THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

09 October, 1986 – Phantom of Opera makes its theatrical debut

The musical opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London’s West End. The plot of the musical was inspired by French author Gaston Leroux's novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. The musical is the longest running show on Broadway.


10 October, 1964 – The Tokyo Summer Olympics begin

93 countries participated in the first Olympics to be held in Asia. The Tokyo Olympics was also the first Olympic Games that used satellites to telecast the games. Some of the games were also broadcasted in colour for the first time.


11 October, 1984 – First American woman to walk in space

Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan undertook a 3.5-hour long space walk with fellow astronaut David Leestma while on the Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-41-G. The spacewalk was performed to demonstrate the possibility of refueling a satellite.


12 October, 1968 – Equatorial Guinea gains independence

The African republic was part of the Spanish Empire since the late 1700s. The country became independent and changed its name to Equatorial Guinea under the leadership of President Francisco Macías Nguema.


13 October, 1773 – First spiral galaxy discovered

French astronomer, Charles Messier, discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy. Also known as Messier 51a, the galaxy is about 30 million light-years from Earth.


14 October, 1984 – Joseph Kittinger starts on his solo gas balloon flight across the Atlantic

Kittinger became the first person to traverse the Atlantic in a balloon called the Balloon of Peace. As a member of the US Armed Forces, Kittinger jumped from a height of 102,800 feet becoming the first person in ever to jump from that height.


15 October, 1951 – I Love Lucy airs for the first time

The American sitcom aired on CBS and featured real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The popular show lasted for six years and it had several spin-offs after it went off air.

RELATED POST

COMMENTS