TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

On this day in history:

1812 - Moscow was set on fire by Russians after Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops invaded. 1898 - The Gideons Bible Association, responsible for placing Bibles in motel and hotel rooms around the world, begins.

1959 - Luna II, a Soviet space probe, became the first man-made object on the moon when it crashed on the surface.

1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded. The core members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

1978 - Mork & Mindy premiered in the US.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco dies after receiving severe injuries in a car crash. 1984 - Joe Kittinger became the first person to fly a balloon solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 1987 - Tony Magnuson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp and set a new skateboard high jump record. 1997 – 81 killed as five bogies of the Ahmedabad–Howrah Express plunge into a river in Bilaspur district of Madhya Pradesh, India.

1998 - Israel announced that they had successfully tested its Arrow-2 missile defence system. The system successfully destroyed a simulated target.

1999 - Disney World closed down for the first time in its 28-year history. The closure was due to Hurricane Floyd heading for Florida.

2001 - The announcement is made of the closure of Ansett Airlines, Australia.

2001 - The FBI released the names of the 19 suspected hijackers that had taken part in the September 11 terror attacks on the US.

2003 - In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union.

2009 - Greyhound UK began operations as an hourly service between London and Portsmouth or Southampton. 2007 - Late-2000s financial crisis: The Northern Rock bank experiences the first bank run in the United Kingdom in 150 years.

2015 - The first observation of gravitational waves was made, announced by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations on 11 February 2016.