HistoryPod https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html 28th September 1928: Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin, laying the foundation for a revolution in modern medicine 27th September 1825: Stockton and Darlington Railway opens as the first public railway to make regular use of steam locomotives 24th September 1954: Iconic AEC Routemaster London bus revealed at the Commercial Motor Show at Earl’s Court 26th September 1960: Kennedy and Nixon take part in their first televised debate 25th September 1066: Battle of Stamford Bridge fought between King Harold Godwinson of England and the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada 23rd September 1974: BBC launches Ceefax, the world’s first teletext service 22nd September 1776: Nathan Hale hanged by the British for spying for the Continental Army during the American Revolution 21st September 1792: French First Republic begins when the National Convention formally abolish the monarchy 20th September 1835: The start of the Ragamuffin War in Brazil 19th September 1870: The Siege of Paris began during the Franco-Prussian War when the city was encircled by forces of the North German Confederation 18th September 1870: The Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition to the Yellowstone region sees a large geyser they named Old Faithful. 17th September 1978: Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin 16th September 1978: Filming begins on Monty Python’s Life of Brian after George Harrison steps in to provide funding 15th September 1959: Nikita Khrushchev became the first Soviet leader to visit the United States 12th September 1940: Prehistoric cave paintings discovered at Lascaux, in the Dordogne region of southwestern France 14th September 1814: USA’s national anthem lyrics written as the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry” 13th September 1501: Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David 11th September 1978: Janet Parker becomes the last recorded person in the world to die from smallpox 10th September 1919: Austria signs the Treaty of Saint-Germain at the end of the First World War 9th September 1513: Battle of Flodden marks the largest battle to ever take place between Scotland and England 8th September 1941: Start of the Siege of Leningrad 7th September 1940: The Nazi German Luftwaffe launches The Blitz 6th September 1914: First Battle of the Marne begins with a French counter-offensive against the advancing German army 5th September 1698: Peter the Great of Russia imposes a tax on beards 4th September 476: End of the Western Roman Empire when Romulus Augustulus is overthrown by the barbarian general Odoacer 3rd September 1260: Battle of Ain Jalut allows the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt to permanently halt the Mongol advance 1st September 1604: The Sikh Adi Granth first installed at the Golden Temple 31st August 1907: The Anglo-Russian Entente is signed, forming the Triple Entente 30th August 1813: Red Stick Creek warriors attack Fort Mims in the Mississippi Territory 29th August 1842: The First Opium War ends when Britain and China sign the Treaty of Nanking 28th August 1955: The murder of black teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi 27th August 1916: Romania enters the First World War by declaring war on Austria-Hungary 26th August 1789: Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France 25th August 1875: Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel 24th August 1814: The Burning of Washington sees British forces during the War of 1812 capture and set fire to many principal public buildings 23rd August 1944: King Michael of Romania leads a coup d’etat against Ion Antonescu 22nd August 1791: Start of the Haitian Revolution in the French colony of Saint-Domingue 21st August 1945: The Demon Core fatally irradiates physicist Harry Daghlian during an experiment at Los Alamos Laboratory 20th August 1940: Leon Trotsky attacked with an ice axe in Mexico 19th August 1989: The Pan-European Picnic opens the Cold War border between Hungary and Austria 18th August 1940: “The Hardest Day” of the Battle of Britain during the Second World War 17th August 1836: Parliament passes the 1836 Marriage Act, allowing non-Anglican ceremonies 16th August 1858: Queen Victoria sends the first transatlantic telegram 15th August 1969: Woodstock Music and Art Fair opens on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near Bethel in New York 14th August 1941: Roosevelt and Churchill issue the Atlantic Charter 13th August 1876: The premiere of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle takes place in Germany 11th August 1919: The Weimar Republic officially established when Friedrich Ebert signs the new constitution into law 10th August 1793: The Louvre museum in Paris opens to the public for the first time 6th August 1965: Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law during the height of the Civil Rights movement Front Page