Years Ago

Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2009. There are 93 days left in the year. On this date in 1978, Pope John Paul I is found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1758, English Adm. Horatio Nelson is born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk. In 1789, the U.S. War Department establishes a regular army with a strength of several hundred men. In 1829, London’s reorganized police force, which becomes known as Scotland Yard, goes on duty. In 1902, Broadway impresario David Belasco reopens the Republic Theatre under his own name. In 1918, Allied forces begin their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I. In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders conclude the Munich Agreement, which is aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. In 1959, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, proclaims his country’s new constitution. In 1979, Pope John Paul II begins the first papal visit to Ireland as he arrives for a three-day tour. In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claims the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.) In 1988, the space shuttle Discovery blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America’s return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.

The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.