the day in the history

1779 - John Adams was elected to negotiate with the British over the American Revolutionary War peace terms.

1825 - George Stephenson operated the first locomotive that hauled a passenger train.

1840 - Thomas Nast was born. He was a political cartoonist that created the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey.

1854 - The steamship Arctic sank off Cape Race, Newfoundland, with 300 people onboard. It was the first major disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.

1894 - The Aqueduct Race Track opened in New York City, NY.

1928 - The U.S. announced that it would recognize the Nationalist Chinese Government.

1938 - The League of Nations branded the Japanese as aggressors in China.

1939 - After 19 days of resistance, Warsaw, Poland, surrendered to the Germans after being invaded by the Nazis and the Soviet Union during World War II.

1940 - The Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis was set up. The military and economic pact was for 10 years between Germany, Italy and Japan.

1954 - The "Tonight!" show made its debut on NBC-TV with Steve Allen as host.

1959 - The Japanese island of Honshu was hit by Typhoon Vera. Nearly 5,000 people were killed.

1962 - The U.S. sold Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel.

1964 - The Warren Commission issued a report on the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in November of 1963. The report concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone.

1968 - The U.K.'s entry into the European Common Market was barred by France.

1970 - "The Original Amateur Hour" aired for the last time on CBS. It had been on television for 22 years.

1973 - U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew said he would not resign after he pleaded "no contest" to a charge of tax evasion. He did resign on October 10th.

1979 - The Department of Education became the 13th Cabinet in U.S. history after the final approval from Congress.

1982 - Italian and French soldiers entered the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut. The move was made by the members of a multinational force due to hundreds of Palestinians being massacred by Christian militiamen.

1983 - Larry Bird signed a seven-year contract with the Boston Celtics worth $15 million. The contract made him the highest paid Celtic in history.

1986 - The U.S. Senate approved federal tax code changes that were the most sweeping since World War II.

1989 - Columbia Pictures Entertainment agreed to buyout Sony Corporation for $3.4 billion.

1989 - Two men went over the 176-foot-high Niagara Falls in a barrel. Jeffrey Petkovich and Peter Debernardi were the first to ever survive the Horshoe Falls.

1990 - The deposed emir of Kuwait addressed the U.N. General Assembly and denounced the "rape, destruction and terror" that Iraq had inflicted upon his country.

1991 - U.S. President Bush eliminated all land-based tactical nuclear arms and removed all short-range nuclear arms from ships and submarines around the world. Bush then called on the Soviet Union to do the same.

1993 - U.S. Senator Kay Baily Hutchinson, Rep.-TX, was indicted on charges that she misused state facilities and employees while she was the Texas state treasurer.

1994 - More than 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the Contract with America. It was a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.

1995 - The U.S. government unveiled the redesigned $100 bill. The bill featured a larger, off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

1996 - The Taliban seized control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and hanged the former president Najibullah.

1998 - In Germany, Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder was elected chancellor. The election ended 16 years of conservative rule.

1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) set a major league baseball record when he hit his 70th home run of the season.

2001 - In Zug, Switzerland, an armed man killed 14 people and himself after entering the local parliament.

2002 - In Senegal, over 1,000 people were killed when the ocean ferry MS Joola capsized.

1994: Hundreds feared dead in ferry disaster

The Estonia car and passenger ferry with 950 people on board sinks in the Baltic Sea.

Ariel Sharon at Al Aqsa 2000: 'Provocative' mosque visit sparks riots
Palestinians in east Jerusalem fight police after hardline Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the sacred Al Aqsa mosque compound.

President and Mrs Kennedy 1964: Kennedy murder was 'no conspiracy'
The Warren Commission concludes there was no conspiracy surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy and gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

A daughter of Cherry Groce who police mistakenly shot sparking the riots 1985: Riots in Brixton after police shooting
Riots break out on the streets of south London after a woman was shot and seriously injured in a house search.

NUM President Arthur Scargill is arrested on a picket line 1984: Pit dispute 'illegal' says judge
The miners' strike is unlawful because a union ballot was never held, a high court judge rules.

48 B.C. - Pompey the Great was murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt.

551 B.C. - Teacher and philosopher Confucius was born. He dedicated most of his life to teaching, starting at the age of 22 when he opened his first school.

1066 - England was invaded by William the Conqueror who claimed the English throne.

1542 - San Diego, CA, was discovered by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.

1687 - The Turks surrendered Athens to the Venetians.

1781 - During the Revolutionary War, American forces began the siege on Yorktown Heights, VA.

1787 - The U.S. Congress voted to send the new Constitution of the United States to the state legislatures for their approval.

1850 - The U.S. Navy abolished flogging as a form of punishment.

1850 - U.S. President Millard Fillmore named Brigham Young the first governor of the Utah territory. In 1857, U.S. President James Buchanan removed Young from the position.

1892 - The first nighttime football game in the U.S. took place under electric lights. The game was between the Mansfield State Normal School and the Wyoming Seminary.

1915 - The British defeated the Turks in Mesopotamia at Kut-el-Amara.

1920 - Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted in what was called the "Black Sox" scandal. They were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

1924 - The first around-the-world flight was completed by two U.S. Army planes when they landed in Seattle, WA. The trip took 175 days.

1936 - "Bachelor's Children" debuted on CBS Radio.

1939 - During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed upon a plan on the division of Poland.

1939 - "Fleischmann Hour" aired for the last time on radio.

1944 - "The Boys From Boise" was shown on WABD in New York as the first full-length comedy written for television.

1950 - The United Nations admitted Indonesia.

1955 - The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1961 - "Dr. Kildare" premiered on NBC-TV.

1961 - "Hazel" premiered on NBC-TV.

1967 - The first mayor of Washington, DC, Walter Washington, took office.

1968 - The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship.

1972 - Communist China and Japan agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1974 - First Lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy to remove a lump in her breast.

1978 - Heavy fighting occurred in Lebanon between Syrian peacekeeping troops and Lebanese Christian militiamen.

1978 - Don Sherman, editor of Car & Driver, set a new Class E record in Utah. Driving the Mazda RX7 he reached a speed of 183.904 mph.

1984 - Bob Hope showed outtakes of his 34 years in television on NBC.

1985 - Rioting erupted in London's Brixton district that lasted for two days. The incident occurred after a black woman was shot by a police officer during a raid on her home.

1987 - Mehdi Hashemi was executed for treason in an Iranian prison. Hashemi had at one time been a close aide to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1989 - Ferdinand E. Marcos died in Hawaii, in exile, at the age of 72.

1991 - In response to U.S. President Bush's reduction of U.S. nuclear arms Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev promised to reciprocate.

1991 - Marion Barry, former mayor of the District of Columbia, was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of crack cocaine.

1992 - In Nepal, 167 people were killed when a Pakistani jetliner crashed.

1994 - 900 people were killed when an Estonian ferry capsized in the Baltic Sea.

1994 - Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu was assassinated. He was the No. 2 man in the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Mexico.

1995 - Yasser Arafat of the PLO and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed an accord that transferred control of the West Bank.

1997 - The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured.

2000 - The U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486 in the United States. The pill is used to induce an abortion.

1979: Pope calls for peace in Ireland

Pope John Paul II calls on the people of Ireland to end all violence and return to "the ways of peace".

Nikita Khrushchev 1960: Khrushchev anger erupts at UN
Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschchev thumps his desk and interrupts UN speeches to show disapproval.

St. Peters Square at the Vatican 978: Catholics mourn Pope's death
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church dies after the shortest papal reign in history.

Space Shuttle Discovery 988: Shuttle blasts US back into space
The United States successfully launches its first manned space mission since the Challenger disaster two and a half years ago.

Cow 1997: Scientists confirm brain diseases link
British scientists say they have established a link between a human brain disease - vCJD - and one found in cows - BSE.

1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded under a sentence that had been brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I.

1652 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed itself to be an independent commonwealth.

1682 - William Penn landed at what is now Chester, PA. He was the founder of Pennsylvania.

1863 - The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded.

1901 - Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President McKinley, was electrocuted.

1911 - American newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer died.

1923 - Turkey formally became a republic after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The first president was Mustafa Kemal, later known as Kemal Ataturk.

1929 - America's Great Depression began with the crash of the Wall Street stock market.

1940 - The first peacetime military draft began in the U.S.

1945 - The first ballpoint pens to be made commercially went on sale at Gimbels Department Store in New York at the price of $12.50 each.

1956 - Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during the Suez Canal Crisis.

1956 - "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered on NBC.

1959 - General Mills became the first corporation to use close-circuit television.

1960 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) won his first professional fight.

1964 - Three men stole the star of India and other gems from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The men were later convicted.

1966 - The National Organization for Women was founded.

1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered an immediate end to all school desegregation.

1973 - O.J. Simpson, of the Buffalo Bills, set two NFL records. He carried the ball 39 times and he ran 157 yards putting him over 1,000 yards at the seventh game of the season.

1974 - U.S. President Gerald Ford signed a new law forbidding discrimination in credit applications on the basis of sex or marital status

1985 - It was announced that Maj. Gen. Samuel K. Doe had won the first multiparty election in Liberia.

1989 - A public mourning, involving over 20,000 East Berliners, was observed with a minute of silence for the people who had been killed while trying to flee over the Berlin Wall.

1990 - The U.N. Security Council voted to hold Saddam Hussein's regime liable for human rights abuses and war damages during its occupation of Kuwait.

1991 - The U.S. Galileo spacecraft became the first to visit an asteroid (Gaspra).

1991 - Trade sanctions were imposed on Haiti by the U.S. to pressure the new leaders to restore the ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

1992 - Depo Provera, a contraceptive, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

1993 - A group of U.S. athletes were attacked by skinheads in Germany.

1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots at the White House while standing on Pennsylvania Ave. Duran was later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Clinton.

1995 - Palestinians swore revenge for the assassination of Dr. Fathi Shakaki.

1995 - Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers became the NFL's career leader in receiving yards with 14,040 yards.

1996 - An auction was held to sell the artwork that had been stolen by the Nazis during the German occupation of Austria during World War II.

1998 - South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission condemned both apartheid and violence committed by the African National Congress.

1998 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with John Glenn on board. Glenn was 77 years old. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

1998 - A Turkish Airlines flight was hijacked and ordered to fly to the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. The plane had 39 people on board.

1998 - In Freehold, NJ, Melissa Drexler was sentenced to 15 years in prison for strangling her baby after giving birth in the bathroom at her senior prom.

1998 - In London, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman accepted a substantial settlement from the Express Newspapers for an article that was run on October 5, 1997. The article claimed that both were homosexual and their marriage was a sham to cover the truth.

1998 - James Orr was sentenced to 3 years probation and ordered to do 100 hours of community service for slamming Farrah Fawcett's head to the ground and choking her during a fight.

1998 - A dance hall in Goteborg, Sweden, was gutted with fire killing 60 people. 173 were also injured in the fire.

1998 - The oldest known copy of Archimedes' work sold for $2 million at a New York auction.

2001 - KTLA broadcasted the first coast to coast HDTV network telecast.

1955: James Dean killed in car smash

Hollywood actor James Dean is killed when his sports car is involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle on a Californian road.

Newspaper headlining the Oleg story 1971: Foreign Office names Soviet superspy
The British Government names Oleg Lyalin as the Soviet defector who last week exposed dozens of Russians alleged to be spying in the UK.

Paddy McGrory, the solicitor representing the families of the dead men 1988: 'SAS killed lawfully' - Gibraltar jury
The killing of three unarmed IRA suspects by British soldiers was lawful, a Gibraltar court finds.

Boris Yeltsin after winning the presidential election in 1990 (Reuters) 1994: Sleepy Boris 'snubs' Irish leader
A meeting between two international statesmen in Ireland is cancelled - because one of them overslept.

Festival Hall viewed in 1951 1951: Festival closes to applause
Big crowds have attended the final ceremonies which marked the offical end of the Festival of Britain.

1938: 'Peace for our time' - Chamberlain
The British Prime Minister is hailed as bringing "peace to Europe" after signing a pact with Germany.

1399 - Henry Bolingbroke became the King of England as Henry IV.

1630 - John Billington was hanged for murder. He was the first criminal to be executed in the American colonies.

1777 - The Congress of the United States moved to York, PA, due to advancing British forces.

1787 - The Columbia left Boston and began the trip that would make it the first American vessel to sail around the world.

1846 - Ether, an experimental anesthetic at the time, was used for the first time by Dr. William Morton at Massachusetts General Hospital.

1861 - Chewing gum tycoon William Wrigley, Jr. was born.

1868 - Spain's Queen Isabella was deposed and fled to France.

1882 - In Appleton, WI, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operating.

1924 - Truman Streckfus Persons was born in New Orleans, LA. He later changed his name to Truman Capote.

1927 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth hit his 60th homerun of the season. He broke his own record with the homerun. The record stood until 1961 when Roger Maris broke the record.

1930 - "Death Valley Days" was heard for the first time on the NBC Blue radio network.

1935 - "The Adventures of Dick Tracey" debuted on Mutual Radio Network.

1935 - "Porgy and Bess" premiered in Boston.

1938 - The Munich Conference ended with a decision to appease Adolf Hitler. Britain and France allowed Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to be annexed by the Nazis.

1939 - "Captain Midnight" was heard for the first time on the Mutual Radio Network.

1946 - An international military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, found 22 top Nazi leaders guilty of war crimes.

1947 - The World Series was televised for the first time. The sponsors only paid $65,000 for the entire series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.

1949 - The Berlin Airlift came to an end. The airlift had taken 2.3 million tons of food into the western sector despite the Soviet blockade.

1951 - "The Red Skelton Show" debuted on NBC-TV.

1954 - The U.S. Navy commissioned the Nautilus submarine at Groton, CT. It was the first atomic-powered vessel. The submarine had been launched on January 21, 1954.

1954 - Julie Andrews made her first Broadway appearance in "The Boy Friend".

1955 - James Dean was killed in a car accident at the age of 24 near Cholame, CA. Dean's mechanic, who was also in the vehicle, eventually recovered from his injuries.

1962 - James Meredith succeeded in registering at the University of Mississippi. It was his fourth attempt to register.

1963 - The Soviet Union publicly declared itself on the side of India in their dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir.

1966 - Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were released at midnight from Spandau prison after completing their 20-year sentences. Speer was the Nazi minister of armaments and von Schirach was the founder of Hitler Youth.

1971 - The Soviet Union and the United States signed pacts that were aimed at avoiding an accidental nuclear war.

1971 - A committee of nine people was organized to investigate the prison riot at Attica, NY. 10 hostages and 32 prisoners were killed when National Guardsmen stormed the prison on September 13, 1971.

1976 - California enacted the Natural Death Act of California. The law was the first example of right-to-die legislation in the U.S.

1980 - Israel issued its new currency, the shekel, to replace the pound.

1982 - "Cheers" began an 11-year run on NBC-TV.

1984 - 107 Moslem extremists were sentenced to prison for their actions after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

1984 - Mike Witt became only the 11th pitcher to throw a perfect game in major league baseball.

1984 - "Doonesbury" by Garry Trudeau returned. The comic strip had not been printed in nearly 20 months.

1985 - Four Soviet diplomats were kidnapped in Beirut by the Islamic Liberation Organization. One of the diplomats was killed and the other three were later released.

1986 - The U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Nicholas Daniloff had been released by the Soviets.

1987 - Mikhail S. Gorbachev retired President Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fired other old-guard leaders in a shake-up at the Kremlin.

1989 - Thousands of East Germans began emigrating under an accord between the NATO nations and the Soviet Union.

1989 - Non-Communist Cambodian guerrillas claimed that they had captured 3 towns and 10 other positions from the residing government forces.

1990 - The Soviet Union and South Korea opened diplomatic relations.

1991 - Haiti's first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown by Brigadier General Raoul Cedras. Aristide was later returned to power.

1992 - George Brett of the Kansas City Royals reached his 3,000th career hit during a game against the California Angels.

1992 - Moscow banks distributed privatization vouchers aimed at turning millions of Russians into capitalists.

1993 - About 10,000 people were killed in India when an earthquake that measured 6.4 hit the southern part of the country.

1993 - U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell retired.

1994 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off on an 11-day mission. Part of the mission was to use a radar instrument to map remote areas of the Earth.

1997 - France's Roman Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the persecution and deportation of Jews the pro-Nazi Vichy regime.

1998 - Gov. Pete Wilson of California signed a bill into law that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity." The law went into effect January 1, 1999.

1999 - The San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the last baseball game to be played at Candlestick Park. The Dodgers won 9-4.

1999 - In Tokaimura, Japan, radiation escaped a nuclear facility after workers accidentally set off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.

1962: Mississippi race riots over first black student

Two people die and at least 75 are injured in rioting following the admission of James Meredith to Mississippi State University.

burnt out car, Toxteth 1985: Riots erupt in Toxteth and Peckham
Police close off areas of Liverpool and London tonight after outbreaks of violence and vandalism.

Gamal Abdel Nasser 1970: Mourners killed as Nasser is buried
Dozens are crushed in crowded Cairo streets as millions of Egyptians mourn the death of President Abdel Nasser.

Laboratory workers at the Wright-Fleming Institute of Microbiology, London 1957: British public gets 'Asian Flu' vaccine
A vaccine against the strain of influenza currently sweeping around the world is made available to the British public.

1596 - The Duke of Norfolk was imprisoned by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for trying to marry Mary the Queen of Scots.

1781 - James Lawrence was born. He was the American naval officer whose dying words were "Don't give up the ship."

1800 - Spain ceded the territory of Louisiana back to France. Later the property would be purchased by the U.S. effectively doubling its size.

1880 - Thomas Edison began the commercial production of electric lamps at Edison Lamp Works in Menlo Park.

1885 - Special delivery mail service began in the United States. The first routes were in West Virginia.

1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff Act. The act raised tariffs to a record level.

1896 - Rural Free Delivery was established by the U.S. Post Office.

1903 - The first modern World Series took place between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1908 - The Model T automobile was introduced by Henry Ford. The purchase price of the car was $850.

1918 - Damascus was captured from the Turks during World War I by a force made up of British and Arab forces.

1933 - Babe Ruth made his final pitching appearance. He pitched all nine innings and hit a home run in the 5th inning.

1936 - General Francisco Franco was proclaimed the head of the Spanish state.

1938 - German forces enter Czechoslovakia and seized control of the Sudetenland. The Munich Pact had been signed two days before.

1940 - The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened as the first toll superhighway in the United States.

1943 - Naples was captured by the Allied forces during World War II.

1946 - The International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg sentenced 12 Nazi officials to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms and 3 were acquitted.

1946 - The first baseball play-off game for a league championship was played. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.

1949 - Mao Tse-tung raised the first flag of the People's Republic of China when the communist forces had defeated the Nationalists. The Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.

1952 - "This is Your Life" began airing on NBC-TV.

1960 - The 38th parallel was crossed by South Korean troops as they headed into North Korea.

1961 - Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season to beat Babe Ruth's major league record of 60.

1962 - Johnny Carson began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. He stayed with the show for 29 years. Jack Paar was the previous host.

1964 - The Free Speech Movement was started at the University of California at Berkeley.

1968 - "Night of the Living Dead" premiered in Pittsburgh, PA.

1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, FL.

1972 - The Chinese government approved friendly relations with the United States.

1979 - The United States handed control of the Canal Zone over to Panama.

1980 - Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover of "Ladies' Home Journal." He was the only male to achieve this in 97 years.

1981 - EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) Center opened in Florida. The concept was planned by Walt Disney.

1984 - U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his indictment on charges of larceny and fraud. He was later acquitted.

1985 - The PLO's headquarters in Tunisia was raided by Israeli jet fighters.

1987 - Eight people were killed in Los Angeles when an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter Scale hit the area.

1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the Soviet presidency.

1989 - The authorized Charles Schulz biography, Good Grief, was published.

1989 - 7,000 East Germans were welcomed into West Germany after they were allowed to leave by the communist government.

1990 - U.S. President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly and once again condemned Iraq's takeover of Kuwait.

1990 - In Croatia, minority Serbs proclaimed autonomy.

1991 - U.S. President Bush condemned the military coup in Haiti that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. U.S. economic and military aid was suspended.

1991 - The U.S. trust territory of Palau became independent.

1992 - The USS Saratoga accidentally fired missiles at a Turkish destroyer in the Aegean Sea. Five people were killed in the incident.

1992 - The Strategic Arm Reduction Treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate.

1993 - 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted from her home in Petaluma, CA, by an intruder.

1994 - The U.S. and Japan avoided a trade war by reaching a series of trade agreements.

1994 - The National Hockey League (NHL) team owners began a lockout of the players that lasted 103 days.

1995 - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine other defendants were convicted in New York of conspiring to attack the U.S. through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.

1995 - Southwestern Turkey experienced an earthquake that killed about 90 people.

1996 - Lucent Technologies became an independent company.

1996 - A federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the 1994 mail bomb murder of an ad executive.

1998 - The U.S. government posted a $2.2 million reward for the capture of Augustin Vasquez Mendoza. He is accused of killing an undercover U.S. agent during a drug purchase in 1994.

1999 - The 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China was celebrated in Beijing.

1968: Student riots threaten Mexico Olympics

More than 25 people die during a gun battle in Mexico City just 10 days before the Olympics Games are due to begin.

Pro-Communist demonstrators outside Russia's Parliament building in Moscow 1993: Hardline Communists riot in Moscow
Demonstrators who back rebel ministers occupying Moscow's parliament in defiance of President Boris Yeltsin clash with police.

One of the surviving sextuplets in an incubator 1968: Birth of sextuplets stuns Britain
A woman gives birth to six babies in what is being hailed as the first recorded case of live sextuplets in Britain.

Roy Hattersley ) and Neil Kinnock 1983: 'Dream ticket' wins Labour leadership
Neil Kinnock becomes the new leader of the Labour party, with Roy Hattersley joining him as deputy.

cannabis plant 1974: Cannabis 'causes brain damage'
Experiments on monkeys in America reveal how smoking cannabis can cause brain damage.

1452 - Richard III was born. He married the widow of the Prince of Wales and then imprisoned his mother-in-law for life.

1492 - King Henry VII of England invaded France.

1780 - British army major John Andre was hanged as a spy. He was carrying information about the actions of Benedict Arnold.

1835 - The first battle of the Texas Revolution took place near the Guadalupe River when American settlers defeated a Mexican cavalry unit.

1836 - Charles Darwin returned to England after 5 years of acquiring knowledge around the world about fauna, flora, wildlife and geology. He used the information to develop his "theory of evolution" which he unveiled in his 1859 book entitled The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

1869 - Mahatma (Mohandas) K Gandhi was born. He was known for his advocacy of non-violent resistance to fight tyranny.

1870 - Rome was made the capital of Italy.

1876 - The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas opened. It was the state's first venture into public higher education. The school was formally dedicated 2 days later by Texas Gov. Richard Coke.

1889 - The first international Conference of American States began in Washington, DC.

1890 - Groucho Marx was born in New York. He is known for the "Marx Brothers" movies and his quiz show "You Bet Your Life."

1895 - Ruth Cheney Streeter was born. She became the first director of the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

1908 - Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the fourth perfect game in major league baseball history.

1919 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

1920 - The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates played the only triple-header in baseball history. The Reds won 2 of the 3 games.

1924 - The Geneva Protocol adopted the League of Nations.

1925 - Scottish inventor John Logie Baird completed the first transmission of moving images.

1929 - "The National Farm and Home Hour" debuted on NBC radio.

1933 - "Red Adams" debuted on NBC radio.

1937 - Warner Bros. released "Love Is on the Air." Ronald Reagan made his acting debut in the motion picture. He was 26 years old.

1940 - During World War II, the HMS Empress was sunk while carrying child refugees from Britain to Canada.

1941 - Operation Typhoon was launched by Nazi Germany. The plan was an all-out offensive against Moscow.

1944 - The Nazis crushed the Warsaw Uprising.

1947 - The Federatino Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) formally established Formula One racing in Grand Prix competition.

1948 - The first automobile race to use asphalt, cement and dirt roads took place in Watkins Glen in New York. It was the first road race in the U.S. following World War II.

1949 - "The Aldrich Family" debuted on NBC-TV.

1950 - "Peanuts," the comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz, was published for the first time in seven newspapers.

1953 - "Person to Person" debuted on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" debuted on CBS-TV.

1958 - Guinea, the French colony in West Africa, proclaimed its independence. Sekou Toure was the first president of the Republic of Guinea.

1959 - "The Twilight Zone" debuted on CBS-TV. The show ran for 5 years for a total of 154 episodes.

1962 - U.S. ports were closed to nations that allowed their ships to carry arms to Cuba, ships that had docked in a socialist country were prohibited from docking in the United States during that voyage, and the transport of U.S. goods was banned on ships owned by companies that traded with Cuba.

1967 - Thurgood Marshall was sworn in. He was the first African-American member of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1985 - Rock Hudson died from the AIDS virus at the age of 59.

1988 - Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered free elections.

1989 - In Leipzig, East Germany a protest took place demanding the legalization of opposition groups and the adoption of democratic reforms.

1990 - The Allies ceded their rights to areas they occupied in Germany.

1993 - Opponents of Russian President Boris Yeltsin fought police and set up burning barricades.

1996 - Mark Fuhrman was given three years' probation and fined $200 after pleading no contest to perjury at O.J. Simpson's trial.

1998 - Hawaii sued petroleum companies, claiming state drivers were overcharged by about $73 million a year in price-fixing.

1998 - About 10,000 Turkish soldiers cross into northern Iraq and attacked Kurdish rebels.

2001 - The U.S. Postmaster unveiled the "Tribute to America" stamp. The stamp was planned for release the next month.

2001 - NATO, for the first time, invoked a treaty clause that stated that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. The act was in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

1944: Poles surrender after Warsaw uprising

The Polish Prime Minister announces the uprising in the Polish capital has ended after 63 days of intense fighting.

OJ Simpson 1995: OJ Simpson verdict: 'Not guilty'
OJ Simpson is found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.

placards of some of the strikers that died 1981: IRA Maze hunger strikes at an end
Senior Republican figures and inmates' families are indicating that the hunger strike in the Maze prison is effectively over.

Sign reads 1952: Tea rationing to end
Britons will soon be able to enjoy unlimited "cuppas" for the first time in 12 years following an announcement from the Ministry of Food.
1979: Anti-racists tackle South African rugby tourists
Seven people are arrested in a South African Barbarian match pitch invasion.

1226 - St. Francis of Assisi died. He was the founder of the Franciscan order.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November would be recognized as Thanksgiving Day.

1888 - "The Yeomen of the Guard" was performed for the first time. It was the first of 423 shows.

1893 - The motor-driven vacuum cleaner was patented by J.S. Thurman.

1901 - The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated. After a merger with Radio Corporation of America the company became RCA-Victor.

1902 - Harvey Kurtzman, founder of "Mad" magazine, was born.

1906 - W.T. Grant opened a 25-cent department store.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton became the first female to hold office of U.S. Senator. She was appointed by Governor Thomas W. Hardwick of Georgia to fill a vacancy.

1929 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes officially changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1932 - Iraq was admitted into the League of Nations leading Britain to terminate their mandate over the nation. Britain had ruled Iraq since taking it from Turkey during World War I.

1935 - Italian forces invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia).

1941 - Adolf Hitler stated in a speech that Russia was "broken" and they "would never rise again."

1942 - The Office of Economic Stabilization was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also authorized controls on rents, wages, salaries and farm prices.

1944 - During World War II, U.S. troops broke through the Siegfried Line.

1946 - "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day" began airing on NBC-TV.

1951 - CBS-TV aired the first coast-to-coast telecast of a prizefight. Dave Sands defeated Carl Olson at Soldier Field in Chicago.

1952 - Britain became the third nuclear power in the world when they successfully detonated their first atomic bomb. The U.S. and Russia were the only other nuclear powers.

1954 - "Father Knows Best" began airing on CBS-TV.

1955 - "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS-TV.

1955 - Rock Hudson was featured on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.

1955 - "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on ABC-TV.

1961 - "The Dick Van Dyke Show" debuted on CBS-TV.

1962 - The Sigma VII blasted off from Cape Canaveral for a nine-hour flight.

1962 - The play, "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!" opened on Broadway.

1974 - Frank Robinson took over the management position of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. He was the first black manager in major league baseball.

1981 - Irish Nationalist in Maze Prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland called off their hunger strike. The strike had lasted 7 months and ten people had died.

1986 - "Tough Guys" was released. It was the first comedy to feature Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. It was, however, their seventh movie together.

1988 - The space shuttle Discovery landed safely after its four-day mission. It was the first American shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster.

1988 - Mithileshwar Singh, an Indian educator, was released by kidnappers in Lebanon. He had been held captive for almost two years with three Americans.

1989 - An unsuccessful coup was attempted against Panamanian Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega.

1989 - East Germany suspended unrestricted travel to Czechoslovakia in an effort to slow the flow of refugees to the West.

1989 - Art Shell became the first African-American head coach in the modern NFL when he took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

1990 - The Berlin Wall was dismantled eleven months after the borders between East and West Germany. The unification ended 45 years of division.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made a visit to Kuwait since his country had seized control of the oil-rich nation.

1994 - The headquarters of the Haitian pro-army militia was raided by U.S. soldiers.

1995 - O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman. Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said she had found no evidence that U.S. President Clinton had broken the law with White House coffees and overnight stays for big contributors.

1957: 'Sputnik' satellite blasts into space

A Russian satellite has been launched into space - the first man-made object ever to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

US Blackhawk helicopter
1993: US forces killed in Somali gun battle
At least five US soldiers die and two Blackhawk helicopters are shot down in a firefight with Mogadishu warlords.

HST Intercity 125 - Picture courtesy of FreeFoto.com 1976: New train speeds into service
British Rail begins its new 125mph Intercity 'High Speed Train' service today.

Asian man in Smethwick interviewed about the service 1965: Immigrants feel at home with BBC
The BBC announces it will begin broadcasting a new programme for immigrants from next week.

1535 - The first complete English translation of the Bible was printed in Zurich, Switzerland.

1648 - The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant.

1777 - At Germantown, PA, Patriot forces and British forces both suffer heavy losses in battle. The battle was seen as British victory, which actually served as a moral boost to the Americans.

1876 - The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas formally dedicated by Texas Gov. Richard Coke. It was the state's first venture into public higher education. The college opened for classed two days earlier.

1881 - Edward Leveaux received a patent for the player piano.

1887 - The Paris Herald Tribune was published for the first time. It was later known as the International Herald Tribune.

1893 - The first professional football contract was signed by Grant Dibert for the Pittsburgh AC.

1895 - The first U.S. Open golf tournament took place in Newport, RI. Horace Rawlins, 19 years old, won the tournament.

1909 - The first airship race in the U.S. took place in St. Louis, MO.

1915 - The Dinosaur National Monument was established. The area covered part of Utah and Colorado.

1931 - The comic strip "Dick Tracy" made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.

1933 - "Esquire" magazine was published for the first time.

1940 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met in the Alps at Brenner Pass. Hitler was seeking help from Italy to fight the British.

1948 - The Railroad Hour" debuted on ABC radio.

1953 - "I Led Three Lives" was first seen in syndication. The TV show was never on network.

1954 - "December Bride" debuted on CBS-TV.

1956 - "Playhouse 90" debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 - "Leave it to Beaver" debuted on CBS-TV.

1957 - The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik was the first manmade satellite to enter space. Sputnik I fell out of orbit on January 4, 1958.

1958 - British Overseas Airways Corporation became the first jetliner to offer trans-Atlantic service to passengers with flights between London, England and New York.

1959 - The first World Series to be played west of St. Louis began in Los Angeles, CA.

1965 - Pope Paul VI addressed the U.N. General Assembly and became the first reigning pontiff to visit the Western Hemisphere.

1976 - Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" for the first time.

1981 - Bruce Jenner and Harry Belafonte debuted in their first dramatic roles in NBC-TV's "Grambling's White Tiger".

1985 - The Shiite Muslim group Islamic Jihad announced that they had killed American hostage William Buckley. Later another American hostage said that he believed that Buckley had died four months earlier from torture.

1986 - Two men mugged Dan Rather in New York City, NY.

1987 - NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player's strike.

1989 - Fawaz Younis, a Lebanese hijacker, was sentenced in Washington for commandeering a Jordanian jetliner with two Americans aboard in 1985.

1990 - The German parliament had its first meeting since reunification.

1992 - The 16-year civil war in Mozambique ended.

1993 - Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.

1993 - Dozens of Somalis dragged an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. A videotape showed Michael Durant being taken prisoner by Somali militants.

1994 - South African President Nelson Mandela was welcomed to the White House by U.S. President Clinton.

1997 - Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, DC.

1998 - The Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 70 paintings.

1998 - Davis Gaines performed as the Phantom in the show "Phantom of the Opera" for the 2,000th time.

2001 - NATO granted the United States open access to their airfields and seaports and agreed to deploy ships and early-warning radar planes in the war on terrorism.

2001 - A Russian airliner blew up as it flew over the Black Sea. There were no survivors of the 76 people on the plane. U.S. intelligence sources stated that they likely cause of the accident was a missile strike from a Ukrainian military exercise.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire's major league record. Bonds also moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with his 564th career home run.

2001 - Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb's major league record.

2001 - Shannen Doherty was sentenced to serve five days in a work-release program for a drunken driving arrest on December 28, 2000. The sentence came after Doherty had given lectures to teens about the dangers of driving under the influence.

2001 - In Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport re-opened. The airport had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

1994: Cult members die in 'mass suicide'

The bodies of 48 members of a religious cult are discovered by Swiss police after an apparent mass suicide.

Horse and Groom pub 1974: Four dead in Guildford bomb blasts
Four people are killed and more than 50 injured in explosions in southern England this evening.

firemen on the wreckage 1999: Death toll rising in Paddington crash
At least eight people are killed and 160 injured after two trains collide at Ladbroke Grove in west London.

Smoke rises from the Yugoslav federal parliament, 05/10/00 2000: Protesters storm Yugoslav parliament
Opposition supporters storm the Yugoslav parliament building and proclaim Vojislav Kostunica as the new president.

Customs officer offloading the drugs 1984: Drugs squad swoop on smugglers
Police and Customs in Essex seize Britain's biggest ever haul of cannabis made in a single raid.

1813 - Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Indians was killed at the Battle of Thames when American forced defeated the British and the allied Indian warriors.

1877 - Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the U.S. Army after a 1,000-mile retreat towards the Canadian border.

1882 - Robert H. Goddard , known as the "Father of the Space Age", was born.

1892 - The Dalton gang was nearly wiped out while attempting to rob two banks simultaneously in Coffeyville, KS. Four members of the gang and four citizens were killed. The only survivor of the gang, Emmett Dawson, was sentenced to life after surviving his wounds.

1902 - Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, was born.

1919 - Enzo Ferrari debuted in his first race. He later founded the Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari, an independent manufacturing company.

1921 - The World Series was broadcast on the radio for the first time. The game was between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees.

1930 - Laura Ingalls became the first woman to make a transcontinental airplane flight.

1930 - "The Fighting Priest" began airing on CBS radio.

1931 - Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon landed in Washington after flying non-stop across the Pacific Ocean. The flight originated in Japan and took about 41 hours.

1934 - "Hollywood Hotel" became the first major network radio to originate from Hollywood, CA.

1937 - U.S. President Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.

1947 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman held the first televised presidential address from the White House. The subject was the current international food crisis.

1952 - "Inner Sanctum" was heard for the last time on ABC radio.

1955 - The play "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened at the Cort Theatre in New York.

1969 - Dianne Linkletter jumps to her death from her apartment in West Hollywood. Art Linkletter, her father, claimed that she was under the influence of LSD at the time of her death.

1969 - A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.

1969 - "Monty Python's Flying Circus" debuted on BBC television.

1970 - Anwar Sadat took office as President of Egypt replacing Gamal Abdel Nassar. Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

1974 - American David Kunst completed the first journey around the world on foot. It took four years and 21 pairs of shoes. He crossed four continents and walked 14,450 miles.

1985 - An Egyptian policeman went on a shooting rampage at a Sinai beach. Seven Israeli tourists were killed. The policeman died in prison the following January of an apparent suicide.

1986 - "Business World" began airing on ABC-TV.

1986 - Sandinista soldiers captured American Eugene Hasenfus after shooting him down over southern Nicaragua.

1988 - In a debate between candidates for vice president of the U.S., Democratic Lloyd Bentsen told Republican Dan Quayle, "You're no Jack Kennedy."

1989 - Jim Bakker was convicted of using his television show to defraud his viewers.

1989 - The Dalai Lama was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1990 - The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall opened.

1990 - A jury in Cincinnati, OH, acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced that his country would cut its nuclear arsenal in response to the arms reduction that was initiated by U.S. President George Bush.

1993 - China set off an underground nuclear explosion.

1994 - 48 people found dead in two Swiss villages. The people were members of a secret religious doomsday cult. Five other people were found in Montreal, Canada.

1995 - A 60-day cease-fire was agreed upon by Bonsian combatants. The civil war had lasted 3 1/2.

1998 - The U.S. paid $60 million for Russia's research time on the international space station to keep the cash-strapped Russian space agency afloat.

1973: Arab states launch massive attack on Israel

Heavy fighting erupts between Arab and Israeli forces along two fronts on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar - Yom Kippur.

President Anwar Sadat 1981: Egypt's President Sadat assassinated
President Sadat of Egypt dies after being shot by gunmen at a military parade.

Cruiser 1953: Britain sends troops to Guiana
Naval and military forces are on their way to British Guiana in response to what the UK Government says is a threat to the administration of the British colony.

Serb celebrating Milosevic's resignation 2000: Milosevic quits, street celebrations continue
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic resigns under mounting pressure after allegations of vote-rigging.

1536 - Anglican priest William Tyndale was captured at Antwerp where he was strangled and burnt. He is credited with making the first English translation of the Bible.

1683 - The first Mennonites arrived in America aboard the Concord. The German and Dutch families settled in an area that is now a neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA.

1846 - Inventor George Westinghouse was born. He was the founder of Westinghouse Electric Company and invented railway braking systems.

1847 - "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte was first published in London.

1848 - The steamboat SS California left New York Harbor for San Francisco via Cape Horn. The steamboat service arrived on February 28, 1849. The trip took 4 months and 21 days.

1857 - The American Chess Congress held their first national chess tournament in New York City.

1863 - The first Turkish bath was opened in Brooklyn, NY, by Dr. Charles Shepard.

1866 - The Reno Brothers pulled the first train robbery in America near Seymour, IN. The got away with $10,000.

1880 - The National League kicked the Cincinnati Reds out for selling beer.

1884 - The Naval War College was established in Newport, RI.

1889 - In Paris, the Moulin Rouge opened its doors to the public for the first time.

1889 - The Kinescope was exhibited by Thomas Edison. He had patented the moving picture machine in 1887.

1890 - Polygamy was outlawed by the Mormon Church.

1927 - "The Jazz Singer" opened in New York starring Al Jolson. The film was based on the short story "The Day of Atonement" by Sampson Raphaelson.

1928 - War-torn China was reunited under the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek.

1937 - "Hobby Lobby" debuted on CBS radio.

1939 - Adolf Hitler denied any intention to wage war against Britain and France in an address to Reichstag.

1948 - "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway.

1949 - Iva Toguri D'Aquino was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000 for war crimes. The conviction was for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose."

1949 - U.S. president Harry Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act. The act provided $1.3 billion in the form of military aid to NATO countries.

1954 - E.L. Lyon became the first male nurse for the U.S. Army.

1961 - U.S. president John F. Kennedy advised American families to build or buy bomb shelters to protect them in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

1962 - Robert Goulet began the role of Sir Lancelot in "Camelot".

1972 - South of Saltillo, Mexico, a train derailed killing 208 people and injuring 1,200.

1973 - Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territory that had been lost in the third Arab-Israel war. Support for Israel led to a devastating oil embargo against many nations including the U.S. and Great Britain on October 17, 1973. The war lasted 2 weeks.

1979 - Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the White House.

1981 - Egyptian president Anwar-el Sadat was assassinated at a military rally in Cairo. Muslim extremists were responsible the other eight deaths that occurred during the attack. Hosni Mubarak became president.

1986 - A Soviet nuclear submarine sank in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,200 miles from New York.

1989 - Two workers for the Swiss Red Cross were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon.


1991 - Cable News Network aired a videotape of American hostage Terry Anderson that had been made in Beirut, Lebanon.

1992 - Ross Perot appeared in his first paid broadcast on CBS-TV after entering the U.S. presidential race.

2001: US launches air strikes against Taleban

The United States launches its military offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Achille Lauro Cruise Liner 1985: Gunmen hijack Italian cruise liner
Militants hijack an Italian cruise liner in the Mediterranean and threaten to blow it up.

Southend Pier on fire 1959: Southend Pier fire traps hundreds
Three hundred people have been rescued after being cut off by a blaze on the world's longest pleasure pier on England's south-east coast.

Pair of Swedish twins 1977: Invasion of Swedish identical twins
Ninety sets of Swedish identical twins travel to Felixstowe for a brief shopping trip.