21 SEPTEMBER
Chris Eubank celebrates his win over Michael Watson in 1991 – Watson suffered serious brain injuries during the fight South Yemen, Libya and the Palestine Liberation Organisation announced in Damascus they were severing relations with Egypt because of that nation’s accord with Israel. 1981: Belize, previously known as British Honduras, became independent. 1985: Mexico counted at least 2,000 dead from an earthquake that devastated four states. 1988: British rower Sean Crowley, 25, became the youngest person to row the Atlantic solo. 1991: Boxing safety row erupted after Michael Watson was critically injured in middleweight title fight with champion Chris Eubank. 1994: Scientists announced that 4.4-million-year-old human remains found in Ethiopia represented the missing link between apes and early man. 1999: Chi-chi earthquake occurred in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead. 2008: The United States claimed their first Ryder Cup win since 1999 with a crushing 16½ - 11½ victory over Europe. National day of Malta 1327: Edward II was murdered in the dungeon of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, to ensure that his son, Edward III, could succeed to the throne. 1621: James VI & I gave Sir Alexander Stirling a royal charter for the colonisation of Nova Scotia. 1677: John and Nicolaas van der Hayden patented the fire extinguisher. 1745: Battle of Prestonpans and defeat of the Hanoverian army under General John Cope by Prince Charles Edward Stuart and the Jacobites. 1776: A quarter of New York City burned down in a great fire, five days after the city was taken by British forces. 1802: France’s Napoleon Bonaparte annexed Piedmont. 1837: Charles Tiffany founded his gold and jewellery stores. 1860: In the second Opium War, British and French troops defeated the Chinese at the Battle of Baliqiao. 1893: The first petrol-powered car was demonstrated in the United States by Frank Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts. 1896: General Kitchener’s army occupied Dongola, Sudan. 1911: Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laudier lost the Canadian general election to Robert Borden of the Conservative Party. 1913: Turkey and Bulgaria signed a peace treaty in Constantinople. 1917: Independence of Latvia was proclaimed. 1921: Pope Benedictus XV donated one million lire to feed starving Russians. 1934: A typhoon struck Honshu island, Japan, killing 4,000 people. 1936: The Spanish fascist junta named Franco to be supreme commander. 1939: Premier Armand Calinescu of Romania was assassinated by the Iron Guard. 1947: An American Skymaster flew from Ohio to Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, without a crew, under automatic control and guided by radio impulses. 1949: West Germany came into existence as US, British and French occupation zones were transferred to German control. 1949: People’s Republic of China was proclaimed by its Communist leaders. 1964: Malta became independent, after 164 years of British rule. 1965: British Petroleum became the first company to strike oil in the North Sea. 1973: Jackson Pollock’s painting Blue Poles sold for $2 million. 1978: Leaders of Syria, Algeria,
BIRTHDAYS
Stephen King, American novelist, 68; Sir Curtly Ambrose, West Indian cricketer, 52; Charles Clarke, home secretary 2004-6, 65; Ethan Coen, scriptwriter and film producer, 58; Shirley Conran, writer, 83; John Crawley, cricketer, 44; Faith Hill, singer, 48; Simon Mayo, radio broadcaster, 57; Bill Murray, American actor, producer and writer, 65; Nancy Travis, actress, 54; Sir Jimmy Young CBE, radio presenter, 94; Angus Macfadyen, Glasgow-born actor, 52.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1452 Girolamo Savonarola, Italian political reformer and monk (hanged as a heretic); 1722 John Home, Leith-born dramatist; 1756 John Mcadam, Ayr-born surveyor who introduced “macadam” roadsurfacing; 1866 HG Wells, novelist; 1874 Gustav Holst, composer; 1921 Chico Hamilton, American jazz drummer; 1930 Dawn Addams, actress; 1947 Keith Harris, ventriloquist. Deaths: 19BC Virgil, Roman poet; 1832 Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet; 1936 Frank Hornby, toy manufacturer; 1974 Walter Brennan, three-time Oscarwinning actor; 1974 Jacqueline Susann, novelist; 1996 Dorothy Lamour, actress and singer.