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27th September

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1540: Jesuits receive charter


In Rome, the Society of Jesus--a Roman Catholic missionary organization--receives its formal charter from Pope Paul III. Ignatius De Loyola, a Spanish soldier turned priest, founded the Society in 1534. Important in the Counter Reformation in the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries began fanning out from Europe in the 17th century. The highly educated Black Robes, as they were known in native America, often preceded European nations in their infiltration of foreign lands and societies. The life of a Jesuit missionary was one of immense risk, though, and foreign authorities hostile to their task of conversion persecuted thousands of Jesuit priests. In other nations, such as India and China, the Jesuits were revered as men of wisdom and science.

1995

Anger within the British Government by a European Court of Human Rights ruling which condemns the killing, by the British SAS, of three IRA terrorists in Gibraltar in 1988.

1994

Almost 1,000 are drowned when the ferry 'Estonia' sinks 20 miles from Finnish island of Utoe en route to Stockholm.

1987

In golf, the Great Britain and European team retain the Ryder Cup after beating the United States for the first time on American soil.

1968

The controversial rock musical 'Hair' - including a scene cast in the nude - opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, the day after the lifting of strict censorship in the theatre.

1967

British liner 'Queen Mary' docks at Southampton at the end of her last trans-Atlantic voyage.

1960

Bank Underground Station in London opens Europe's first travelator, or 'moving pavement' .

1943

American singer Bing Crosby records the Christmas hit 'Jingle Bells'.

1939

Within three weeks of the start of World War II, the Polish capital Warsaw urrenders to overwhelming German forces.

1938

The 80,000 ton liner 'Queen Elizabeth' is launched at John Brown's Yard on Clydebank in Scotland by the Queen Mother.

1825

The world's first public passenger rail service begins - between Stockton and Darlington in the north of England.

1946

English actor Robin Nedwell.

1943

Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell is born in Alberta.

1907

English actor Sir Bernard Miles

1862

South African statesman Louis Botha. Commander-in-Chief of the Boer forces fighting the British in southern Africa in 1900. Prime Minister of the Transvaal in 1907 and elected first premier of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Dies in 1919 aged 57.

1979

Dame Gracie Fields, actress/singer, aged 81. Born Grace Stansfield in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1898, she became one of Britain's top music hall singers - affectionately known as 'Our Gracie'. She was a star of radio, television and films. Her most memorable performance was in the film 'Sally In our Alley' (1931) from which the song 'Sally' became her trademark. Created a Dame of the British Empire in 1978.