Aug 30 in History
1797 — Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”, is born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London. Her mother, feminist philosopher, educator and writer Mary Wollstonecraft, dies days later.
1835 — Melbourne, capital of the Australian state Victoria, is founded. The settlement is initially known by the native name of Dootigala. (Also see Trivia Tom question 13.)
1867 — The first recorded car race of (two) self-powered road vehicles over a prescribed route — around Manchester on a 13km road between Ashton-under-Lyne and Old Trafford — is won by Isaac Watt Boulton against Daniel Adamson, each in steam cars of their own manufacture.
1871 — Ernest Rutherford, physicist who discovers and names alpha, beta and gamma radiation and is the first to achieve a man-made nuclear reaction (he becomes known as the father of nuclear physics), is born in Brightwater, Colony of New Zealand.
1888 — The Rosebud, a three-masted 341-ton wooden British schooner, is wrecked on Diaz Beach at Mossel Bay during a southeast gale while on a voyage from Calcutta to London via Mossel Bay and Cape Town with general cargo. No lives are lost.
1937 — Bruce Leslie McLaren, race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor, is born in Auckland, New Zealand. He dies on June 2 1970, aged 32, while testing his (CanAm) McLaren M8D when the rear bodywork comes adrift and he crashes into a bunker on the Lavant Straight at Goodwood Circuit in England. His name lives on in the McLaren team, one of the most successful in Formula One history with eight constructors’ and 12 drivers’ championships. 1943 — John Kani, actor, author, director and playwright (“The Wild Geese” 1978, “Sarafina!” 1992, “Final Solution” 2001, “Black Panther” 2018), is born in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.
1970 — Carlo Checchinato, Italian rugby player (1990-2004: 83 caps, 21 tries, three World Cups) and manager of the national team, is born in Adria, province of Rovigo.
1982 — Andy Roddick, the most recent US male tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title (US Open 2003), reach the top ranking and claim the year-end world No 1 ranking (2003), is born in
Omaha, Nebraska.
2003 — Harley-Davidson, along with Indian the only two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, celebrates its 100th anniversary in Milwaukee with a parade of 10,000 motorcycles. Some 250,000 bikers pack the roads around Milwaukee for a three-day celebration.