1940: Tide turns in the Battle of Britain
Over
Britain, the
Royal Air Force (RAF) launches a major counterattack against the
German Luftwaffe. In September 1940, the German
air force launched a massive blitz against London, hoping to bomb the British capital into submission. After a week of almost ceaseless attacks, several areas of London were in flames and the royal palace, churches and hospitals had all been hit. However, the German concentration on London allowed the
RAF to recuperate elsewhere. On 15th September 1940, the RAF launched a vigorous counterattack, downing a reported 185 German planes. Although the actual figure was probably closer to 60, the defeat was serious enough to convince
Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler to abandon his plans for an invasion of Britain.
2000
The end of the fuel protests in Britain which had brought the country to a standstill for seven days. 2000
The opening ceremony is held for the Sydney Olympics. 1985
In golf, the European team captained by Tony Jacklin end 28 years of American domination by winning the Ryder Cup.1978
Astrid Proll, a member of the West
German terrorist group the Baader-Meinhof gang, is arrested in London.
1964
In
Britain, the first edition of the Sun newspaper is published; it is the replacement for the Daily Herald.
1963
In America, four young African-American girls are killed when a bomb planted by the
Ku Klux Klan explodes at a Church in Birmingham,
Alabama. 1959
Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States.1950
The
Korean War: A
United Nations force launches its first major offensive of the war landing 50,000 troops at Inchon, on the west coast of Korea.
1935
At a
Nazi rally in Nuremberg, German leader Adolf
Hitler issues new decrees which relegate Jews to sub-human status.
1916
The First World War: The first effective military tanks are first used by the British during the Battle of the Somme. 1830
In England, the Liverpool to Manchester
railway line is officially opened.
William Huskisson MP travels on the first train, but is tragically run over and killed whilst attempting to step off the train to shake hands with the Duke of Wellington.
1779
American Revolution: French Commander Charles Count d’Estaing captures two British frigates and two British supply ships in the Savannah River.1590
Giovanni Battista Castagna is elected Pope Urban VII, but dies of malaria on 27th September 1590. 668
In
Italy, Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath.
1984
His Royal Highness Prince
Harry - second son of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.
1911
British actress Margaret Lockwood, born in Karachi,
India. 1890
English
crime writer Dame
Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie is born in Torquay, Devon. Writes more than 80 detective novels either under her own name (first husband was Colonel Christie - divorced 1928) or her pen name of Mary Westmacott. Creates the fictional characters of Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot and elderly English spinster Miss Jane Marple who solve the majority of her 'Who Dunnits'. Many of her books have been dramatised on the stage, on TV and on film, including 'Murder At The Vicarage'; 'Murder On The Orient Express'; 'Death On The Nile' and 'They Do It With Mirrors'. In the 1950s she has three productions running at the same time on the London stage: 'The Spider's Web'; Witness For The Prosecution' and 'The Mousetrap'. Dies in 1976.
