899 The English king Alfred the Great died on October 26, 899. It is unclear what he cause of death was, but Crohn’s disease or hemorrhoids seem the most likely. He was buried, with his wife and son, in a Winchester monastery that was closed during the Reformation. Alfred's resting-place remains a mystery but his bones are believed to have been moved as much as four times since he died. In 2014 a pelvic bone was found that may have been his or his son Edward the Elder's.
1440 French knight Gilles de Rais was one of the earliest known serial killers, having engaged in a series of child murders, with victims possibly numbering in the hundreds. In his confession, Gilles mentioned the first assaults on children occurred between spring 1432 and spring 1433. The killings came to an end in 1440, when he was taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes. He was hanged at Nantes on October 26, 1440.
1708 The final stone was placed on the lantern of St Paul's Cathedral, London on October 26, 1708.
Work began on the building in 1675 and it along with the rebuilding of the other 52 churches was financed by a tax on coal. The cathedral was declared officially complete by Parliament on Christmas Day 1711.
1726 The first edition of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was published in two volumes on October 26, 1726, priced at 8s. 6d. The book was an instant sensation and sold out its first run in less than a week. The novel's full title was Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. (Swift was nervous about the reaction his satire might provoke hence the Lemuel Gulliver pseudonym).
1785 George Washington is thought to have been the first in America to try raising mules. October 26, 1785 marked the arrival in America of a Spanish donkey, specially requested by George Washington to breed American mules. The donkey was named Royal Gift and was a present from the Spanish King Carlos III.
1789 American lexicographer Noah Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf (1766–1847) on October 26, 1789 in New Haven, Connecticut. They had five daughters and three sons together seven of whom survived to adulthood. Webster's marriage to Rebecca was a happy and loving one. She managed the household duties and the children during Webster's long absences abroad to research etymology.
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| King Alfred's statue at Winchester. Hamo Thornycroft's bronze statue erected in 1899.. By Odejea |
1440 French knight Gilles de Rais was one of the earliest known serial killers, having engaged in a series of child murders, with victims possibly numbering in the hundreds. In his confession, Gilles mentioned the first assaults on children occurred between spring 1432 and spring 1433. The killings came to an end in 1440, when he was taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes. He was hanged at Nantes on October 26, 1440.
1708 The final stone was placed on the lantern of St Paul's Cathedral, London on October 26, 1708.
Work began on the building in 1675 and it along with the rebuilding of the other 52 churches was financed by a tax on coal. The cathedral was declared officially complete by Parliament on Christmas Day 1711.
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| 19th cent colored engraving from the south-west by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd |
1726 The first edition of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was published in two volumes on October 26, 1726, priced at 8s. 6d. The book was an instant sensation and sold out its first run in less than a week. The novel's full title was Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships. (Swift was nervous about the reaction his satire might provoke hence the Lemuel Gulliver pseudonym).
1785 George Washington is thought to have been the first in America to try raising mules. October 26, 1785 marked the arrival in America of a Spanish donkey, specially requested by George Washington to breed American mules. The donkey was named Royal Gift and was a present from the Spanish King Carlos III.
1789 American lexicographer Noah Webster married Rebecca Greenleaf (1766–1847) on October 26, 1789 in New Haven, Connecticut. They had five daughters and three sons together seven of whom survived to adulthood. Webster's marriage to Rebecca was a happy and loving one. She managed the household duties and the children during Webster's long absences abroad to research etymology.
1825 The 363-mile Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825 connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River. Salt helped build the Erie Canal, which cost $7,602,000. A tax of 12 -and-a-half percent on New York State salt, plus tolls charged for salt shipments paid for nearly half of the construction cost of the canal.
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| Operations at Lockport, New York in 1839 |
1863 The Football Association, the oldest football association in the world, was formed when 11 football clubs meet at the Freemasons’ Tavern in London on October 26, 1863. Any club of at least a year's standing was invited to join at an annual subscription of one guinea. The first version of the rules for the modern game was drawn up over a series of six meetings held in The Freemasons' Tavern from October till December 1863.
1881 The "Gunfight at the OK Corral" took place at about 3:00 p.m. on October 26, 1881 in Tombstone, Arizona. Lawman Wyatt Earp, his two brothers, and Doc Holliday shot it out with Ike Clanton's gang. Three members of Clanton's gang were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Wild West.
1914 Jackie Coogan, born on October 26, 1914, was one of the first globally recognized child stars, after playing Charlie Chaplin’s irascible companion in The Kid at the age of five. In 1938, he sued his mother and stepfather for squandering his $4 million fortune. It led to the Coogan Law, which put all child earnings into court-administered trust funds.
1921 F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's daughter and only child, Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald, was born on October 26, 1921. She became a journalist writing for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Northern Virginia Sun, and others. Active in the state Democratic Party in Alabama, Scottie worked with Walter Mondale during his campaign trips to Montgomery over the years.
1921 When the Chicago Theater opened on October 26, 192, the 3,880-seat deluxe movie palace was promoted as the "Wonder Theatre of the World". Capacity crowds packed the theater during its opening week for its first feature The Sign on the Door starring Norma Talmadge. Today, its distinctive marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography.
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| Chicago Theater |
1929 Mrs Margaret Evans of Miami became the first mother to give birth on an aircraft flight on October 26, 1929. Today, giving birth on an airplane is still a rare event, but it does happen occasionally. Airlines have procedures in place to handle such situations, and there are usually medical professionals on board who can assist.
1935 A 12 year-old Judy Garland sang on Wallace Beery’s NBC radio show on October 26, 1935. Born Frances Gumm, her first appearance came at the age of one-and-a-half when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane "Suzy/Suzanne" Gumm and Dorothy Virginia "Jimmie" Gumm on the stage of her father's movie theater during a Christmas talent show and sang a chorus of "Jingle Bells".
1947 Hillary Clinton was born October 26, 1947 at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago. She was raised in Park Ridge, a suburb located 15 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. Hillary Clinton attended Maine East school from 1961–1964. She was elected president of the school’s Young Republicans chapter before she ultimately switched to Democrat.
1951 Winston Churchill became the United Kingdom's Prime Minister for the second time at nearly 77-years-old on October 26, 1951. When Churchill suffered a stroke in 1953, it was covered up. However a mixture of old age, pressure of work, prolonged alcoholic abuse and excessive use of sedatives bought on arteriosclerosis and rendered him almost incapable of carrying out his duties and he resigned as Prime Minister in April 1955.
1958 The Boeing 707 entered service in 1958. Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from Idlewild Airport, New York to Le Bourget, Paris on October 26, 1958. It came to dominate the market for civilian jet airliners.
1977 The last natural case of the less severe Variola minor form of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia on October 26, 1977 when Somalian hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin began displaying symptoms. The World Health Authority considers October 26th to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination the world has known.
1985 On October 26, 1985, the Australian government gave their indigenous peoples a large present. They returned ownership of Ayers Rock (now known by its ancestral name, Uluru) to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines. Uluru been described as a ‘land iceberg’, as most of its bulk lies underground.
2000 Country star Garth Brooks "retired" from performing and touring on October 26, 2000. The same day Capitol threw a party celebrating his sales of 100 million albums. In 2013 Brooks announced that he was returning to the spotlight with a world tour, which kicked off in September 2014, in Chicago.
2011 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its maiden commercial flight from Tokyo Narita to Hong Kong on All Nippon Airways on October 26, 2011. Boeing's most fuel-efficient airliner, it is also a pioneering airliner with the use of composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe.
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| By All_Nippon_Airways_Boeing_787-8_Dreamliner_Wikipedia |
"Alfred's resting-place remains a mystery but his bones are believed to have been moved as much as four times since he died."
ReplyDeleteWhy would his bones be moved multiple times?