Oct 28 in History
306 — Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius is proclaimed emperor of Rome. 312 — Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius in the battle of the Mulvian Bridge. His troops retreat to the Tiber River and in the chaos of his men trying to cross the river, Maxentius, 34, falls in and drowns.
1492 — Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba and claims it for Spain.
1726 — “Gulliver’s Travels” (original title “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships”), by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, is publish.
1846 — Auguste Escoffier, “king of chefs and chef of kings”, is born in Villeneuve-Loubet, France. His “Le Guide Culinaire” is still used as a cookbook and textbook on cooking.
1886 — The Statue of Liberty on Bedloe’s Island (Liberty Island) in Upper New York Bay, a gift from the people of France designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel, is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland.
1893 — Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducts the premiere of his Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathétique”) in Saint Petersburg, nine days before his death at age 53.
1914 — Jonas Salk, physician and virologist, is born in NYC. He develops the first safe and effective vaccine against polio. 1956 — Elvis Presley receives a polio vaccination on The Ed Sullivan Show. Immunisation levels in the US raise from 0.6% to over 80% in just six months. Elvis, with this act, is credited with saving more money for US health care than anyone else. 1918 — The flu pandemic rages at its highest in Cape Town, where 62% of the almost 500,000 deaths in SA (1.6m-3m out of a population of 7m infected) occur. The pandemic (January 1918 to December 1920), one of the deadliest recorded natural disasters, infects 500m people in all corners of the world and results in an estimated 50m-100m deaths. SA is the fifth hardest hit. In seven weeks from September to October, 140,000 people die in SA. 1922 — Italian fascists, led by Benito Mussolini, march on Rome and take over the Italian government. 1930 — Bernie Ecclestone, the son of a fisherman, business magnate and former CEO of the Formula One Group, is born in St Peter, England.
1940 — Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas replies with an emphatic “Óxi” (No!) to Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum that the Italian army be allowed free passage to enter and occupy strategic sites in Greece. Italy invades on four fronts from occupied Albania, but Greece resists Axis invasions until 1944. Greeks celebrate October 28 as No Day.