Born on this day

Saturday, October 27, 1466. :   Erasmus, translator of the first Greek New Testament, is born.

For centuries, the Bible was out of reach of most Christians. The only copies that existed were in Latin, which most people could not read or understand, and it was left to the clergy who were educated in the Latin language to mete out their own explanations – a practice which tended to be subjective, rather than objective.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a Dutch scholar who went by the by the name of Erasmus was born Gerrit Gerritszoon in Rotterdam on 27 October, in either 1466 or 1469. A contemporary of Martin Luther, and an ordained monk as well, Erasmus saw how the Bible was being withheld from the common people. Like Luther, Erasmus was critical of some Roman Catholic beliefs, abuses and practices. He became a scholar of Latin and Greek, carefully studied the original Greek texts and put together the first copy of the Greek translation of the Bible, in 1516.

This action had further repercussions, giving Luther the foundation, and motivation, to translate the entire New Testament into German. This in turn made the Bible accessible to all people, which was what Luther wanted: to make the Gospel of Salvation available to everyone.

Born on this day

Wednesday, October 27, 1728. :   The brilliant navigator Captain James Cook, who charted Australia’s eastern coastline, is born.

James Cook was born at Marton in North Yorkshire, on 27 October 1728. He was the son of a farm labourer and was apprenticed in a grocer/haberdashery when he was 16. Although a conscientious worker, his intense interest in the journeys of the seamen who frequently landed at the nearby port led his employer to introduce Cook to local shipowners, who took him on as a merchant navy apprentice. Cook displayed a natural aptitude for learning, and a genuine thirst for knowledge. Thus, he was educated in algebra, trigonometry, navigation, and astronomy, which later set Cook up to command his own ship. Cook was particularly known in his early years for his meticulous and accurate charting of the St Lawrence River during the British attempts to capture the main French stronghold of Quebec.

After working his way up to positions of greater responsibility and experience, Cook was hired in 1766 by the Royal Society to travel to the Pacific Ocean to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun. Following this, Cook’s next orders were to search the south Pacific for Terra Australis Incognita, the great southern continent that many believed must extend around the southern pole. He came across New Zealand, which Abel Tasman had discovered in 1642, and spent some months there, charting the coastline. Nearly a year later, Cook set sail west for New Holland, which was later to become Australia.

Born on this day

Friday, October 27, 1939. :   British actor and comedian John “Fawlty Towers” Cleese is born.

John Cleese was born John Marwood Cleese on 27 October 1939, in Somerset, England. He showed his talent for comedy early in his life, although it was not always appreciated. He was expelled from Clifton College in Bristol, for painting footsteps to suggest that the school’s statue of Field Marshal Douglas Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet.

It was whilst studying law that he joined Cambridge Footlights Revue, where he met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. Soon he began writing for BBC radio, working on the Dick Emery Show. Further work led to his association with British comedians such as future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Frank Muir, Jo Kendall, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Cleese developed the popular Monty Python series for many years, and continued to write British comedy, including episodes of Doctor in the House. After leaving the Monty Python Show, Cleese went on to star in one of his best-known roles, the awful hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with Connie Booth. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real character, Donald Sinclare, whom he encountered when the Monty Python team was staying at the Gleneagles hotel in Torquay whilst filming Monty Python’s Flying Circus. During the Pythons’ stay, Sinclare threw Eric Idle’s briefcase out of the hotel “in case it contained a bomb”, complained about Terry Gilliam’s “American” table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town.

Australian History

Wednesday, October 27, 1841. :   One of the last ships with religious refugees from Germany arrives in South Australia.

In the 1800s, under King Friedrich Wilhelm III, German/Prussian Lutherans suffered religious persecution. Friedrich Wilhelm was an autocratic king who believed he had the right to create his own state church from the two main Protestant churches – the Lutheran church and the smaller Reformed church – in a united Prussian state church. This would effectively remove the right of Lutherans to worship in a way of their choosing. Penalties for non-adherence to the state religion were severe. Many Lutherans immigrated to Australia to escape the persecution.

Thanks to wealthy Scottish businessman and chairman of the South Australian Company, George Fife Angas, a deal was struck by Pastor August Kavel to start a new Lutheran settlement in South Australia. The first group of 21 Lutherans arrived on the ship ‘Bengalee’ on 18 November 1838, followed two days later by the main group on the ‘Prince George’. They first settled at the town of Klemzig. Many more ships followed over the next three years.

One of the last ships to arrive in South Australia with religious refugees was the Skjold on 27 October 1841. Captain Hans Christian Claussen commanded the Skjold which brought over two hundred Lutheran immigrants. Several of these Lutheran migrants were among the first to start the South Australian settlements of Lobethal and Bethany. Lobethal was started by about thirty families who, between them, acquired about two hundred acres, and paved the way for the German settlement of the region.

Australian History

Saturday, October 27, 1962. :   Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser becomes the first woman to swim 100m freestyle in under one minute.

Dawn Fraser was born on 4 September 1937 in Balmain, New South Wales. She was fifteen years old when coach Harry Gallagher noted her exceptional swimming talent and took her under his wing, preparing her for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Fraser was the first female swimmer to win Gold in three consecutive Olympic Games, doing so in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Her career spanned some fifteen years, during which she broke and held 41 World records, and remained undefeated in the 100 metres freestyle. Between 1956 and 1964, Fraser broke the women’s world record for the 100-metre freestyle nine successive times. On 27 October 1962, Fraser became the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in less than one minute at the Australian British Empire and Commonwealth Games trials in Melbourne.

In 1999, Fraser was awarded “World Athlete of the Century” at the World Sport Awards in Vienna. In the same year, she was also inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame when she was awarded “Athlete of the Century”.

World History

Thursday, October 27, 1904. :   The first underground line of the New York subway opens.

The New York City Subway was the world’s first underground and underwater rail system. Elevated train lines around the city were not enough to facilitate the easy flow of increasing traffic, and it was seen that there was a need for another method to clear street congestion and spread city development into the outlying areas. Chief engineer William Barclay Parsons oversaw almost 8000 men constructing the 33.6km route. The subway officially began operating on 27 October 1904. Today, the New York City Subway has the world’s largest fleet of subway cars, at over 6,400 cars as of 2002.