's interior. The need to find water for his camels forced him to take a more southerly course than he had originally planned, and in July 1873, he sighted Ayers Rock, recording that, "This rock is certainly the most wonderful natural feature I have ever seen".
 
World History

Friday, November 1, 1512. : Michelangelo's magnificent artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is exhibited to the public for the first time.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, considered by many to be the greatest of the Italian Renaissance artists, was born near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany, Italy, in 1475. He was apprenticed to artist Domenico Ghirlandaio at age 13. Ghirlandaio was so impressed with his young protege that he recommended him to Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Florentine republic and a great patron of the arts. After demonstrating his mastery of sculpture in such works as the Pietý (1498) and David (1504), he was commissioned by Pope Julius II della Rovere in 1508 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the chief consecrated space in the Vatican.

Michelangelo spent four years painting the epic ceiling frescoes, depicting detailed Biblical scenes. There are nine panels devoted to biblical world history, the most famous of which is The Creation of Adam, a painting in which the arms of God and Adam are stretching toward each other. Michelangelo's frescoes on the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome were first shown to the public on 1 November 1512.

Wednesday, November 1, 1539. : Sea dikes burst in Holland, submerging much of the country and killing 400,000 people.

The Netherlands, or Holland, has always been well-known for its dykes. A dyke, or dike, is a stone or earthen wall constructed to reclaim land from the sea. In order to make the country inhabitable, people in the Netherlands needed to protect themselves against the sea and rivers flooding. They also drained the lowland areas as well. This was achieved by the construction of thousands of kilometres of dykes. Many dykes in early Holland were earthen or peat embankments, essential to the continued drainage of reclaimed land. In the sixteenth century, great storm surges caused large-scale dike slides, and on 1 November 1530, sea dikes burst in Holland, allowing the sea to burst through, submerging much of the country and killing 400,000 people.

Saturday, November 1, 1755. : A massive earthquake and tsunami hits Lisbon, Portugal, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people.

In 1755, Lisbon, capital city of Portugal, was a sophisticated and wealthy city. Considered to be a cultural centre of Europe, it had a population of around 250,000. On the evening of 31 October 1755, water in the city's wells developed an unusual taste, strange plumes of yellow smoke could be observed, and animals became agitated. At around 9:30am the next day, 1 November 1755, an earthquake estimated to have had a magnitude of 8.6 or higher hit about 200km offshore, killing 600 with its initial devastation and generating a catastrophic tsunami which hit the city 40 minutes later. The actual size of the earthquake is unknown, as there were no instruments for measuring earthquake magnitude at the time.

It is believed that the great Lisbon earthquake occurred along the Azores-Gibraltar fracture zone (AGFZ), which marks the boundary of significant tectonic activity between the African and Eurasian plates. The severe rocking motion of the ground weakened Lisbon's buildings so that they collapsed on the people fleeing through the streets. Being a Sunday and All Saints' Day, tens of thousands of people were worshipping in the city's great cathedrals such as Basilica de Santa Maria, Sao Vincente de Fora, Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and the Misericordia. These all collapsed, killing thousands more.

The effects of the earthquake were felt on an even wider scale. Shock waves were felt throughout Europe and North Africa, over an area of more than two million square kilometres. In Lisbon, buildings that survived the earthquake and tsunami were devastated by a fire that raged for the next three days. Much of the cultural collections contained in the city were decimated as Lisbon's museums and libraries were destroyed. Archives, manuscripts, historical records and other precious documents were completely consumed, as were the invaluable records of the India Company. The inferno destroyed the king's palace and its 70,000-volume library. Over two hundred fine, priceless paintings, including paintings by Titan, Reubens, and Coreggio, were burned in the palace of the Marques de Lourcal.

Saturday, November 1, 1884. : Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is adopted.

Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time (GMT) is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon. GMT sets the current time or official time around the globe. The time zones division was officially adopted on 1 November 1884, at a meeting of the International Meridian Conference in Washington, DC, USA. During the conference, the International Date Line was drawn up and 24 time zones created, every 15 meridians east and west of 0 (the prime meridian) at Greenwich, England.


Thursday, November 1, 1934. : Billy Graham, the man who would become a world-wide evangelist, is converted to Christianity.

William Franklin "Billy" Graham was born on 7 November 1918, four days before the Armistice which ended World War I. He grew up on a dairy farm near Charlotte, North Carolina, working hard during the difficult Depression years, and he had little interest in spiritual matters. Graham credits his conversion to Mordecai Ham, a Baptist preacher who was determined to take the Gospel to people from all walks of life, from the well-off to the down-and-out, doggedly pursuing atheists with God’s Word. Ham visited Graham’s home town in 1934. Initially, fifteen-year-old Billy was not ready to hear the Gospel, and he hid in the choir loft to escape Ham’s preaching. However, on the night of 1 November 1934, Billy Graham was convicted and converted by Ham's preaching.

In “The Reason for my Hope”, one of over thirty books he wrote, Billy Graham recalled:
“On the night of November 1, 1934, my hardened soul was redeemed. I exchanged my will for God’s way. I traded my calloused heart for a cleansed soul. I had sought thrills. I found them in Christ. I had looked for something that would bring perfect joy and happiness. I found it in Christ. I had looked for something that would bring pleasure and would satisfy the deepest longing of my heart. I found it in Christ.”

Graham was ordained in 1939 by a church in the Southern Baptist Convention. He studied at Florida Bible Institute, now Trinity College, and in 1943 he graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois. This was also the year he married his fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, who was the daughter of a missionary surgeon who had spent many years in China.

Graham first served at the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois. However, he rose to prominence after he joined Youth for Christ, an organisation founded for ministry to youth and servicemen during World War II. Considered by many to be the greatest Christian evangelist of the 20th century, in his lifetime Graham spoke the Gospel to live audiences totalling nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories across the continents - more than anyone else in history has ever reached. Including radio and television broadcasts, his lifetime audience is estimated to have exceeded 2.2 billion. During the 1950s, at a time when integration was unpopular in the US, Graham insisted that his revivals and crusades be open to all races. In 1957, he invited Martin Luther King Jr to share the podium with him at a revival in New York City. Graham was spiritual adviser to several American presidents including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Since 1955, Graham has appeared 55 times on American research-based, global company Gallup's list of the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World”. His missionary work continues through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), which was founded in 1950.
 
Nov 1st
1931
Dupont Company introduces synthetic rubber
1938
Seabiscuit with jockey,George Woolf aboard defeated Triple Crown winner, War Admiral by 3 lengths at Pimlico race track,earned $15,000.Its regarded as the greatest match in horse racing history
1969
Beatles album'Abbey Road' hits # 1 in U.S. stays there for 11 weeks
 
Australian History

Monday, November 2, 1903. : Manly Council (Sydney) rescinds its by-law prohibiting bathing in the ocean during daylight hours.

In the 1800s, a Manly Council by-law (Sydney) prohibited swimming in the ocean during daylight hours, specifically between 6am and 8pm. William Henry Gocher was the proprietor of a local newspaper, who disagreed with the law enough to openly defy it. In his newspaper, the 'Manly and North Sydney News', he announced his intention to go bathing in the ocean during the daylight hours on 2 October 1902.

Gocher flouted the law three times before he was actually arrested. However, he maintained his campaign against the bathing laws, and a year later, on 2 November 1903, the Manly Council rescinded the by-law that prohibited bathing during daylight hours, specifically, after 7:00am. A new by-law was issued permitting bathing in daylight hours, but emphasising the need for neck-to-knee swimwear for anyone over 8 years old. Men and women were also required to swim at separate times.


Thursday, November 2, 1922. : Qantas establishes its first regular passenger air service between Charleville and Cloncurry.

Qantas is Australia's national airline service and the name was formerly an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". The inspiration for Qantas came when, in March 1919, the Australian Federal Government offered a £10,000 prize for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia within 30 days. The challenge was taken up by W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, former Australian Flying Corps officers who had served at Gallipoli. The men were promised sponsorship for the race by wealthy grazier Sir Samuel McCaughey, but McCaughey died before funding could be delivered.

Undaunted, Fysh and McGinness undertook an assignment from the Defence Department to survey part of the route of the race, travelling almost 2200km from Longreach in northwestern Queensland to Katherine in the Northern Territory in a Model T Ford. The journey took 51 days and covered territory which no motor vehicle had negotiated before, and the difficulties highlighted the need for a regular aerial service to link remote settlements in the Australian outback.

Fysh and McGinness sought sponsorship once again, but this time for a regular air service, rather than a one-off race. Wealthy grazier Fergus McMaster, whom McGinness had once assisted in the remote outback when his car broke an axle, was happy to fund the venture. McMaster also garnered further investment from his own business acquaintances. Originally purchased under the name of The Western Queensland Auto Aero Service Limited, the air service became the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, or Qantas, in November 1920.

Based in Winton, western Queensland, the original Qantas fleet was made up of just two biplanes: an Avro 504K with a 100 horsepower water-cooled Sunbeam Dyak engine and a Royal Aircraft Factory BE2E with a 90 horsepower air-cooled engine. The men’s former flight sergeant Arthur Baird was signed on as aircraft mechanic. Initially, the service operated just for joyrides and demonstrations, until the first major air contract was landed in November 1922.

On 2 November 1922, Qantas commenced its first regular airmail and passenger service, between Cloncurry and Charleville. The first passenger was 84-year-old outback pioneer Alexander Kennedy, who flew on the Longreach-Winton-McKinlay-Cloncurry leg of the inaugural mail service from Charleville to Cloncurry.
 
New Zealand History

Monday, November 2, 1868. : New Zealand becomes the first country to adopt a standard national time.

New Zealand is an island nation in the South Pacific, located approximately 2,250 km to the southeast of Australia. Although the first European discoverer was Abel Tasman, in 1642, New Zealand was claimed for Great Britain by James Cook in November 1769. Following Cook's visit to the islands, they were settled by whalers, missionaries, and traders. The islands were annexed by Great Britain early in 1840, and the first permanent European settlement established on 22 January 1840. Early in February, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by over 500 Māori chiefs of New Zealand and the British Governor William Hobson, signalling that New Zealand was now an official colony of Great Britain. Initially part of the Australian colony of New South Wales, New Zealand became a separate colony in 1841 and attained self-government in 1852.

New Zealand is believed to be the first country in the world to adopt a standard time zone, doing so on 2 November 1868. The standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time (NZMT). This was even before the Greenwich Mean Time zone divisions were officially adopted in 1884. In 1941, clocks were advanced half an hour in a move which was made permanent in 1946, putting New Zealand exactly 12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
 
World History

Friday, November 2, 1917. : Britain declares its intention to establish a new Jewish state within Palestine.

On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour submitted a declaration of intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This letter, to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, became known as the Balfour Declaration, and stated that the British government supported Zionist plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Some of the motivation for the Declaration came from Britain's hopes to increase Jewish support for the Allied effort in World War I.

The Balfour Declaration was unpopular among Arabs in Palestine, who feared that their own rights would be subjugated with the creation of a Jewish homeland. Increased tension between Jews and Arabs during the post-war period caused delays in the enacting of the Balfour Declaration. However, after the atrocities to the Jewish people during the Holocaust in WWII, the Zionist cause gained much support from the international community, resulting in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

Thursday, November 2, 2000. : An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts became the first permanent residents of the International Space Station.

The International Space Station (ISS) is located in "low Earth" orbit around our planet at an altitude of approximately 360km. It is a joint project of 6 space agencies: the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russian Federal Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA/ASC), Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

On 2 November 2000, American astronaut William Shepherd, together with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, became the first permanent residents of the International Space Station. The mission of this first crew was to activate life support systems and experiments, while continuing stowage and checkout of the new station. They also assisted with the ongoing assembly of the Space Station and conducted the first station-based spacewalks. The turnaround for crews is four months, and so far, only Americans and Russians have inhabited the Space Station.
 
2nd November

1871 British police began their Rogues' Gallery, taking photographs of all convicted prisoners.

1896 The first motor insurance policies were issued in Britain, but they excluded damage caused by frightened horses.

1899 Boer War: The start of the Siege of Ladysmith in Natal when Boers encircled British troops and civilians inside the town. The siege lasted for 118 days

1924 Almost 11 years after its appearance in America, the first crossword puzzle was published in a British newspaper, sold to the Sunday Express by C.W. Shepherd.

1936 The world's first regular TV service was started by the British Broadcasting Corporation at Alexandra Palace at 3:00 p.m. It was defined as 'high-definition' (with 200 lines of resolution) and was renamed BBC1 in 1964. An estimated 100 TV owners tuned in.
 
Australian History

Tuesday, November 3, 1942. : The Australian flag is hoisted as Kokoda is retaken by the Allies, declaring the success of the Australian troops, aided by the Papua New Guinean villagers.

During World War II, Papua New Guinea was the site of an invasion by Japanese troops, which brought the threat of Japanese invasion of Australia closer. Beginning with the invasion of Rabaul in January 1942, the serious Japanese offensive was launched in the South Pacific. The first of over 100 Japanese bombings of the Australian mainland began in February, and on 8 March, the Japanese invaded the New Guinean mainland, capturing Lae and Salamaua.

Port Moresby was the next major target, and in May 1942, the Japanese launched an invasion fleet to Port Moresby from Rabaul. After being repelled by US forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese then sought to invade Port Moresby from the northern coast, over the rugged Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda Trail, which linked to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Kokoda village itself fell to the Japanese after an intense engagement on 29 July which killed Lieutenant Colonel William Owen, the commanding officer of the 39th Battalion, which was virtually the only Australian force resisting the enemy invasion through the Range.

Further battalions were dispatched to retake ground along the Kokoda Track. Fighting remained intense, and casualties were high. With much assistance from the Papua New Guinean natives, dubbed "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", the Australian and the US troops turned back the Japanese forces, which then retreated to bases at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. On 2 November, a patrol from the 2/31st Battalion found that Kokoda village had been abandoned by the Japanese. On 3 November 1942, Major General George Vasey, Commander of the 7th Division, raised the Australian flag once again over Kokoda in a display of confidence in the success of the campaign.


Australian Explorers

Saturday, November 3, 1804. : George Caley crosses the Hawkesbury River in his unsuccessful attempt to cross the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

George Caley was born at Craven, Yorkshire, England on 10 June 1770, within a few days of James Cook’s observation of the transit of Venus in Tahiti. He undertook a mere four years of formal schooling before leaving to work in his father’s stables. However, his interest in farriery led him to study botany, and eventually to a position in the Kew Gardens. In 1798, renowned botanist Sir Joseph Banks appointed him to go to New South Wales as a collector; Caley duly arrived in Sydney in April 1800.

In New South Wales, Caley undertook extensive studies of the native flora and fauna, and he was the first to study the eucalyptus species in detail. One of his first tasks was to try to procure a platypus, as a drawing sent back to England in 1797 was deemed a hoax. Whilst collecting specimens of various plants and animals for Sir Joseph Banks, he visited Western Port and Jervis Bay, the Hunter River, Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land. However, his real desire lay in crossing the Blue Mountains, a feat attempted unsuccessfully by numerous previous expeditions. He was motivated by ‘an enthusiastic pride of going farther than any person has yet been’. From Parramatta, he headed in a direct line for the range which Governor Phillip had named the Carmarthen Hills, specifically, the most obvious peak now known as Mount Banks. He took with him three strong men, believed to be convicts. On 3 November 1804, Caley crossed the Hawkesbury River, and continued west on his mission.

Caley took a different approach from that of previous explorers who had tried to cross the Blue Mountains: he sought out the ridgetops, rather than travelling through the river valleys. However, like others before him, Caley was confounded by the unpredictability of the terrain, describing himself as ‘thunderstruck with the roughness of the country’. His naming of features such as Devil’s Wilderness, Dark Valley and Dismal Dingle reflected his frustration. The men reached Mount Banks on 14 November, where the precipitous cliffs of the upper Grose Valley prevented them from penetrating any further inland. He was forced to return to Sydney, and later wrote to Banks ’the roughness of the country I found beyond description. I cannot give you a more expressive idea than travelling over the tops of houses in a town.’ He returned to Parramatta on 23 November, unsuccessful, but having reached a point further west than any previous expedition had done.


Tuesday, November 3, 1829. : Charles Sturt sets out to solve the mystery of the westward-flowing rivers.

Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon after undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards the centre of the continent, the belief was held that they emptied into an inland sea. Drawing on the skills of experienced bushman and explorer Hamilton Hume, Sturt first traced the Macquarie River as far as the Darling, which he named after Governor Darling.

Pleased with Sturt's discoveries, the following year Governor Darling sent Sturt to trace the course of the Murrumbidgee River, and to see whether it joined to the Darling. Sturt's party departed Sydney on 3 November 1829. It was Sturt's habit to carry a collapsible whaleboat on all his excursions, and this was the one where it proved its worth. On this expedition, Sturt discovered that the Murrumbidgee River flowed into the Murray (previously named the Hume), as did the Darling. By following the Murray in the whaleboat, Sturt found that it flowed to the southern ocean, emptying out at Lake Alexandrina on the south coast.
 
World History

Sunday, November 3, 1957. : Animal welfare organisations are outraged as Russia launches a dog into space.

Laika, the Russian space dog, was part Siberian husky. Prior to being enlisted into the Soviet space program, she was a stray on Moscow's streets. On 3 November 1957, Laika was launched into space aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft. She was fitted with monitors to check her heartbeat and other vital signs and was reported to be calm during the first hours of the flight.

Animal welfare organisations expressed outrage at the Russians sending a dog into space for experimental purposes. The RSPCA was inundated with calls protesting the flight, while the National Canine Defence League called upon dog lovers to observe a minute's silence for each day Laika was in space. Whilst Laika achieved fame for her part, and provided valuable information about the prospects for human space travel, fears of the animals welfare groups were indeed founded. Sadly, new evidence released in 2002 indicated that Laika died of stress and overheating within a few hours of launch, contrary to the Russian position that she died painlessly when life support gave out after a few days.

Saturday, November 3, 1973. : NASA launches the Mariner 10, which later becomes the first space probe to reach Mercury.

The Mariner 10 space probe, the last spacecraft in the Mariner program, was launched on 3 November 1973. It was the first to use the gravitational pull of one planet, Venus, to reach another, Mercury. Its mission was to measure the atmospheric, surface, and physical characteristics of Mercury and Venus. After taking some 4000 photographs of Venus, Mariner 10 then flew by Mercury, taking the first photographs detailed enough to reveal the planet's cratered surface and a faint atmosphere of predominantly helium.

Monday, November 3, 1997. : Europe feels the effects as striking truck drivers blockade French roads and ports.

On the evening of the first Sunday in November 1997, truck drivers in France began strike action, blocking access to roads and the Channel ports. By Monday, 3 November 1997, their action had already brought French ports and border crossings to a standstill, and the effects were being felt in other ports across Europe. France is the crossroads of Europe for goods from Spain and Britain headed for other European countries. The strikers focussed on stopping heavy goods vehicles at ports, oil refineries and major roads by erecting heavy concrete barricades or simply using their laden vehicles. Trucks, unable to board ferries, were lined up for kilometres on roads approaching ports all across Europe.

The strike action followed a stalemate in pay talks between employers and the truckers' union. The strike action ended after five days, when France's biggest transport union, representing about 75 percent of the country's truckers, signed a deal with employers. The deal called for a 6 percent raise for truckers and a 4 percent raise for office workers in the transport industry. The drivers' increase was also extended to bus and ambulance drivers, and all raises were retroactive to October 1.
 

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