2 September

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 2 September:

1. Born on this date in 1948 was Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian passenger on a space mission. She and the six other crew members on the Space Shuttle Challenger perished in an explosion shortly after launch. She said, "I touch the future. I teach."
2. In 1620, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth with 102 Pilgrims on board.
3. In 490 BC, Athenian runner Pheidippides left the town of Marathon for the city of Sparta to seek help against the invading Persian army. Even though no Spartan troops came to the rescue, the Athenians defeated the Persians. Pheidippides then ran to Athens with news of the victory. Modern marathons are based on this event.
4. In 1916, the Van Buren sisters became the first women to cross the US on motorcycles.
5. In 1922, notices were posted in Henry Ford's factories warning employees they would lose their jobs if their breath smelled of alcohol or if they were carrying booze, or even had any in their homes.
6. In 1969, UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock connected two computers the size of fridges with cable... and data flowed between them. This simple network would eventually evolve into The Internet.
7. Staying with the internet, in 1998, David Bowie launched Bowienet, the first artist-created Internet service provider.
8. At 1am on this date in 1666, in a bakery in Pudding Lane, the Great fire of London began. The baker and his wife were roused at 2am by an employee who smelled smoke. They escaped over the rooftops to safety, but their maid burned to death because she was afraid to follow them. A strong wind and exploding tar barrels in a nearby warehouse helped spread the blaze. The flames burned for four days. It destroyed 13,000 houses and destroyed St. Paul's Church. Later that morning, Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that half of London Bridge had been destroyed and rushed off to tell the King.
9. In 1724, Margaret Dickson was hanged at Edinburgh for the crime of concealing a pregnancy. During the journey from the scaffold to the cemetery, Ms Dickson, who wasn't quite dead, revived. She was reunited with her husband, had several more children, and sell salt on the streets of Edinburgh. She was known there as "Half-hanget Maggy".
10. There was a case of "swine flew" on this date in 1977 when a Tornado hit a farm in Sutton-on-Trent, causing 40 Pigs to fly a quarter of a mile through the air.

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