TODAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 6

October 6 1536    
William Tyndale, the English translator of the New Testament, was strangled and burned at the stake for heresy at Vilvorde, France.

October 6 1866: First U.S. train robbery
On this day in 1866, the Reno gang carried out the first robbery of a moving train in the U.S., making off with over $10,000 from an Ohio & Mississippi train in Jackson County, Indiana. Prior to this innovation in crime, holdups had taken place only on trains sitting at stations or freight yards.

Did You Know?

The Greek language has 4 words for love.

The Greek language distinguishes at least four different ways as to how the word love is used. However, as with other languages, it has been difficult to separate the meanings of these words when used outside of their respective contexts. The senses in which these words were generally used are as follows:

TODAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 5

October 5 1880
The first ball-point pen was patented on this day by Alonzo T. Cross.

October 5 1947: First presidential speech on TV
On this day in 1947, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) made the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House, asking Americans to cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans.

Did You Know?

In ancient Greece, throwing an apple at someone was done to declare one's love.

The practice stemmed from an ancient Greek myth in which the goddess of discord, Eris, was annoyed that she wasn’t invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In retaliation, she through a golden apple inscribed “for the most beautiful one” into the wedding party.
Three goddesses lay claim on the apple; Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was selected to choose the recipient. He was bribed by all three goddess, but accepted the bribe of Aphrodite who promised him the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen of Sparta.

TODAY IN HISTORY: SEPTEMBER 30

September 30 1920
France took over the mandate for Togo (previously a German colony).

September 30 1942 - World War II: North Africa
As part of the lead up to Operation 'Lightfoot', two brigades formed the 44th Division (XIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks) attacked the German defences in the Munassib Depression. Falling under heavy fire, and suffering many casualties, they pulled back.

September 30 1949: Berlin Airlift ended

Did You Know?

A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than humans.

A dog’s sense of smell is its main communication tool. When a dog sniffs other dogs, they learn about their age, sex, and status. A person’s mood can also be evaluated by how they smell to a dog.
A dog can detect tobacco in “ 27 layers of polythene or locate termites” that no other instrument can detect. They can identify the faintest of smells, even when they're heavily masked by other scents such as the odour of trace amounts of heroin that have been hidden in pungent aniseed.

TODAY IN HISTORY: SEPETEMBER 23

September 23 1846: Eighth planet discovered
German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory.
Neptune, generally the eighth planet from the sun, was postulated by the French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, who calculated the approximate location of the planet by studying gravity-induced disturbances in the motions of Uranus. On September 23, 1846, Le Verrier informed Galle of his findings, and the same night Galle and his assistant Heinrich Louis d’Arrest identified Neptune at their observatory in Berlin. Noting its movement relative to background stars over 24 hours confirmed that it was a planet.