161 Rome, History: Marcus Aurelius became Emperor. HIs musings made him more famous than anything he did with the imperium.
321 Constantinople, History: Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine decreed that the ‘dies Solis Invicti’ be a day of rest throughout the Empire, that is, Sun-day. The unconquered Sun it was called because it keeps coming up. Connie put Solis on coins called solidus for good measure and himself on the other side.
1854 St Louis, Technology: Charles Miller patented the first sewing machine to stitch buttonholes #9139. Think of that every time a button is buttoned. Did he invest in brewing? Been to St Louis a few times.
1900 Hamburg, Technology: German trans-Atlantic liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was fitted with wireless communication by its owner, Norddeutscher Lloyd, in order to outdo its rivals.
1987 India, Sports: Sunil Gavaskar became the first cricket player to score 10,000 test runs. He was nicknamed ‘Sunny’ for his positive outlook, and opponents called him The Magician for his way with the bat, as though it were a magic wand that could make runs appear where there were none for he was not an aggressive stroke-maker but runs came all the same. Number 10,000 came against arch rival Pakistan. He was one of the few batsmen who dominated the West Indies fast bowlers when they were a rank of flamethrowers. Others have since reached this figure including his protege Sachin Tendulkar.
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