Today, September 5th

1698… In an attempt to wean his people away from Asian customs, Czar Peter I of Russia taxes those who grow beards.

1774… The Continental Congress convenes for the first time, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. On the same day, two months after US independence, Congress renames the United Colonies the United States of America.

1910…. In France, Marie Curie announces her new discoveries about the transformation of radium.

1929… Sporadic cases of plague appear in Athens.

1930… In Macedonia and Thessaly the farmers revolt, who threaten to march armed against Athens.

1944…. The USSR declares war on Bulgaria.

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1960… Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, wins his first Olympic gold medal, at the Rome Olympics.

1962… The Golf of Glyfada is founded.

1972….Palestinians of “Black September” attack the accommodation of the Israeli Olympic delegation in Munich, where they take nine athletes and attendants hostage and kill two others on the spot. They then barricade themselves in the lodge and press their demands. The Olympics are interrupted. Finally, in the evening of the same day, the Palestinians and the hostages are transferred to Munich airport, where, after a new episode, all nine hostages, five terrorists and a policeman are killed.

1980… The Lantern in Istanbul burns down, as a result of which two people lose their lives and dozens are injured. The Patriarchate is being saved at the last moment.

…. On the same day, in Switzerland, the world’s longest tunnel, the Saint Gotthard tunnel, which is 16.32 km long and reaches from Gossenen to Erolo, is put into traffic.

1983…. “Sports Illustrated becomes the first weekly magazine to have four-color photos on every page.

1984…. Spacecraft Discovery lands.

1992… Prince becomes America’s highest paid singer as he signs a $100,000,000 contract with Warner Bros.

1993… Jose Carreras and Montserrat Caballé are deified in Epidaurus.

1997… The president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samarank, announces that Athens is the city that will host the 2004 Olympic Games.

2001….Otto Rehagel’s debut on the Greek National bench comes with a 5-1 defeat by Finland in Helsinki.

2002…. Dimitris Koufontinas surrenders to the Anti-Terrorist Service to assume, as he says, the political responsibility for all the actions of 17N. “Lucas” of 17N goes to G.A.D.A. by taxi from Piraeus, introduces himself to the duty officer and says he is Dimitris Koufontinas and wants to surrender.

2004… In an atmosphere of intense fanaticism, the match between the National Teams of Albania and Greece for the World Cup qualifiers is held in Tirana. After the end of the match, where our national team lost 2-1, scenes of violence between fanatical Albanians and Greeks developed in Greek cities, but also in Tirana. In Zakynthos, a 22-year-old Greek loses his life, while in many cases injuries and arrests follow. The incidents are condemned by the Greek Government and all political parties.

Birthday

On this day in 1735 the German composer Johann Christian Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was born in 1905 the Hungarian writer Arthur Koestler, in 1940 the American actress Rachel Wells and in 1946 the leader of “Queen” Freddie Mercury.

Deaths

On the same day in 1877 “Crazy Horse”, the last leader of the Sioux, died at the age of 27, in 1906 the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, known for the discovery of statistical mechanics, and in 1997 Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of Yugoslavia nun, who dedicated her life to the needy of Calcutta.