Donald Bradman (1908–2001) was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has been claimed to be statistically the greatest achievement in any major sport. The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore. Bradman’s meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he had set many records for high scoring, some of which still stand, and became Australia's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression. During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, "worth three batsmen to Australia". A controversial set of tactics, known as Bodyline, was specifically devised by the England team to curb his scoring. A complex, highly-driven man, not given to close personal relationships, Bradman retained a pre-eminent position in the game by acting as an administrator, selector and writer for three decades following his retirement. Even after he became reclusive in his declining years his opinion was highly sought, and his status as a national icon was still recognised in 2001, more than 50 years after his retirement as a Test player when the Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the "greatest living Australian". (more...)

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August 27: Independence Day for Moldova (1991)

• 1776 – British forces led by William Howe defeated the American Continental Army under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island in Brooklyn, New York, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War.
• 1896 – The Anglo-Zanzibar War set the record for the shortest war in recorded history when Zanzibar surrendered less than an hour after the conflict broke out, with British forces destroying the Sultan's Palace and Harem (pictured).
• 1928 – Over sixty nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy.
• 1957 – The Constitution of Malaysia came into force, three days before the Federation of Malaya achieved formal independence from the United Kingdom.
• 2003 – The planet Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years: 55,758,006 kilometres (34,646,419 mi).

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