World History
Friday, November 14, 1902. : The incident with Theodore Roosevelt that spurred the creation of the teddy bear occurs.
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. He was respected for his activities as a writer, explorer and soldier, and he was known for both his energy and his compassion.
Stories vary regarding the origin of the teddy bear, but they all have a common theme. Late in 1902, Roosevelt was working to solve a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. He took time out to join in a hunting expedition in Mississippi. The President was unsuccessful in shooting any game so, on 14 November 1902, the hunting party brought a bear cub to the camp so the president could shoot it. Roosevelt refused, because the animal did not have a chance to defend itself. In a different version of the story, Roosevelt came upon an older bear that was already wounded. He refused to shoot it for sport, but did order that it be put out of its misery in a mercy killing. In yet another version, the party hunted down an old bear to the point of exhaustion, and set their dogs upon it before tying it to a tree so the President could shoot the bear. Regardless of the actual sequence of events, the outcome remained the same - Roosevelt would not shoot a defenceless bear.
The story was picked up by political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who depicted the President refusing to shoot the defenceless creature. Interestingly, the original illustration differs from the version which appeared in the newspapers. The redrawn version showed a much smaller bear, fearful and decidedly "cuter" than the original fierce beast. This doctored version, where the president refused to shoot a young cub, became the story preferred by the people.
Following the appearance of the story in the newspapers, New York shopkeeper Morris Michtom displayed in his shop window two toy bears his wife had made, and sought permission from the president to call them "Teddy's bears". Michtom then started mass-producing the bears, and within a year had established his own company called the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. This is considered to be the birth of the Teddy bear, although again, versions vary. The bear considered to be the original 1903 teddy bear was given to the Smithsonian institute by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, and now resides in the National Museum of American History.
Thursday, November 14, 1963. : The island of Surtsey, off Iceland, is created by a volcanic explosion.
Surtsey, meaning Surtur's island in Icelandic, is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland. Prior to 1963, the island did not exist. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. Initial volcanic rumblings started a few days earlier, as evidenced when a seismograph in Reykjavík recorded weak tremors. After emerging through to the surface on November 14, the volcanic explosions continued. After a few days the new island, formed mainly of scoria, an igneous rock containing many gas bubbles, measured over 500 metres in length and had reached a height of 45 metres.
The eruptions continued through to June 1967, at which point the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km². At this stage, the island's highest point was 174 metres above sea level. Erosion from wind and the ocean has gradually diminished the size of the island, and in 2005, it was only 1.4 km² in size. The first signs of life on the island appeared as insects moved in during 1964, and mosses and lichens began to grow in 1965. Since then, as bird colonies have moved in, more plant species have also been established. The island is now a protected nature reserve, with limited numbers of scientists permitted to land there. Tourists and visitors are not allowed.
Born on this day
Monday, November 14, 1650. : King William III of England, also known as William of Orange, is born.
William III of England was born on 14 November 1650, in The Hague, Netherlands. He became the Sovereign Prince of Orange at his birth because his father died of smallpox eight days before he was born. Known by many titles including William III of England, William II of Scotland and William of Orange, he was King of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scotland from 11 April 1689. As a Protestant, William participated in many wars against the powerful Roman Catholic King of France, Louis XIV.
After James II of England ascended the throne in 1685, the English feared that the king’s policies were directed too much towards restoring the power of the Roman Catholic church. In June 1688, a group of political figures known as the "Immortal Seven" secretly invited William to bring an army of liberation to England. William and a force of about 15,000 men landed at southwest England on 5 November 1688. James, his support base dissolved, was allowed to escape to France, and William had no wish to make him a martyr for Roman Catholicism. Whilst the Scottish parliament accepted the new rulers, Ireland, being mostly Catholic, remained loyal to the deposed king and had to be taken by force. In 1690 William led the army that defeated James and his Irish partisans at the Battle of the Boyne, and members of Parliament accepted him in order to restore their own power.
Saturday, November 14, 1868. : Steele Rudd, Australian journalist and author of "On Our Selection", is born.
Steele Rudd was born Arthur Hoey Davis at Drayton near Toowoomba, Queensland, on 14 November 1868, the eighth child of a family that eventually had thirteen children. When he was six years old, his father moved the entire family into a small slab hut on their new selection at Emu Creek, acquired under the Land Settlement Act. The experiences of the young Arthur growing up in the slab hut formed the basis for his stories of the pioneering life which featured in much of his writing. His pseudonym came from a combination of his interest in writing and rowing: 'Steele" came from the name of an English essayist, and "Rudd" was a shortening of the word 'rudder', which allowed him to incorporate his love of rowing into his name.
Steele Rudd wrote 24 books and 6 plays. Specialising in short stories of country life, Rudd is best known for his short stories satirising life "On Our Selection". These stories feature Dad and Dave in a humorous account of life on a plot of land 'selected' in the late 1800s in Australia. "On Our Selection", published in 1899, sold over 250,000 copies in its day, and the stories were later incorporated into radio serials and movies.
