On This Day October 1

On October 1, 1881, the southeastern England town of Godalming was the first town in the world to introduce a public electricity supply system, making electricity accessible to its residents.

Introduction of street lighting to Godalming, November 1881 (from The Graphic)

In 1881, Calder and Barrett, a London-based firm, installed a generator powered by two Poncelet waterwheels at Westbrook Mill. This generator provided electricity for three 250 V arc lights at the mill, and overhead cables were extended along Mill Street to the town center. There, an additional four arc lights were installed. Additionally, a second 40 V circuit was set up to supply power for 34 incandescent lamps, seven of which were located at the mill, with the rest distributed throughout the town center.

However, the success of this electrification scheme was mixed, with criticisms emerging. Some found the lights in the town center to be too dim, while those at the mill were considered excessively bright. By the close of 1881, the generator had been relocated to the rear of the White Hart pub, where it was now driven by a steam engine. In April 1882, Siemens took over the operation of this pioneering electrical endeavor.

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On This Day September 30

A Boston dentist called William T.G. Morton (1819-68) is attributed with the initial discovering of general anesthesia for use in the medical field. In the mid 1840s, at the suggestion of his landlord Professor Charles Jackson, Morton started to experiment with using ether to anesthetize a patient before extracting a tooth. After trial runs on himself, his dog and a goldfish, Morton painlessly extracted a tooth from a patient, Eben Frost, after administering ether on September 30, 1846.

Re-enactment of the first public demonstration of general anesthesia by William T. G. Morton

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On This Day September 29

German engineer and inventor of the diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel, was lost overboard from the steamer Dresden while on his way to London on September 29, 1913. Many believe he committed suicide as, shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 200,000 German marks in cash.

Diesel c. 1900

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On This Day September 28

William the Conqueror, The Duke of Normandy, began the Norman conquest of England when he landed on Pevensey beach on September 28, 1066. William's first action on landing on Pevensey beach was ominously to trip over, land on his face and swallow some sand. A great cry went up that it was a bad omen but always ready for a bon mot, Norman duke splattered " I have seized England with both hands."

The Normans landing in England scene from the Bayeux Tapestry

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On This Day September 27

The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public railway to use steam locomotives, was opened on September 27, 1825 in north east England. The railway used George Stephenson's eight ton no. 1 engine, called Locomotion. The first purpose-built passenger car, Experiment, was attached and carried dignitaries on the opening journey racing along at 15 mph. At that time most people believed nobody could survive speeds above 16 mph so there was a lot of alarm.

The Locomotion for the Stockton & Darlington Railway

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On This Day September 26

Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) registered the Mercedes name on September 26, 1902. The symbol of Mercedes-Benz is a three-pointed star inside of a circle and was designed by Gottlieb Daimler. The three points of the star stand for land, air and sea because Daimler's engines were used not only in cars and trucks but in airplanes and boats. The symbol was first used in 1909.

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On This Day September 25

On September 25, 1906, Spanish civil engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo publicly demonstrated the Telekino, guiding a boat from the shore. The device consisted of a robot that executed commands transmitted by electromagnetic waves. With the Telekino, Torres y Quevedo laid down modern wireless remote-control operation principles and the event is considered the birth of the remote control.

The Telekino receptor

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On This Day September 24

In 1946, Japanese mechanic, race car driver, and self-taught engineer Soichiro Honda founded a company that made small, efficient engines. Two years later he started producing a complete motorized bicycle, the Type A, which was driven by the first mass-produced engine designed by Honda. His business was incorporated as Honda Motor Co. on September 24, 1948 and originally concentrated on motorcycles.

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On This Day September 23

Russian author Leo Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs, daughter of a German physician, on September 23, 1862. She was 16 years his junior. Sophia was pregnant 16 times and she gave birth to 13 children (The other three were still born). She still found the energy to work as her husband's unpaid assistant deciphering and copying his drafts. Tolstoy described his wife as "good, loving and beloved".

Sophia Tolstaya and daughter Alexandra Tolstaya

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On This Day September 22

The pilot episode of Friends premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. Many titles were considered and rejected before the show was named as 'Friends'. They included Friends Like Us', 'Insomnia Cafe' and 'Across the Hall'. In the early stages of Friends' development, Chandler and Phoebe were just support characters, and the writers considered making Chandler gay.

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On This Day September 21

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was the first portable cellular phone to be commercially released. It received approval from the U.S. FCC on September 21, 1983. It was priced at $3,995 in 1984. The DynaTAC 8000X took roughly 10 hours to fully charge and it offered 30 minutes of talk time. It also offered an LED display for dialing or recall of one of 30 phone numbers.

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On This Day September 20

Ferdinand Magellan and his 270 shipmates set sail on September 20, 1519 from San Lucar, near Seville on his expedition to to try to get to the East Indies by sailing westwards. Magellan's lead ship Trinidad was accompanied by four other vessels – San Antonio, Santiago, Concepcion, and Victoria. On board was enough food to last two years. Magellan was killed in The Philippines, but three years later his 18 surviving companions having sailed 30,700 miles, arrived back in Seville having completed the first ever circumnavigation of the world.

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On This Day September 19

U.S. President James A. Garfield died of wounds after being shot at the Baltimore and Potomac train depot in Washington DC, by Charles J Guiteau on September 19, 1881.

Garfield being shot

Garfield was originally shot at the Baltimore and Potomac train depot in Washington DC, by Charles J Guiteau on July 2, 1881, Surgeons used a metal detecting machine, which Alexander Graham Bell invented to look for the bullet lodged inside him. However interference from the bed springs created havoc with the appliance and the President died from his wounds two and a half months later.

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On This Day September 18

The New York Times was founded as the New-York Daily Times on September 18, 1851, by journalist and politician Henry Jarvis Raymond and former banker George Jones. It originally sold for a penny (equivalent to 28 cents today). The newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857 and dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s.

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On This Day September 17

The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862 near the mouth of Antietam Creek in Maryland during the American Civil War. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, General McClellan of the Union Army did succeed in blocking Confederate General Lee's advance on Washington.

The Battle of Antietam, by Kurz & Allison (1878)

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On This Day September 16

Boris Yeltsin abandoned communism partly due to a visit on September 16, 1989, to a medium-sized grocery store (Randall's) in Clear Lake, Houston, Texas. Leon Aron, quoting a Yeltsin associate, wrote in his 2000 biography, Yeltsin, A Revolutionary Life. "On his return to Moscow, Yeltsin would confess the pain he had felt after the Houston excursion: the 'pain for all of us, for our country so rich, so talented and so exhausted by incessant experiments'."

Boris Yeltsin By Kremlin.ru, 

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On This Day September 15

On September 15, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, the British sent into action eleven vehicles of an entirely new kind, the Mark I tank.  When the British army was developing the vehicles, known as 'landships', they didn't want to give the Germans any clue what they were up to – so the name 'tank,' which doesn't mean anything, was used to throw them off. It stuck.

British World War I Mark V* tank

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On This Day September 14

After several setbacks George Handel the Anglo-German composer was at his lowest ebb. He set to work to compose an oratorio with words taken from the Book of Isaiah and The Gospels in which he intended to depict Christ's life, death, resurrection and eternal glory. For 22 days and nights he worked solidly hardly eating, or sleeping, surviving totally on coffee. The result was a masterpiece, The Messiah, which he completed on September 14, 1741.

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On This Day September 13

King George VI of the United Kingdom won admiration during the Second World War as he stayed at Buckingham Palace during the most intense months of the blitz. On September 13, 1940, the King and Queen narrowly avoided death when two German bombs exploded in a courtyard at Buckingham Palace while they were present. George VI remained there during the remainder of the war, becoming a symbol of resistance and 'fighting spirit'.

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On This Day September 12

Arbroath F.C. holds the world record for the largest winning margin in a senior unfixed football match. They won 36-0, in their Scottish Cup match against a scratch team from Aberdeen Bon Accord.  On a wet day on September 12, 1885 at Gayfield, 13-goal John Petrie led the rampant home team, a feat which is still recognized as the highest by one man in a single game.

Meanwhile, 20 miles away, Dundee Harp ran them close by beating Aberdeen Rovers 35-0 on the same day.

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On This Day September 11

The Great Siege of Malta took place in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire tried to invade the island. The Knights of Malta, led by Frenchman Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Order, with approximately 2,000 foot soldiers and 400 Maltese men, women and children, withstood the siege.  On September 11, 1565 the Ottoman forces retreated ending the Great Siege of Malta. The victory was one of the most celebrated events in sixteenth-century Europe.

Lifting of the Siege of Malta by Charles-Philippe Larivière

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On This Day September 10

The USA suffered its first loss of an Olympic basketball game on September 10, 1972 in a disputed match against the Soviet Union at the Munich, Germany Olympic Games. The Americans had won the previous seven gold medals since the sport began Olympic play in 1936. and was favored to win another at the 1972 Olympics. The Soviets won the game by a single point, making the winning basket as time expired and igniting vociferous American objections questioning the legitimacy of the final play.

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On This Day September 9

On September 9, 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on TV's Ed Sullivan Show.. While Ed recovered from an auto accident, actor Charles Laughton introduced Elvis, who sang his forthcoming single "Love Me Tender."  He was watched by an agog audience of approximately 60 million viewers—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience - instantly becoming the most famous 21-year-old in the world.

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On This Day September 8

In 1624 the Dutch established a settlement, New Amsterdam, at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. It was designated the capital of the New Netherland province the following year. On September 8, 1664 Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to the British.. It was renamed New York in honor of the Duke of York, future King James II of England, who had organized the mission.

New Amsterdam in 1664 (looking approximately due north)

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On This Day September 7

The poet Emily Dickinson started attending Amherst Academy on September 7, 1840. It was a former boys' school that had opened to female students just two years earlier. Dickinson spent seven years at the Academy, taking classes in English and classical literature, Latin, botany, geology, history, "mental philosophy," and arithmetic. Daniel Taggart Fiske, the school's principal at the time, later recalled that Dickinson was "very bright" and "an excellent scholar, of exemplary deportment, faithful in all school duties.”

Emily (left) and her brother and sister

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On This Day September 6

President William McKinley was shot at the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901 during a public handshaking reception. The shooter was an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz, who claimed the President committed war crimes in the Philippines and was an enemy of the people.  McKinley's wounds were not properly dressed and he died of gangrene a week later. Polish immigrant Czolgosz was executed in the electric chair.

Artist's conception of the shooting of McKinley

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On This Day September 5

A fear of flying meant Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) tried to withdraw from the 1960 Olympic Games just weeks before the US team traveled to Rome. He was eventually persuaded to go but spent the entire flight with a parachute strapped to his back. It was worth it as Clay won the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition on September 5, 1960.  Clay sent his medal to his high school teacher who once taunted him, "you ain't never gonna be nuthin."

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On This Day September 4

The first paperboy is said to have been 10-year-old Barney Flaherty, who was hired by the New York Sun on September 4, 1833 to deliver newspapers. Barney had responded to an advert in the newspaper, which read "To the Unemployed a number of steady men can find employment by vending this paper." The Oxford Dictionary gives the earliest use of the word 'paperboy' in 1876 and 'papergirl' in 1937.

A paperboy for the Toronto Star in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, 1940

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On This Day September 3

Until 1967, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5 p.m.  On September 3, 1967 all traffic stopped as the Swedes switched sides. The later time in the day was chosen out of concern that the drivers would have got up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize 'this' was the day of the changeover. The day was called Dagen H, the "H" standing for "Högertrafik", the Swedish word for "right traffic".

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On This Day September 2

President George H. W. Bush served as a naval aviator during World War II. He was one of nine airmen who escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichi Jima, a small island 700 miles (1,100 km) south of Tokyo, on September 2, 1944. Bush was the lone survivor, as a result of being rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. This experience shaped Bush profoundly, leading him to ask, "Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?"

Bush in his Grumman TBM Avenger 1944

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