POPnews - November 18th

[By 1450, when this image was made, the Renaissance St. Peter's Basilica which had grown up around the tomb of Saint Peter had itself grown too old-fashioned for the silk- and velvet-dressed, perfumed and bejewelled he-men who lived and worked there; originally intending to preserve the old building, Pope Julius II eventually tore one architectural masterpiece down with an unshakable faith that someday an even greater one would arise...]
326 CE - The Old St. Peter's Basilica was consecrated, during the papal reign of St. Sylvester I.

1302 - When Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam - 'The One Holy' - it wasn't the first bull issued by a Pope (and Lord knows it wouldn't be the last) but it was one of the strongest statements to date about Papal infallibility, and is probably responsible for that holier-than-Thou attitude of theirs the rest of us must contend with to this day.

1307 - According to legend, William Tell shot an apple off his son's head.

1477 - When William Caxton produced Dictes, or Sayengis of the Philosophres (written by the King's brother-in-law Earl Rivers, whose sister Elizabeth married Edward IV), it would be the first book printed on a printing press in England.

1626 - The extensively remodeled St. Peter's Basilica was re-consecrated by Pope Urban VIII.

1803 - At Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines defeated French troops under Vicomte de Rochambeau - leading to the establishment of the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere, the Republic of Haiti, where the day is still celebrated.

1863 - Denmark's King Christian IX signed that country's November Constitution, which (in part) declared Schleswig to be part of Denmark; this was seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and would eventually lead to the German-Danish War of 1864.

1865 - Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was first published, in the New York Saturday Press.

1905 - Denmark's Prince Carl became King Haakon VII of Norway following the 1905 dissolution of the union between the two countries.

1916 - The First Battle of the Somme ended when British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig called off the battle - which had started on July 1st.

1928 - The animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully-synchronized sound cartoon, was released; directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, it featured the second appearances of cartoon stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse. This date is also considered by the Disney Corporation to be Mickey's birthday.

1929 - The Grand Banks earthquake - a submarine seismic event recorded at 7.2 on the Richter scale and centred on the Grand Banks in the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of Newfoundland - broke 12 underwater transatlantic telegraph cables and triggered a tsunami that destroyed many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area.

1947 - A fire at Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch killed 41, making it the worst such catastrophe in New Zealand history.

1978 - At the Jonestown incident in Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children; the event had been precipitated by the fact-finding mission of Congressman Leo Ryan (D.-Calif.) and his subsequent murder (along with four journalists) at the hands of Jonestown thugs, also on this day.

1985 - Bill Watterson's legendary comic strip Calvin and Hobbes debuted.

1987 - During a fire in London, 31 people died at the city's busiest Tube station, King's Cross St Pancras.

1991 - Following the 87-day siege of Vukovar, that Croatian city capitulated to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.

2000 - Welsh beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones married Hollywood royalty Michael Douglas at New York City's famed Plaza Hotel.

2003 - The UK's Local Government Act 2003 received Royal Assent, repealing the Thatcher government's controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28 in England and Wales; Scotland had already repealed it in June 2000 with the passage of its Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. First passed in May 1988 and championed by, among many others, Michael Howard, Section 28 remains one of the most loathsome pieces of legislation ever produced by the Mother of All Parliaments.
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POPnews - October 13th

[Construction on the Executive Mansion would last until the first day of November 1800, and involve the labour of paid employees and slaves, immigrants and citizens alike - making it a uniquely American enterprise; the first President to live in the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was John Adams. It was set afire and gutted during the Burning of Washington in August 1814, following which it was rebuilt, and has since been added to many times.]
54 CE - Nero became Roman emperor following the death of his great uncle Claudius, who'd adopted him.

1307 - Hundreds of Knights Templar were simultaneously arrested by agents of France's King Phillip the Fair and later tortured into confessing heresy.

1332 - Rinchinbal Khan, Emperor Ningzong of Yuan became the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty - although his reign would last for only 53 days.

1773 - The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier.

1775 - The US Continental Congress ordered the establishment of the Continental Navy (which would later be renamed the United States Navy).

1792 - The cornerstone of the original White House - then known as the Executive Mansion - was laid without ceremony.

1812 - During the War of 1812, at the Battle of Queenston Heights, as part of the Niagara Campaign in Ontario, US forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer were repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock, who died in battle.

1843 - B'nai B'rith was founded.

1845 - A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution that, if accepted by the US Congress, would make Texas a state.

1885 - Georgia Institute of Technology - better known as Georgia Tech - was founded.

1892 - Edward Emerson Barnard discovered D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means.

1903 - The Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win the first World Series at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds five games to three.

1915 - The Battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt marked the end of the Battle of Loos in northern France.

1917 - The 'Miracle of the Sun' was witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria near the Portugese town of Fátima.

1923 - Ankara replaced Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.

1943 - Italy declared war on Nazi Germany, apparently...

1946 - The constitution of France's Fourth Republic was ratified.

1958 - Michael Bond published the first Paddington Bear story, featuring illustrations by Peggy Fortnum.

1972 - Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes, on the border of Argentina and Chile; by December 23rd only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued and/or remain uneaten. Twenty years later Ethan Hawke starred in the film Alive: The Miracle of the Andes, based on the book Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read.
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