Today in History - onthisday.com

 

                                                                       Sept 5

1666 Firebreaks finally bring the Great Fire of London under control, leaving 13,200 houses destroyed and eight dead

1698 Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposes a tax on beards

1774 Twelve of the thirteen American colonies adopt a trade embargo against Great Britain at the First Continental Congress in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1781 A French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse defeats British forces under Admiral Thomas Graves and Samuel Hood at the Battle of the Chesapeake (Battle of the Virginia Capes), trapping General Lord Charles Cornwallis during the American Revolutionary War

1839 First Opium War begins between the British Empire and the Qing dynasty of China

1847 Hailed by some as a folk hero and by others as a cold-bloodied killer, Jesse James, one of America’s most infamous outlaws, was born 

1889 German Christine Hardt patents the first modern brassiere

1958 First color video recording on magnetic tape is presented in Charlotte, North Carolina

1976 Jim Henson's "The Muppet Show" premieres on television with Mia Farrow as the guest star

2001 John Cage's musical composition "As Slow as Possible", intended to be played for 639 years, begins at St. Burchardi Church, Halberstadt, Germany

2017 Hurricane Irma becomes one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin region with winds of 185 mph (280 km/h)

1972 Eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and later killed by the Palestinian group Black September at the Munich Olympics