You don't have Javascript enabled. To view this site requires Javascript to be enabled.
MjIxMi0tLTU1NC0tLTE=.jpg
If you can't access speech audio, click here to get Real Player
sponsored by peru

27th August

240---Image_large

1883: Krakatau explodes


The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatau, a small, uninhabited island located west of Sumatra in Indonesia. Volcanic activity began on Krakatau on May 20, and on August 26 Krakatau began to violently erupt. The next day, four giant explosions occurred, the third of which blew away the northern two-thirds of the island and caused 120-foot tidal waves that killed 36,000 people on the nearby populated islands of Java and Sumatra. The explosions could be heard more than 2,000 miles away in Australia and ash was propelled to a height of 50 miles. Fine dust from the explosion drifted around the earth, causing spectacular sunsets and forming an atmospheric veil that lowered world temperatures by a degree.

1997

A Cambridgeshire family who sold everything to sail around the world is rescued from their crippled yacht by the Royal Navy in the Bay of Biscay.

1995

In London, the Rugby Union authorities announce that the amatuer game is turning professional.

1979

Lord Mountbatten, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, is killed by an IRA bomb planted on his boat Shadow V off the coast of County Sligo, Ireland.

1966

English yachtsman Francis Chichester leaves Plymouth Harbour to begin a solo voyage around the world aboard his boat, Gipsy Moth IV.

1962

US spacecraft Mariner II is launched on a voyage to the planet, Venus.

1939

In Germany, a jet-propelled aircraft, the Heinkel 178, makes its' first flight at Marienehe in north Germany.

1912

The story of Tarzan of the Apes, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first goes into print as a serial in a magazine.

1900

Boer War: In South Africa, the Boer army commanded by Louis Botha is defeated by the British at Bergendal.

1859

The world's first commercial productive oil well is drilled at Titusville, Pennsylvannia, by Edwin Drake.

1813

130,000 French troops, commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, defeat a 200,000 strong Austrian Army at the Battle of Dresden.

1784

The first British balloon ascent is made by James Tytler at Edinburgh.

55B

Official date for the Roman landing in Britain by Julius Caesar accompanied by 10,000 men of the 7th and 10th Roman Legions.

1954

English tennis player John Lloyd.

1932

Historical writer Lady Antonia Fraser.

1910

Mother Theresa of Calcutta.

1908

36th US President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-69). As a former Democratic congressman from Texas, he loses the Democratic Presidential Nomination to John F.Kennedy in 1960 before agreeing to run as his Vice-President. Sworn in as President on November 22nd, 1963 after Kennedy's assassination in Dallas,Texas. Is elected President in his own right in 1964 and is responsible for dramatically increasing US military strength in Vietnam. Sanctions the bombing of North Vietnam. Dies 1973.

1908

Australian cricketer Donald Bradman.

1904

English novelist Nora Lofts.

1899

English novelist C.S Forrester born in Cairo

1882

Hollywood film producer Samuel Goldwyn born in Poland

1877

British motor manufacturer Charles Stewart Rolls.

1770

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Frederich Hegel.

1998

Veteran actor Bob Arnold, known to millions of fans as Tom Forrest in the BBC Radio serial The Archers, dies aged 87.

1979

Lord Mountbatten, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, is killed by an IRA bomb planted on his boat Shadow V off the coast of County Sligo, Ireland aged 79.

1975

The last descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, dies in exile aged 83.

1967

Brian Epstein, the manager of the British group The Beatles, dies in his home in London from an overdose of sleeping pills.

1919

South African Boer General Louis Botha - first Prime Minister of the Union

1576

Venetian painter Titian aged about 90.