the day in the history

1765 - Nine American colonies send a total of 28 delegates to New York City for the Stamp Act Congress. The delegates adopt the "Declaration of Rights and Grievances."

1777 - During the American Revolution the second Battle of Saratoga began.

1849 - Edgar Allen Poe died at the age of 40.

1868 - Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, NY.

1918 - The Georgia Tech football team defeated Cumberland College 222-0. Georgia Tech carried the ball 978 yards and never threw a pass.

1939 - "Kate Hopkins, Angel of Mercy" was heard for the first time on CBS radio.

1940 - "Portia Faces Life" debuted on the NBC Red network.

1949 - The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was formed.

1950 - The U.S.-led U.N. forces crossed the 38th parallel and entered North Korea. China in November proved their threat to enter the war by sending several hundred thousand troops over the border into North Korea.

1951 - The Western Hills Hotel in Fort Worth, TX, became the first hotel to feature all foam-rubber mattresses and pillows.

1956 - A U.S. House subcommittee began investigations of allegedly rigged TV quiz shows.

1963 - U.S. President Kennedy signed a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.

1968 - The Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film-rating system that ranged for "G" to "X."

1981 - The Egyptian parliament, after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, named Vice President Hosni Mubarak the next president of Egypt.

1985 - Four Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro of the coast of Egypt. There were 440 people onboard. They surrendered after two days and killing American passenger Leon Klinghoffer.

1985 - 91 people were killed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by a mudslide.

1989 - Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism.

1992 - In Peru, a secret military tribunal sentenced Abimael Guzman to life in prison without parole. He was the leader of the Shining Path guerrilla movement.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton sent more troops, heavy armor, and naval firepower to Somalia.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf when Iraqi troops were spotted moving toward Kuwait. The U.S. Army was also put on alert.

1995 - More than 80 people were killed in Indonesia when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale hit.

1998 - The U.S. government filed an antitrust suit that alleged Visa and MasterCard inhibit competition by preventing banks from offering other cards.

2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 73rd home run of the season and set a new major league record.

2001 - The U.S. and Great Britain began airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to that state's support of terrorism and Osama bin Laden. The act was the first military action taken in response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.

2003 - In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis.

1952: Many die as three trains crash at Harrow

At least 85 people are killed in the UK's worst peacetime rail crash after three trains collide at Harrow and Wealdstone.

2003: The Terminator takes on California
Film star Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California, ousting the incumbent, Gray Davis, three years before the end of his term of office.

LBC news reader 1973: Commercial radio joins UK airwaves
Britain's first independent radio station begins broadcasting on VHF and medium wave.

Herald of Free Enterprise ferry capsized off Zeebrugge 1987: Zeebrugge disaster was no accident
The coroner's inquest jury into the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise returns verdicts of unlawful killing.

Barclays Bank broker 1990: Britain's first full day in ERM
Hectic trading in the City marks Britain's first day as a full member of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System.

1871 - The Great Fire of Chicago broke out destroying about 17,450 buildings. About 250 people were killed and 90,000 were left homeless.

1871 - Peshtigo, WI, was destroyed by a forest fire. Over 1,100 people were killed by the fire that eventually burned across 6 counties.

1895 - The Berliner Gramophone Company was founded in Philadelphia, PA.

1904 - "Little Johnny Jones" opened in Hartford, CT.

1915 - During World War I, the Battle of Loos concluded.

1918 - Sgt. Alvin C. York almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France.

1919 - The first transcontinental air race in the U.S. began.

1934 - Bruno Hauptmann was indicted for the murder of the infant son of Charles A. Lindbergh.

1935 - "The O'Neills" debuted on CBS radio.

1938 - The cover of "The Saturday Evening Post" portrayed Norman Rockwell.

1944 - "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" debuted on CBS radio.

1945 - U.S. President Truman announced that only Britain and Canada would be given the secret to the atomic bomb.

1950 - U.N. forces crossed into North Korea from South Korea.

1952 - "The Complete Book of Etiquette" was published for the first time.

1956 - Donald James Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the first perfect game in the history of the World Series.

1957 - Jack Soble, a confessed Soviet spy, was sentenced to seven years in prison for espionage.

1957 - The Brooklyn Baseball Club announced that it had accepted a deal to move the Dodgers to Los Angeles.

1966 - The U.S. Government declares that LSD is dangerous and an illegal substance.

1970 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature.

1979 - "Sugar Babies" opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway.

1981 - U.S. President Reagan greeted former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon to the White House. The group was preparing to leave for Egypt to attend the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

1982 - All labor organizations were banned in Poland.

1991 - A slave burial site was found by construction workers in lower Manhattan. The "Negro Burial Ground" had been closed in 1790. Over a dozen skeletons were found.

1993 - The U.S. government issued a report absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault in Waco, TX, on the Branch Davidian compound. The fire that ended the siege killed as many as 85 people.

1996 - Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation to remove his inflamed appendix.

1998 - Taliban forces attacked Iranian border posts. Iran said that three border posts were destroyed before the Taliban forces were forced to retreat. The Taliban of Afghanistan denied the event occurred.

1998 - Canada and Netherlands were voted into the U.N. Security Council.

2001 - Rush Limbaugh announced to his listeners that he was totally deaf in his left ear and had only partial hearing in his right ear. The condition had happened in a three month period.

2001 - Two Russian cosmonauts made the first spacewalk to be conducted outside of the international space station without a shuttle present.

2003 - China announced that it would have a human crew orbit the Earth briefly on October 15.

2003 - Vietnam and the United States reached a tentative agreement that would allow the first commercial flights between the two countries since the end of the Vietnam War.

2003 - It was announced that Vivendi Universal and General Electric Co. had reached an agreement to merge. The name for the combined company was NBC Universal.

1988: Latvia cries freedom from Moscow

Thousands of Latvians start a mass movement to press Moscow for greater independence from the Soviet Union.

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara 1967: Che Guevara 'shot dead'
Marxist revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara is reportedly killed during a battle between army troops and guerillas in the Bolivian jungle.

Police at the scene of the bombing 1975: Man killed in Piccadilly bomb blast
One man dies and at least 20 people are injured in the latest bomb attack on London.

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 1959: 'Supermac' leads Tories to victory
The Conservatives, under Harold Macmillan, win a third consecutive general election.

sumo wrestlers in action 1991: Sumos size up Royal Albert Hall
The first Sumo wrestling tournament ever held off Japanese soil in the sport's 1500 year history begins.

1002 - Leif Erikson landed on North America.

1635 - Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, was banished from Massachusetts because he had spoken out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away land that belonged to the Indians. Williams had founded Providence, Rhode Island as a place for people to seek religious freedom.

1701 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut was chartered in New Haven. The name was later changed to Yale.

1776 - A group of Spanish missionaries settled in what is now San Francisco, CA.

1781 - The last major battle of the American Revolutionary War took place in Yorktown, VA. The American forces, led by George Washington, defeated the British troops under Lord Cornwallis.

1812 - During the War of 1812 American forces captured two British brigs, the Detroit and the Caledonia.

1855 - Isaac Singer patented the sewing machine motor.

1855 - Joshua C. Stoddard received a patent for his calliope.

1858 - Mail service via stagecoach between San Francisco, CA, and St. Louis, MO, began.

1872 - Aaron Montgomery started his mail order business with the delivery of the first mail order catalog. The firm later became Montgomery Wards.

1888 - The public was admitted to the Washington Monument for the first time.

1914 - During World War I, German forces captured Antwerp, Belgium.

1919 - The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The win would be later tainted when 8 Chicago White Sox were charged with throwing the game. The incident became known as the "Black Sox" scandal.

1930 - Aviator Laura Ingalls landed in Glendale, CA, to complete the first solo transcontinental flight across the U.S. by a woman.

1935 - "Cavalcade of America" was first broadcast on CBS radio.

1936 - The first generator at Boulder Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, CA. The name of the dam was later changed to Hoover Dam.

1940 - St. Paul's Cathedral in London was bombed by the Nazis. The dome was unharmed in the bombing.

1943 - "Land of the Lost" debuted on ABC radio.

1946 - "The Iceman Cometh" opened in New York City, NY.

1946 - The first electric blanket went on sale in Petersburg, VA.

1947 - The Broadway show, "High Button Shoes", opened.

1963 - Over 2,000 people were killed in northeast Italy when the Vaiont Dam was overrun by water. The incident was caused by landslide that occurred behind the dam.

1967 - Che Guevara was executed by Bolivian soldiers for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.

1974 - Oskar Schindler died in Frankfurt, Germany. Schindler is credited with saving the lives of about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

1975 - Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Soviet scientist is known as the "father of the hydrogen bomb."

1983 - Helen Moss joined the Brownies at the age of 83. She became the oldest person to become a member.

1985 - The hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt.

1986 - U.S. District Judge Harry E. Claiborne became the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment. The U.S. Senate convicted Claiborne of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

1986 - Joan Rivers debuted her new "The Late Show" on the FOX network.

1986 - The musical "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened in London.

1989 - The official Soviet news agency Tass reported an unidentified flying object. The report included a trio of tall aliens that had visited the city of Voronzh.

1991 - The play revival "On Borrowed Time" opened.

1994 - The U.S. sent troops and warships to the Persian Gulf in response to Saddam Hussein sending thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks toward the Kuwaiti border.

1970: Canadian minister seized by gunmen

Quebec separatists kidnap Labour and Immigration Minister Pierre Laporte.

Margaret Thatcher receiving a rapturous applause 1980: Thatcher 'not for turning'
The Prime Minister makes a memorably defiant speech at her party's conference in Brighton.

Police battle with rioters in Londonderry - August 14 1969 1969: Ulster's B Specials to be disbanded
The Northern Ireland Cabinet accepts the Hunt report recommendations to disarm the RUC and abolish the Ulster Special Constabulary.

Millennium wheel 1999: Millennium Wheel edges upwards
Thousands gather to watch the giant Ferris wheel become the latest landmark on the London skyline.

1845 - The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, MD.

1865 - The billiard ball was patented by John Wesley Hyatt.

1886 - The tuxedo dinner jacket made its U.S. debut in New York City.

1887 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Phonograph Company.

1911 - China's Manchu dynasty was overthrown by revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen.

1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike that ended the construction of the Panama Canal.

1928 - "Hold Everything" opened on Broadway.

1932 - "Betty and Bob" began on radio.

1932 - "Judy and Jane" began on radio.

1933 - Dreft, the first synthetic detergent, went on sale.

1937 - The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood".

1938 - Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

1943 - Chaing Kai-shek took the oath of office as the president of China.

1957 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official had been refused service in a Dover, DE, restaurant.

1959 - Pan American World Airways announced the beginning of the first global airline service.

1963 - A dam burst in Italy killing 3,000 people.

1965 - The Red Baron made his first appearance in the "Peanuts" comic strip.

1970 - Pierre Laporte, the labor minister of Quebec, was kidnapped by the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) during the October Crisis in Canada. He was found eight days later strangled to death.

1973 - U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with federal income tax evasion.

1973 - Fiji became independent after of nearly a century of British rule.

1977 - Joe Namath played the last game of his National Football League (NFL) career.

1978 - The U.S. bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

1985 - U.S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane to land in Italy so that the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achilles Lauro could be arrested.

1986 - An estimated 1,500 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale struck San Salvador, El Salvador.

1987 - Tom McClean finished rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. It set the record at 54 days and 18 hours.

1991 - The United States cut all foreign aid to Haiti in reaction to a military coup that forced President Jean-Claude Aristide into exile.

1994 - Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras resigned as Haiti's commander-in-chief of the army and pledged to leave the country.

1994 - Iraq announced it was withdrawing its forces from the Kuwaiti border. No signs of a pullback were observed.

1995 - Gary Kasparov won a chess championship against Viswanathan Anand that had lasted about a month.

1997 - The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, opened to the public. Architect Frank Gehry designed the 450 ft. long and 98 ft. wide building.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush presented a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.

1980: Thousands feared dead in Algerian quake

Two earthquakes have struck the northern Algerian city of El Asnam and up to 20,000 are thought to have died.

Alastair Burnet presenting the BBC's October 1974 General Election Results Programme 1974: Labour scrapes working majority
Harold Wilson's Labour government wins a second term in office - but only just.

Divers make adjustments to the assembly used to raise the Mary Rose wreck 1982: Mary Rose rises after 437 years
The Mary Rose, flagship of King Henry VIII, rises to the surface after 437 years at the bottom of the Solent.

The Move outside the High Court with Tony Secunda (left) - Picture by Press Association, courtesy of The Move Online 1967: Harold Wilson wins Moving apology
The Move pop group apologises in the High Court to the Prime Minister for a "violent and malicious personal attack".

Faked picture of Loch Ness monster taken in 1934 1987: Search ends for Loch Ness monster
A huge sonar exploration of Loch Ness fails to find the world famous monster known affectionately as Nessie.

1759 - Parson Mason Weems was born. He is remembered for his fictitious stories that he presented as fact. He was responsible for the story about George Washington cutting down his father's cherry tree.

1776 - During the American Revolution the first naval battle of Lake Champlain was fought. The forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold suffered heavy losses.

1779 - Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman, was killed while fighting during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, GA. He was fighting for American independence.

1809 - Meriwether Lewis committed suicide along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee at an inn called Grinder's Stand.

1811 - The Juliana, the first steam-powered ferryboat, was put into operation by the inventor John Stevens. The ferry went between New York City, NY, and Hoboken, NJ.

1881 - David Henderson Houston patented the first roll film for cameras.

1886 - Thomas Edison, 19 years old, filed for a patent on his first invention. The electric machine was used for counting votes for the U.S. Congress, however the Congress did not buy it.

1890 - The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, DC.

1899 - The Boer War began in South Africa between the British and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

1929 - JCPenney opened a store in Milford, DE, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 states.

1932 - In New York, the first telecast of a political campaign was aired.

1936 - The radio show, "Professor Quiz", aired for the first time.

1939 - U.S. President Roosevelt was presented with a letter from Albert Einstein that urged him to develop the U.S. atomic program rapidly.

1942 - The Battle of Cape Esperance, during World War II, began in the Solomons.

1958 - Pioneer 1, a lunar probe, was launched by the U.S. The probe did not reach its destination and fell back to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.

1968 - Apollo 7 was launched by the U.S. The first manned Apollo mission was the first in which live television broadcasts were received from orbit. Wally Schirra, Don Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham were the astronauts aboard.

1971 - Hugh Downs left the "Today" show and "Concentration". He later became the host of ABC's "20/20".

1975 - "Saturday Night Live" was broadcast for the first time. George Carlin was the guest host.

1975 - Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham were married in Fayetteville, AR.

1976 - The "Gang of Four" of China was charged with plotting a coup and were arrested and imprisoned.

1983 - The last hand-cranked telephones in the U.S. went out of service. The 440 telephone customers of Bryant Pond, ME, were switched to direct-dial service.

1984 - Construction began on the Kamric/Cinergy Futursonics Studio in Houston, TX.

1984 - American Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first female astronaut to space walk. She was aboard the space shuttle Challenger.


1994 - U.S. troops in Haiti took control of the National Palace.

1994 - Iraqi troops began moving away from the Kuwaiti border.

1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast

A bomb explodes at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton in a direct attack on the British Government.

Explosion in Kuta, Bali 2002: Dozens killed in Bali nightclub explosion
Reports from the Indonesian holiday island of Bali say more than 50 people have been killed in two explosions.

Mr Reagan and Mr Gorbachev 1986: Reykjavik summit ends in failure
Superpower talks collapse after Reagan and Gorbachev fail to agree on Star Wars.

Sid Vicious 1978: Sex Pistol Vicious on murder charge
British punk rocker Sid Vicious is arrested on suspicion of murder after his girlfriend's body is found in their New York hotel room.

baby chimpanzee 1967: The Naked Ape steps out
Zoologist Desmond Morris stuns the world with his book The Naked Ape that compares human behaviour with animals.

1492 - Christopher Columbus, an explorer, sighted Watling Island in the Bahamas. He believed that he had found a Western ocean route to India.

1792 - The first monument honoring Christopher Columbus was dedicated in Baltimore, MD.

1810 - Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The royalty invited the public to attend the event which became an annual celebration that later became known as Oktoberfest.

1860 - Inventor Elmer Sperry was born on this day. He held patents on more than 400 inventions. The most important being the Sperry Automatic Pilot.

1892 - In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Columbus landing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in public schools.

1895 - In Newport, RI, the first amateur golf tournament was held.

1915 - Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt criticized U.S. citizens who identified themselves by dual nationalities.

1915 - British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium during World War I.

1920 - Construction of the Holland Tunnel began. It opened on November 13, 1927. The tunnel links Jersey City, NJ and New York City, NY.

1933 - John Dillinger, bank robber, escaped from a jail in Allen County, OH. The sheriff was killed by his gang as they helped Dillinger escape.

1933 - The U.S. Department of Justice acquired Alcatraz Island from the U.S. Army.

1937 - "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons" debuted on radio.

1938 - Filming began on "The Wizard of Oz."

1942 - During World War II, Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.

1945 - Private First Class Desmond T. Ross was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for outstanding bravery as a medical corpsman. He was the first conscientious objector in American history to win the award.

1950 - The Kefauver Crime Commission convened in New York to investigate interstate organized crime.

1960 - Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded a shoe on his desk during a dispute at a U.N. General Assembly.

1961 - The first video memoirs by a U.S. president were made. Walter Cronkite interviewed Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1964 - The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1 into orbit around the Earth. It was the first space flight to have a multi-person crew and the first flight to be performed without space suits.

1972 - During the Vietnam War, a racial brawl broke out aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. Nearly 50 sailors were injured.

1976 - China announced that Hua Guo-feng was named to succeed the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of the Communist Party.

1984 - An attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's life was unsuccessful, but did take the lives of five people. The bomb had been planted by the I.R.A.

1988 - Federal prosecutors announced that the Sundstrand Corp. would pay $115 million dollars to settle with the Pentagon for overbilling airplane parts over a five-year period.

1989 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a statutory federal ban on the destruction of the American flag.

1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" opened at the John Golden Theatre.

1994 - Haitian military leader Raoul Cedras was granted political asylum by Panama.

1994 - The Magellan space probe ended its four-year mission to Venus for the purpose of mapping.

1997 - The St. Francis Basilica and 15th-century bell tower above Foligno city hall in Italy were damaged by 3 earthquakes.

1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Online Copyright Bill.


1999 - In Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup that toppled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The Supreme Court ruled that the coup was legal but insisted that a civilian government be restored within three years.

2000 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer, experienced a large explosion while refueling. The explosion was the result of a terrorist attack using a small boat. 17 crewmembers were killed and at least 39 were injured.

2000 - In Denver, CO, the U.S. District Court denied Timothy McVeigh's request for a new trial.

2001 - A special episode of America's Most Wanted was aired that focused on 22 wanted terrorists. The show was specifically requested by U.S. President George W. Bush.

2001 - A car bomb exploded in Madrid, Spain, that injured 17 people. Basque separatists claimed responsibility.

2002 - In Bali, Indonesia, over 180 people were killed and over 300 were injured when a bomb was detonated in a nightclub district.

1976: Bolivian plane crash kills 100 on the ground

A Boeing 707 kills dozens of people on the ground when it crashes into a busy city street in the west of Bolivia.

miners 1992: Thousands of miners to lose their jobs
The Government announces plans to close one third of Britain's deep coal mines, putting 31,000 miners out of work.

Spycatcher book 1988: Government loses Spycatcher battle
The British Government fails to stop publication of the controversial book Spycatcher, written by a former secret service agent.

Vladimir Kuts is beaten by Chris Chataway at White City stadium 1954: Chataway beats 5,000m world record
Chris Chataway breaks the 5,000-metres world record by five seconds in the London v Moscow match at White City, West London.

A soldier detonates a controlled explosion on a border road 1971: Army blasts N Ireland border roads
British Army engineers are blowing up minor border roads in Northern Ireland to crack down on IRA gun-running.

54 A.D. - The Roman emperor Claudius I died after being poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.

1775 - The U.S. Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.

1792 - The cornerstone of the Executive Mansion was laid in Washington, DC. The building became known as the White House in 1818.

1812 - American forces were defeated at the Battle of Queenstown Heights. The British victory effectively ended an further U.S. invasion of Canada.

1843 - B'nai B'rith, the Jewish organization, was founded by Henry Jones and eleven others in New York City, NY.

1854 - The state of Texas ratified a state constitution.

1924 - The play "The Guardsman" opened in New York City, NY.

1943 - During World War II, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies and declared war on Germany.

1944 - American troops entered Aachen, Germany, during World War II.

1944 - During World War II, British and Greek advance units landed at Piraeus.

1951 - In Atlanta, GA, a football with a rubber covering was used for the first time. Georgia Tech beat Louisiana State 25-7.

1953 - An ultrasonic burglar alarm was patented by Samuel Bagno.

1957 - Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra introduced the Ford Edsel on an hour long special.

1960 - The World Series ended on a home run for the first time. Bill Mazeroski's homerun allowed the Pirates to beat the Yankees.

1962 - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opened on Broadway.

1967 - The first game of the new American Basketball Association was played.

1977 - Four Palestinians hijacked an Lufthansa airliner to Somalia. They demanded the release of members of the Red Army Faction.

1981 - Egyptian voters elected Vice President Hosni Mubarak as the new president one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.

1984 - Jesse Jackson appeared on "Saturday Night Live."

1989 - U.S. President George Bush called for an overthrow of the Panamanian ruler Manuel Antonio Noriega.

1990 - Le Duc Tho died at the age of 79. He was a co-founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

1992 - A commercial flight record was set by an Air France supersonic jetliner for circling the Earth in 33 hours and one minute.

1995 - Walt Disney World Resort admitted its 500-millionth guest.

wala lang
pa post po!

1994: Israelis and Arafat share peace prize

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and two Israelis, the Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres are the winners of this year's Nobel peace prize.

Cecil Parkinson 1983: Parkinson quits over lovechild scandal
The Trade and Industry Secretary resigns after fresh details about his affair with a former secretary are revealed.

Men topple a smoldering fire truck over during the violence in Bangkok 1973: Thai army shoots anti-junta protesters
Dozens of people are killed in the Thai capital of Bangkok in street battles between government troops and demonstrators.

50-pence coin 1969: New 50-pence coin sparks confusion
The new seven-sided 50p coin comes into circulation but prompts complaints that it is too similar to the 10-pence.

Emperor Haile Selassie with HRH The Queen 1954: Ethiopian emperor visits UK
The Queen welcomes Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie when he arrives in the UK during his world tour.

1066 - The Battle of Hastings occurred in England. The Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England.

1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England. She was accused of conspiring against Queen Elizabeth I. Mary was beheaded the following February.

1644 - William Penn was born. Penn was the colonist that founded the Pennsylvania colony for Quakers.

1879 - Thomas Edison signed an agreement with Jose D. Husbands for the sale of Edison telephones in Chile.

1887 - Thomas Edison and George E. Gouraud reached an agreement for the international marketing rights for the phonograph.

1890 - Dwight David 'Ike' Eisenhower was born. He became the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II and eventually the 34th U.S. President.

1912 - Theodore Roosevelt was shot while campaigning in Milwaukee, WI. Roosevelt's wound in the chest was not serious and he continued with his planned speech. William Schrenk was captured at the scene of the shooting.

1922 - Lieutenant Lester James Maitland set a new airplane speed record when he reached a speed of 216.1 miles-per-hour.

1926 - The book "Winnie-the-Pooh," by A.A. Milne, made its debut.

1928 - The first televised wedding took place in Des Plains, IL. James Fowlkes and Cora Dennison were married in a radio studio.

1930 - Ethel Merman debuted on Broadway in "Girl Crazy."

1933 - Nazi Germany announced that it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.

1934 - "Lux Radio Theater" began airing on the NBC Blue radio network.

1943 - The Radio Corporation of America finalized the sale of the NBC Blue radio network. Edward J. Noble paid $8 million for the network that was renamed American Broadcasting Company.

1944 - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution after being accused of conspiring against Adolf Hitler and the execution that would follow.

1944 - During World War II, the Second British Parachute Brigade liberated the city of Athens.

1947 - Pilot Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X One rocket plane and became the first person to break the sound barrier.

1954 - C.B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments", starring Charlton Heston, began filming in Egypt. The epic had a cast of 25,000 people.

1960 - U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggested the idea of a Peace Corps.

1961 - "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" opened on Broadway.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis began when U.S. reconnaissance aircrafts photographed Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites in Cuba.

1964 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in America. He was the youngest person to receive the award.

1968 - The first live telecast to come from a manned U.S. spacecraft was transmitted from Apollo 7.

1970 - Anwar el-Sadat became president of Egypt following the death of President Nasser.

1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev charged that the U.S. wanted to "bleed the Soviet Union economically" with the arms race in space.


1992 - In Russia, Andrei Chikatilo, was sentenced to death after being convicted of 52 serial killings.

1993 - In Haiti, Justice Minister Guy Malary was assassinated by gunmen who were supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1995 - An armed gunman seized control of bus of tourists in Moscow's Red Square. The next day commandos stormed the bus freeing the four remaining hostages and killing the gunman.

1998 - The FBI charged Eric Robert Rudolph with 6 bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta. Rudolph was not in custody at the time the charges were filed.


2000 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines flight was hijacked just after takeoff from Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. The plane was taken to Baghdad, Iraq, where the two men surrendered peacefully after negotiations.


2002 - Britain stripped power from the Catholic and Protestant politicians of Northern Ireland. Britain resumed sole responsibility for running Northern Ireland.

1969: Millions march in US Vietnam Moratorium

Americans take part in peace initiatives across the United States to protest against the continuing war in Vietnam.

Nikita Khrushchev
1964: Khrushchev 'retires' as head of USSR
News of the sudden departure of flamboyant Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev comes as a surprise to the West.

Winston Silcott 1999: Police award Silcott damages
The Metropolitan Police announces a huge out-of-court settlement to Winston Silcott, wrongly accused over the murder of a policeman during riots in north London in 1985.

Last picture of the Miami Showband, summer 1975
courtesy Irish Showbands Archive
1976: UDR men jailed for Showband killings
Two men from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) are jailed for 35 years in connection with the murders of members of the Miami Showband.

Yang Liwei
2003: China sends first man into space
China sends its first manned spacecraft into orbit, making it only the third country ever to send a human into space.

1987: Fiji one step closer to a republic
The Queen accepts the resignation of the Governor-General of Fiji at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Vancouver.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte began his exile on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

1844 - German philosopher Friedich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born.

1860 - Grace Bedell, 11 years old, wrote a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. The letter stated that Lincoln would look better if he would grow a beard.

1883 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. It allowed for individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.

1892 - The U.S. government announced that the land in the western Montana was open to settlers. The 1.8 million acres were bought from the Crow Indians for 50 cents per acre.

1914 - The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.

1917 - Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad. Hari was a Dutch dancer that had spied for the Germans.

1931 - "Cat and the Fiddle" opened in New York for the first of 395 performances.

1937 - "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway was published for the first time.

1939 - New York Municipal Airport was dedicated. The name was later changed to La Guardia Airport.

1945 - Pierre Laval, the former premier of Vichy France, was executed for treason.

1946 - Hermann Goering, a Nazi war criminal and founder of the Gestapo, poisoned himself just hours before his scheduled execution.

1951 - "I Love Lucy" premiered on CBS-TV.

1953 - "Teahouse of the August Moon" opened on Broadway. It ran for 1,027 performances.

1964 - It was announced that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had been removed from power. He was replaced with Alexei N. Kosygin.

1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill creating the Department of Transportation.

1973 - "Tomorrow" debuted on NBC-TV.

1983 - U.S. Marines killed five snipers who had pinned them down in Beirut International Airport.

1989 - South African officials released eight prominent political prisoners.

1989 - Wayne Gretzky, while playing for the Los Angeles Kings, surpassed Gordie Howe's NHL scoring record of 1,850 career points.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton sent warships to enforce trade sanctions that had been imposed on Haitian military rulers.

1993 - South Africa's President F.W. de Klerk and African National Congress President Nelson Mandela were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the apartheid system in South Africa.

1997 - British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green broke the land-speed record by driving a jet-powered car faster than the speed of sound.

1998 - Typhoon Zeb killed 24 people and drove 100,000 more from their homes when it hit the Philippines.

1998 - The U.N. condemned the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba for the seventh year in a row.

1998 - James Woods received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2001 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft passed within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

1978: Polish bishop is new Pope

Cardinals at the Vatican choose the first non-Italian Pope for more than 400 years.

1987: Hurricane winds batter southern England
Southern Britain begins a massive clear-up operation after the worst night of storms in living memory.

Burnt-out prison hut, Maze Prison 1974: Maze prison goes up in flames
Three prison staff are in hospital and dozens of prisoners injured after rioting and fires at the Long Kesh Maze prison.

Handguns 1996: Handguns to be banned in the UK
The British Government announces plans to outlaw almost all handguns following Dunblane massacre in March.

Joan Baez sings We Shall Overcome during the Vietnam War 1967: Joan Baez arrested in Vietnam protest
Folk singer Joan Baez is arrested in a peace demonstration as rallies take place across America to protest against the continuing war in Vietnam.

1701 - The Collegiate School was founded in Killingworth, CT. The school moved to New Haven in 1745 and changed its name to Yale College.

1758 - Author Noah Webster was born. He was a teacher and journalist whose name is associated with the word "dictionary."

1793 - During the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded.

1829 - The first modern hotel in America opened. The Tremont Hotel had 170 rooms that rented for $2 a day and included four meals.

1846 - Ether, the painkiller, was used for the first time. The drug was invented by dentist William T. Morton.

1859 - Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry, VA (now located in West Virginia).

1869 - A hotel in Boston became the first in the U.S. to install indoor plumbing.

1898 - Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas was born. He served for 36 years on the U.S. Supreme Court.

1916 - Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in New York City, NY.

1923 - Walt Disney contracted with M.J. Winkler to distribute the Alice Comedies. This event is recognized as the start of the Disney Company.

1928 - Marvin Pipkin received a patent for the frosted electric light bulb.

1939 - "Right To Happiness" debuted on the NBC-Blue network.

1939 - "The Man Who Came to Diner" opened on Broadway.

1941 - The Nazis advanced to within 60 miles of Moscow. Romanians entered Odessa, USSR, and began exterminating 150,000 Jews.

1942 - The ballet "Rodeo" premiered in New York City.

1943 - Chicago's new subway system was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

1944 - "The Robe," by Lloyd Douglas, was published for the first time.

1945 - "His Honor the Barber" debuted on NBC Radio.

1946 - 10 Nazi war criminals were hanged after being condemned by the Nuremberg trials.

1955 - Mrs. Jules Lederer replaced Ruth Crowley in newspaper using the name Ann Landers.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy was informed that there were missile bases in Cuba, beginning the Cuban missile crisis.

1964 - China detonated its first atomic bomb becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.

1967 - NATO headquarters opened in Brussels.

1970 - Anwar Sadat was elected president of Egypt to succeed Gamal Abdel Nassar.

1973 - Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were named winners of the Noble Peace Prize. The Vietnamese official declined the award.

1987 - Rescuers finally freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. The was trapped for 58 hours.

1989 - U.S. President Bush signed the Gramm-Rudman budget reduction law that ordered federal programs be cut by $16.1 billion.

1990 - Comedian Steve Martin and his wife Victoria Tennant visited U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia.

1990 - The play "Stand Up Tragedy" closed after only 13 performances.

1991 - George Hennard crashed his truck into a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, TX and began a shooting rampage in which he killed 23 people before taking his own life.

1993 - The U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of U.S. warships to enforce a blockade on Haiti to increase pressure on the controlling military leaders.

1994 - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was re-elected to a fourth term..

1997 - Charles M. Schulz and his wife Jeannie announced that they would give $1 million toward the construction of a D-Day memorial to be placed in Virginia.

2000 - It was announced that Chevron Corp. would be buying Texaco Inc. for $35 billion. The combined company was called Chevron Texaco Corp. and became the 4th largest oil company in the world.

2002 - It was reported that North Korea had told the U.S. that it had a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an 1994 agreement with the U.S.

2002 - The Arthur Andersen accounting firm was sentenced to five years probation and fined $500,000 for obstructing a federeal investigation of the energy company Enron.