this is the week that was
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.18 September:
1879: The Blackpool illuminations are first switched on.
1981: President Mitterand formally abolishes the Guillotine.
19 September:
1876: Melville Bissell patents the carpet sweeper.
1888: The world's first beauty contest is held in Belgium.
1893: New Zealand gives women the vote - the first country to do so.
1928: Mickey Mouse (with Walt Disney's voice) speaks in Steamboat Willie, the first talkie cartoon.
1960: 344 tickets are issued on London's first day of traffic meters and parking wardens.
20 September:
1842: Birth of James Dewar, inventor of the vacuum flask.
1961: Antonio Albertondo of Argentina becomes the first to swim the channel and back non-stop. It took him 43hrs 5mins.
21 September:
1576: The astrologer Girolamo Cardano predicted his own death for this date. He woke up feeling fine but killed himself later the same day.
1915: CH Chubb buys Stonehenge at auction for pounds 6,600.
1986: Prince Charles admits on television that he talks to his plants.
1987: Viscount Linley becomes the first member of the royal family to be banned from driving.
22 September:
1735: Robert Walpole becomes the first PM to occupy 10 Downing Street.
1920: The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad is formed.
1955: The first advert is broadcast on British television - for Gibbs SR toothpaste.
23 September:
1846: Johann Galle discovers the planet Neptune.
1848: Chewing gum is first marketed, by John Curtis, under the name State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.
1897: A nine-year-old boy in Hackney becomes the first motoring fatality on a public highway.
1974: First transmission of Ceefax Teletext on BBC TV.
24 September:
1916: The naturalist John Burroughs says that moving pictures deprive people of brain power.
1928: Sir Oswald Mosley, then a Labour MP, declares that his title "doesn't mean anything" and therefore is not worth giving up.
1963: Doctors in New Zealand perform the first successful blood transfusion to an unborn baby.
1967: A 4lb 2oz aardvark is delivered in a Miami zoo, the first to be born in captivity in the West.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments