21 September

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 21 September:

1. This date in 1947 saw the birth of Stephen King, writer of horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. He is known for novels such as Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Misery, and the seven-novel series The Dark Tower.
2. In 1937, JRR Tolkien published The Hobbit.
3. Born on this date in 1931 was Larry Hagman, the actor best known for playing John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr. in Dallas.
4. In 1327, King Edward II of England was murdered by order of his wife. He was tortured and murdered with a red hot poker in the dungeon of Berkeley Castle.
5. In 1741, there was a fall of an unknown fluffy substance, dubbed “angel’s hair” in Selborne, England. The stuff turned gelatinous, then evaporated altogether.
6. In 1949 the largest Meteorite ever recorded in Wales went through the roof of the Prince Llewellen Hotel in Beddgelert, Gwynedd at 3.15am. It weighed 28oz.
7. Andre Jacques Garnerin became the first person to make a parachute descent on this date in 1802. He jumped from a hot air balloon, landed in a field at Marylebone and promptly threw up over his audience.
8. In 1836 Lord George Bentick won the St Leger at Doncaster with Elis, who’d won at Goodwood three days earlier. The bookies had assumed Elis wouldn’t get to Doncaster on time and offered very long odds. What they didn’t know was that Lord George had just invented the horse box, so his horse wasn't tired out after making the journey on foot.
9. The Milk miracle of New Delhi, India started on this date in 1995. A man in New Delhi had a dream in which the elephant god, Ganesh, wanted some milk. When he woke up, the man rushed to the nearest temple, where a sceptical priest allowed him to offer a spoonful of milk to Ganesh's statue. Both watched in astonishment as the milk disappeared, apparently consumed by the God. Within hours news had spread across India that Ganesh was accepting milk offerings. People flocked to the temples, bringing New Delhi to a standstill, and the city’s stocks of milk sold out within hours. Just as suddenly as it started, the miracle stopped after 24 hours.
10. In 1915 C. H. E. Chubb went to an auction and purchased the famous stones of Stonehenge, for £6,600, as a present for his wife. I can hear her now when he got home: “When I said I wanted serious rocks, darling, that wasn’t what I meant...” Three years later he donated them to England.

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