September 17, 1985: Designer Laura Ashley dies

Designer Laura Ashley dies

1985 - British designer Laura Ashley, who built a multi-million dollar empire on traditional English prints and fabrics, died. She was 60. Ashley, who made her home in Brussels, had been critically ill since a fall last week while staying with her daughter in Coventry, England. Her company, due to be floated on the stock exchange, grew over 30 years from a small family business to a £270-million (Dh1.52 billion) turnover empire with 180 shops on three continents. The spokesman said Ashley died in the neuro-surgical intensive care unit of Coventry’s Walsgrave Hospital after nine days in a coma. He said she never regained consciousness after being put on a life-support machine, following a fall down a flight of stairs.

September 17

1844 - Inventor Thomas Adams of Philadelphia patents the first US colour printing press.

1900 - Proclamation of Commonwealth of Australia as Federal Union of the Six Colonies.

1935 - Manuel Quezon is elected first president of the Philippine Commonwealth.

1939 - Finnish athlete Taisto Maki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes.

1944 - The Battle of Arnhem begins with an Allied airborne landing in the Netherlands.

1949 - Fire destroys Noronic, the largest passenger steamer on the Great Lakes in Canada, killing more than 130 people.

1957 - Malaysia joins the United Nations.

1963 - Malaysia breaks off diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

1967 - A riot during a soccer game in Turkey kills 42 people and injures 600.

1976 - The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by Nasa.

1978 - Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign an agreement for Middle East peace.

1988 - The 24th Olympic Games opens in Seoul, South Korea.

2000 - Television personality Paula Yates is found dead in her London home.

2008 - An assault on the US Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, kills 19 people.

2011 - American boxer Floyd Mayweather defeats Victor Ortiz by a knockout in the fourth round of their WBC welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

2012 - American woman Sunita Williams takes command of the International Space Station.