TODAY IN HISTORY

1009

The Fatimid Caliph AlHakim bi-Amr Allah orders the complete destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It is later rebuilt. 1016

A Danish army led by Canute the Great defeats an English army under King Edmund Ironside at the Battle of Assandun, completing the reconquest of England.

1386

The doors of the University of Heidelberg are officially opened, the occasion is celebrated by a divine mass. 1541

Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, sister of Henry VIII, dies at Methven Castle in Scotland at the age of 51.

1851

Herman Melville’s book The Whales is published by a London publishing company. It is later retitled Moby Dick.

1867

The US takes formal possession of Alaska. It was bought from Russia for the sum of US $7.2million or less than two cents an acre.

1922

The British Broadcasting Company (later the British Broadcasting Corp or BBC) is founded. It was formed by a group of leading radio manufacturers.

1931

Inventor Thomas Alva Edison dies in New Jersey at the age of 84. 1944

Australian corvette HMAS Geelong collides with an American merchant ship off New Guinea and sinks. There were no casualties.

1954

Texas Instruments unveil their Regency TR-1, the first commercially produced transistor radio. 1967

HMAS Perth is struck by return fire near Cap Lai in Vietnam.