ON THIS DAY

1787: A convention under George Washington met for the first time in Philadelphia to draw up the US constitution.

1895: Irish playwright Oscar Wilde is convicted of a morals charge in London.

1935: American athlete Jesse Owens sets six world records in 45 minutes in Michigan.

1982: In the Falklands War, the British ships Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor are sunk and 24 lives are lost.

1986: Thirty million people worldwide join in pop singer Bob Geldof’s Race Against Time to raise money for the starving in Africa.

1989: Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the new post of executive president in the Soviet Union.

Birthdays: Ralph Waldo Emerson, US writer (1803-1882); Jacki Weaver, Australian actor and entertainer (1947-); Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian (1963-).