31 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 31 August:

1. In 1995, six people drowned trying to rescue a Chicken that had fallen into a well in Egypt. One by one, they climbed in to help the first victim, who'd been pulled under by an undercurrent, despite being poor swimmers. The chicken survived.
2. Mary Anne Nicholls, 43, the first confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper, was murdered on this date in 1845.
3. On this date in 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, 36, and Dodi Fayed, 42, Egyptian born film producer died in a car crash in Paris, along with their driver.
4. It's been a significant date for the Coca Cola company. In 1900, Coca Cola first went on sale in Britain; and in 2018, the Coca-Cola Company agreed to buy Costa Coffee for £3.9 billion.
5. In 2006, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream was recovered in a raid by Norwegian police. It had been stolen on August 22, 2004.
6. In 1903, the first car to cross the US under its own power completed its 52 day journey from San Francisco to New York.
7. In 1830, Edwin Budding was granted a British patent for the Lawnmower.
8. In 1954, Lieutenant J.A. O'Farrell was returning to Royal Australian Navy Air Station Nowra in a Sea Fury aircraft. He saw a very bright light closing on him fast. It crossed in front of his aircraft taking up position on his port beam. A second and similar light was observed which passed about a mile in from of the Sea Fury. According to O'Farrell, the apparent speeds of the lights were the fastest he had ever seen. Nowra's radar operator, Petty Officer Keith Jessop, confirmed the presence of two objects near the Sea Fury on his display. The two lights disappeared on a north easterly heading. The Directorate of Naval Intelligence wrote that O'Farrell was ‘an entirely credible witness’ and that he ‘was visibly “shaken” by his experience, but remains adamant that he saw these objects’.”
9. A fine kettle of fish indeed. In 2000, at Queensland's Fine Kettle o' Fish filleting factory, a man's head was found in the stomach of a 97lb, 5ft Morgan Cod.
10. In 2015, the highest mountain in North America, formerly known as Mount McKinley, officially regained its original Alaska Native name, Denali, through an executive order issued by President Barack Obama.

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