Shimla, Nov. 18 Keekli Bureau
2015
New Zealand rugby union football player Jonah Lomu, who was perhaps rugby’s first global icon, died of a heart attack at age 40 after a long battle with kidney disease.
2009
American Democratic politician Robert C. Byrd became the longest-serving member of Congress, with a combined service in the House of Representatives and Senate of 56 years 319 days; he died the following year.
1959
The American dramatic film Ben-Hur, arguably the best of Hollywood’s biblical epics, had its world premiere; it later won an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards.
1941
John Christian Watson, the first Labour prime minister of Australia, died in Sydney.
1923
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first U.S. astronaut to travel in space, was born in New Hampshire.
1905
Prince Charles (Carl) of Denmark was elected king of Norway as Haakon VII.
1903
Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, representing Panama, met with U.S. Secretary of State John Hay to negotiate the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which gave the United States a strip 10 miles (16 km) wide across the Isthmus of Panama for construction of the Panama Canal.
1882
Famed operatic soprano Amelita Galli-Curci was born in Milan.
1836
English playwright and humorist W.S. Gilbert, best known for his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan in comic operas, was born.
1814
Brazilian sculptor and architect Aleijadinho, known for his beautiful Rococo statues and his churches, died in Mariana.
1626
Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, which replaced an earlier basilica, was consecrated; it is the second largest religious building in Christendom.
1477
William Caxton, a pioneering English printer, published Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, the first dated book printed in England.
