26 JANUARY Happy Australia Day Australia Day, marking the founding of Sydney in 1788 by Governor Arthur Philip as a penal colony comprising 1,030 people, of which 736 were convicts. Transportation of convicts, often for petty crimes, was only ended in 1865. The Feast Day of Paula, patron saint of widows. Republic Day, India, celebrating the day in 1950 when it became a democratic republic within the Commonwealth. 1500: Discovery of Brazil by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, who claimed it for Portugal. 1788: First convicts arrive in Australia. 1802: Napoleon was made President of the Italian Republic. 1828: The Duke of Wellington became British Prime Minister. 1837: Michigan became the 26th US state. 1841: Hong Kong was proclaimed British sovereign territory. 1871: The Rugby Football Union was formed in London by an initial 20 clubs. 1875: The first battery-powered dentist’s drill was patented by George F Green of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Electrical drills were not developed until 1908. 1880: Birth of Douglas MacArthur, US general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific during World War II. 1885: Just two days before a relief expedition arrived, General Gordon was murdered on the palace steps at Khartoum, at the end of a siege of ten months. 1886: Karl Benz patented his three-wheel drive motor car and internal combustion engine, which he had tested the previous year. 1905: Captain Wells discovered the Cullinan diamond at the Premier Mines, Pretoria, South Africa. The largest diamond in the world, it weighed over 3,000 carets. 1907: A riot broke out in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on the first night of J M Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, when the audience took offence at the ‘foul language’. The riots continued for a week, but the show went on, heavily guarded by police. 1907: Birth of Sir Henry Cotton, the British golf champion, who received a posthumous knighthood. 1908: The 1st Glasgow Boy Scout group, the first Scout group ever, was registered. 1908: Birth of Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist and founder, with guitarist Django Reinhardt, of the famous Hot Club de France. Grappelli’s career spanned seven decades. 1921: Memorial on Wallasey Promenade unveiled. 1928: The Canadian Pacific liner "Duchess of Bedford" left Liverpool on maiden voyage. 1931: Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison to have discussions with the British government in India. 1939: Franco’s rebels, helped by Italian aid, took Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War. 1945: Birth of Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist whose career was ended by multiple sclerosis in 1973. 1965: Hindi became the official language of India. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.317 / Virus Database: 176 - Release Date: 21/01/02