What happened this day in history: September 20

1906 - Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania was launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne.

1909 - Parliament passed the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.

1911 - White Star Line’s RMS Olympic collided with British warship HMS Hawke, in the Solent. Despite Olympic almost capsizing, with two large holes in the hull, no one was seriously injured or killed.

1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival was held on the French Riviera.

1978 - Police launched a massive manhunt for the killers of paperboy Carl Bridgewater, 13, who was shot in the head at close range the day before at an isolated farmhouse near Stourbridge.

2000 – The MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building, on London’s South Bank, was attacked by individuals using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile. The perpetrators remain unidentified.