15 September

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 15 September:

1. This date in 1890 saw the birth of Dame Agatha Christie, who wrote hundreds of books, some under the pseudonym Mary Westmancott. She was the creator of Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective, and Miss Jane Marple. She once said: "The best time to plan a book is while you are doing the dishes."
2. Born this date in 1254 was Marco Polo, the Venetian trader and explorer who was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China. As a prisoner of war of the Genoese, he dictated to a fellow inmate, Rustichello of Pisa, a book of memoirs called Travels. It's not known for sure if the book is fact or fiction.
3. In 1830 The Duke of Wellington, who was Prime Minister at the time, opened the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The first person to be killed by a train was William Huskinsson, head of the Board of Trade, who stepped out onto an apparently empty line as Stephenson’s Rocket approached.
4. Another tragic accident on a railway line occurred on this date in 1885. The largest Elephant in captivity, PT Barnum’s famous Jumbo, was hit by a locomotive while crossing tracks and died instantly. He was later stuffed and put on display with the circus. Meanwhile, Barnum sued the railway, which had to pay $10,000 and transport the circus free of charge for a year.
5. In 1996, Brazilian police were investigating the death of a Goat which had been standing as a protest candidate for mayor of a small town. The owner thought it might have been poisoned.
6. In 1961, a group from Hawthorne, California, called The Pendletones, attended their first recording session at Hite Morgan's studio in Los Angeles. The band recorded Surfin, a song which would help shape their later career as The Beach Boys.
7. The Lone Ranger premièred on ABC television on this date in 1949 with Clayton Moore as the masked hero and Jay Silverheels as Tonto.
8. In 1990, a team of 5 people in the Netherlands peeled a record 830lb 11oz of Potatoes in 45 minutes.
9. In 1981, the world's largest shopping mall opened in Edmonton, Alberta. It covers about 5.4 million ft² and has over 600 shops, an indoor amusement park, the world's largest indoor wave pool, an indoor lagoon with sea lions, a replica of Christopher Columbus' Santa María, over 110 restaurants, 58 entrances, an ice rink, a miniature golf course and two McDonalds. West Edmonton Mall is also home to the world's largest car park with 20,000 parking spaces.
10. In 1492, a meteor missed Columbus' Santa Maria by 5 lengths.

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