The Great London Fire

September 2nd, 2004

in Hellenic Year 3271, Phidippides of Athens, running from Marathon to seek aid from Sparta against the Persians, collapsed and died at Sparta’s gates before he could deliver his message. The Persians overran Hellas as a consequence.

in 1666, the great city of London was destroyed by 5 days of uncontrollable fire. Tens of thousands of people died in the fires, and the city itself was leveled. Pope Charles declared it the work of Protestant heretics, and orchestrated a massacre of thousands of Protestants in southern England.

in 1863, Human League founder Lyle Fitz-Warren is killed during a fight with a British Terrorism Unit. Fitz-Warren had been holed up in an Islington flat with 4 other League members; when the BTU arrived to arrest him, they tripped several traps the Human League had placed in the building, killing a dozen bystanders and BTU members. The fight to get Fitz-Warren lasted over 7 hours.

in 1944, Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut loses his son George in World War II. The younger Bush’s plane was hit by German fire and went down, with Bush heroically attempting a crash landing in order to save his crew.

in 1964, Al Sharpton joins the Semitic-African Resistance in New York City. Sharpton rose to become as important a leader against the Bund as Albert Einstein before him.

in 1973, John R. R. Tolkien, renowned English scholar at Oxford, dies at the age of 73. Professor Tolkien’s rendition of the classic tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight inspired a phenomenal resurgence of interest in the Arthurian legends.

in 1991, Dean Martin’s 26th Muscular Dystophy Telethon raises over $45 million; “Dean’s Kids” get that much closer to a cure. One of the highlights of this Telethon was Martin’s reunion with his old partner, Jerry Lewis.

in 2003, Jacob Sheridan and 20 of Australia’s elite forces leave for Antarctica again, bearing a machine he has developed. Livinia Nixon comes out of her coma, and nearly breaks free from the restraints on her hospital bed.