September 2
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- National Day in Vietnam
On this day . . .
- The Great Fire of London starts in Pudding Lane, destroying 13,000 buildings in four days (1666)
- First non-stop flight from Paris to New York (1930)
- China's first television station opens in Beijing (1958)
- The United States and Russia agree a joint venture to build a space station (1992)
Births
- Michael Hastings, English dramatist (1938)
- Jimmy Connors, American tennis player (1952)
- Keanu Reeves, American actor (1964)
- Salma Hayek, Mexican actress (1966)
Deaths
- Henri Rousseau, French painter (1910)
- Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics (1937)
- J R R Tolkein, English writer (1973)
- Professor Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (2001)