TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2017

On this day in history:

1477 - William Caxton produced Dictes or Sayengis of the

Philosophres. which was the first book to be printed in England.

1838 - The first group of German-Prussian Lutherans sponsored by wealthy Scottish businessman, George Fife Angas, arrives in South Australia. [

1879 - One of Australia’s youngest bushrangers, a fifteen-year-old member of Captain Moonlite’s gang, is shot and killed.

1883 - The US and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.

1916 - Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I, called off the Battle of the Somme in France. The offensive began on July 1, 1916. 1947 – The Ballantyne’s Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

1949 - The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.

1936 - Germany and Italy recognised the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1963 - The first push-button telephone goes into service. 1976 - The parliament of Spain approved a bill that established a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1978 - Over 900 people mass suicide at Jonestown, Guyana, South America.

1983 - Argentina announced its ability to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

1987 - 31 people are killed when a fire breaks out in the London Underground.

1991 - After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People’s Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces. 1993 - Representatives from 21 South African political parties approved a new constitution. 1999 - Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.

2013 - NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.