World Events
- Hungarian Lajos Biro invents the first practical ballpoint pen.
- Germany invades and annexes Austria, the first overt act of aggression by Hitler. The world waits, hoping that Hitler will be satisfied with the German-speaking parts of Europe.
- Munich Pact: Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier agree that Germany should take the German speaking Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.
- Qantas begins air service to Europe.
- Orson Welles' vivid radio production of H G Wells' War of the Worlds causes a sensation and widespread panic because of its realism.