Also in September 1948
8th: Terrence Rattigan’s The Browning Version is premiered at the Phoenix Theatre, London. A deeply reflective play about a largely unpopular classics master’s final day after 18 years at a public school, it runs until April the following year and then opens on Broadway, New York. The central character is believed to have been based on Rattigan’s own classics teacher at Harrow.
9th: Following the division of Korea after World War II, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is established in the Soviet-controlled northern half. The Soviet general Terentii Shtykov is made ambassador to the new state, which appoints Kim Il-sung as its premier.
9th: A crowd of over 500,000 people gather near the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin to urge the Allies not to abandon them. Following a blockade of the city by the
Soviets in June, cutting it off by road, rail and canal, airlifts have provided means of survival for the West Berliners, but there are now fears that they may be discontinued.
13th: The German actor, writer and director Paul Wegener dies in Berlin. Though a favourite of the Nazis, for whom he appeared in a number of propaganda films, Wegener was secretly a strong supporter of resistance movements, providing them with funds and often hiding dissidents in his apartment. His final movie, Der grosse Mandarin, was filmed shortly before his death.
13th: The Republican Margaret Chase
Smith defeats Democrat Adrian H Scolten in elections to the US Senate, where she will now serve as a representative for Maine. In doing so, she becomes the first ever woman to serve in both houses of Congress, having been a member of the US House of Representatives since 1940.