TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

31 BC - The Roman leader Octavian defeated the alliance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian, as Augustus Caesar, became the first Roman emperor.

459 - St Simeon Stylites, first and most famous of the “pillar-sitting hermits”, dies.

1666 - The Great Fire of London broke out. The fire burned for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul’s Cathedral. Only 6 people were killed.

1840 - Eyre names Mt Hopeless in South Australia in despair at the seemingly neverending salt lakes.

1922 - Henry Lawson, one of Australia’s best known writers, dies.

1945 - Japan surrendered to the US aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. The war ended six years and one day after it began.

1945 - Ho Chi Minh declared the independence the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1961 - The USSR resumed nuclear weapons testing. Test ban treaty negotiations had failed with the US and Britain when the three nations could not agree upon the nature and frequency of on-site inspections.

1984 - Seven people are killed, including an innocent 14-year-old girl, in rival biker gang wars in Sydney, Australia.

1985 - It was announced that the Titanic had been found on September 1 by a US and French expedition 560 miles off Newfoundland. The luxury liner had been missing for 73 years.

1992 - The US. and Russia agreed to a joint venture to build a space station.

1996 - Muslim rebels and the Philippine government signed a pact formally ending 26-years of insurgency that had killed more than 120,000 people.

Birthdays

Sam Gooden (Roosters, The Impressions) 1939

Rosalind Ashford (Martha & the Vandellas) 1943

Marty Grebb (The Buckinghams) 1946

Billy Preston 1946 - Musician Fritz McIntyre (Simply Red) 1958

Keanu Reeves 1964 Salma Hayek 1966