Born on this day
Sunday, October 8, 1939. : Australian actor and comedian, Paul Hogan, is born.
Paul Hogan was born on 8 October 1939, in the north-western New South Wales town of Lightning Ridge. Initially he worked as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but during the 1970s he developed his own television comedy sketch programme. “The Paul Hogan Show” ran for 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, and was popular amongst Australians for its larrikin “Aussie” humour. In 1986, Hogan co-produced and starred in “Crocodile Dundee” as a down-to-earth hunter travelling from the Australian Outback to New York City. It remains Australia’s most successful film to date.
Australian Explorers
Thursday, October 8, 1818. : Oxley discovers and names Port Macquarie.
John Oxley’s expedition into the interior in 1818 was for the purpose of following and charting the Macquarie River. His experience in following the Lachlan River the previous year had left him disappointed with the countryside. It had been a flood year, and much of the Lachlan overflowed into marshy tracts, with Oxley declaring the land useless and unusable. This was repeated with the Macquarie. Floods and marshes blocked his way, and he was returning to Sydney when he discovered the rich and fertile Liverpool Plains.
Buoyed by the discovery of good land at last, Oxley continued east, crossed the Great Dividing Range and came upon the Hastings River. He and his party followed the river to its mouth, traversing what Oxley described as “excellent and rich country”. On 8 October 1818 Oxley reached the seashore at an excellent harbour and river estuary. Oxley named the region Port Macquarie. His discovery was significant for it opened up the interior of New South Wales right through from the coast to the Macquarie River.
World History
Thursday, October 8, 1361. : A duel occurs between a dog and the Frenchman who murdered his master.
A most unusual duel took place on 8 October 1361.
Aubry de Montdidier was a French gentleman who was travelling through the forest of Bondy, when he was murdered and buried at the foot of a tree. His dog stayed at the makeshift grave for several days, then proceeded into Paris, where he presented himself at the house of a longtime friend of his master’s. Persuaded by the dog’s insistent behaviour, the friend followed the dog back to the grave, where the friend found Montdidier’s body.
It seemed that the murderer would get away with his crime until, some time later, the dog happened to be confronted with an individual named Chevalier Macaire. He flew at the man’s throat in an uncharacteristic display of aggression which was repeated on numerous subsequent occasions whenever the two met. Naturally, this aroused suspicions, even capturing the attention of the king of France, who ordered the dog to be brought to him. The dog was well behaved until it saw Macaire among a group of noblemen, and again flew at his throat. The king then ordered that a duel should take place between the dog and Macaire on 8 October 1361. During the duel, the dog attacked Macaire repeatedly, until the man confessed to the murder. Macaire was later beheaded on a scaffold in the Isle of Notre Dame.
World History
Sunday, October 8, 1871. : The Great Chicago Fire begins.
The Great Chicago Fire was a devastating blaze which began on the evening of Sunday, 8 October 1871. Rumours abound that it was started when a cow in a shed kicked over a lantern, but a reporter for the ‘Chicago Republican’ newspaper later admitted making up the story. How the fire really began remains unknown.
It had been a hot, dry summer. Chicago’s buildings were mostly made of wood, providing the tinder for the fire to quickly spread. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the fire department was slow to respond. As a result, the fire quickly grew out of control, consuming residences, mansions, hotels, churches, commercial and industrial buildings in its path. When the city’s waterworks were destroyed, the fire department could no longer fight the blaze. Martial law was declared when the fire jumped the river and continued burning on the north side.
The fire eventually burned itself out when the winds dropped and a light rain moved in a day later. It had cut a swathe through the city six kilometres long and one kilometre wide. 17,500 buildings were incinerated, along with 120km of roads, while the fire left 90,000 homeless. Damage was estimated at $222 million. The death toll was never determined exactly: 125 bodies were recovered, but another 75 to 175 were missing.
World History
Wednesday, October 8, 1952. : 112 are killed as three trains crash at Harrow, London.
On 8 October 1952, Harrow, in London’s northwest, became the scene of Britain’s worst peacetime rail crash. The express express train from Perth to London was already thirteen minutes late when relief driver RS Jones and Fireman C Turnock took over at Crewe. Attaching the “City of Glasgow”, an LMS Coronation Class 4-6-2 tender engine to the train added another 16 minutes, but Jones was an experienced and careful driver, and Turnock conscientious in his position as Fireman, so there was little to indicate the disaster that lay ahead.
It is unknown why the train from Perth failed to stop, particularly as Jones knew the line well. The train came speeding towards the Harrow and Wealdstone station on the London Midland region line at 60 mph, and it was only when detonators on the track warned Jones that he applied the brakes with force. However, it was too late: just before 8:19am the train crashed into the back of a stationary Tring-Euston commuter train carrying 800 passengers, just as it was about to depart the station. Despite Signalman Armitage trying to signal an incoming Manchester express from Euston which had also been trying to make up lost time, it then crashed into the wreckage. The locomotives left the railway track, slamming into the station platforms, whilst the forward momentum carried its carriages over the top of the two wrecked trains, which were crushed between the wreckage and the station’s footbridge overhead.
112 passengers and 4 railway crew were killed, while another 340 people were injured. An inquiry into the disaster found that the driver of the train from Perth went through two signals at danger, then ran into the Tring-Euston commuter at about 100kph. Although Signalman Armitage was found to have acted completely appropriately, giving all due care and necessary warning, the accident at Harrow & Wealdstone was a catalyst to both the implementation of a national Automated Warning System (AWS) and the establishment and regular testing of Civil Disaster Plans by local councils in the UK.