ON THIS DAY.* 1190: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I drowned in a river on his way to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade. * 1692: The first of the Salem witches was hanged. She was Bridget Bishop, one of 150 respectable citizens accused of witchcraft by a hysterical band of young girls in the isolated Puritan community in Massachusetts. * 1829: The first Oxford and Cambridge boat race took place, two miles from Hambleden Lock to Henley Bridge. It was won easily by Oxford.1864: Over-arm bowling was legalised for cricket matches. 1909: The SOS SOS, code letters of the international distress signal. The signal is expressed in International Morse code as … — — — … (three dots, three dashes, three dots). signal was first used in an emergency. The call, which replaced CQD CQD Center for Quantum Devices CQD Close Quarters-Defense CQD Ciudades Que Danzan (Spanish: Dancing Cities) CQD Customary Quick Dispatch (logistics) CQD Seek You, Distress CQD Code Question of the Day code in 1906, was recognised by two steamers who went to the aid of the Cunard liner SS Slavonia, wrecked off the Azores. 1922: Actress and singer Judy Garland - A Star Is Born, The Wizard Of Oz - was born at Grand Rapids, Minnesota Grand Rapids is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 7,764 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Itasca County6. Mayor Jim Millis was elected in 2006 and began a four year term in January 2007. . * 1943: Ballpoint pens, devised by Hungarian Laszlo Biro, were patented in the United States. 1983: Margaret Thatcher won her second term as prime minister. 1986: Bob Geldof, an Irish citizen, and John Paul Getty II, a US citizen, were made honorary knights by the Queen. 1989: Britain's last lightship lightship, moored vessel bearing lights and other signal devices to guide ships and warn of hazards to navigation. Lightships are generally stationed at points where a lighthouse cannot be erected; they are given distinctive features (e.g. was towed from its position north-west of Guernsey to Harwich, ending an era of 157 years for the vessels. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A state of drought was declared in parts of England. The Government said Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and western Norfolk were suffering from drought, after England experienced the driest spring on record. |
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