the day in the history

1842 - Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in Springfield, IL.

1846 - The patent for the artificial leg is granted to Benjamin Palmer.

1880 - James and John Ritty patented the first cash register.

1922 - In Egypt, Howard Carter discovered the entry of the lost tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

1924 - Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming was elected America's first woman governor so she could serve out the remaining term of her late husband, William B. Ross.

1939 - During World War II, the U.S. modified its neutrality stance with the Neutrality Act of 1939. The new policy allowed cash-and-carry purchases of arms by belligerents.

1939 - At the 40th National Automobile Show the first air-conditioned car was put on display.

1942 - During World War II, Axis forces retreated from El Alamein in North Africa. It was a major victory for the British.

1956 - Soviet forces enter Hungary in order to supress the uprising that had begun on October 23, 1956.

1965 - Lee Ann Roberts Breedlove became the first woman to exceed 300 mph when she went 308.5 mph.

1970 - Former King Peter II of Yugoslavia died in Denver, CO. He was the first European king or queen to die and to be buried in the U.S.

1979 - Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage. The militants, mostly students, demanded that the U.S. send the former shah back to Iran to stand trial.

1985 - Soviet defector Vitaly Yurchenko announced he was returning to the Soviet Union. He had charged that he had been kidnapped by the CIA.

1989 - About a million East Germans filled the streets of East Berlin in a pro-democracy rally.

1990 - Iraq issued a statement saying it was prepared to fight a "dangerous war" rather than give up Kuwait.

1991 - Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley, CA. The dedication ceremony was attended by President Bush and former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon. It was the 1st gathering of 5 U.S. chief executives.

1995 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 73 years old, was assassinated by right-wing Israelis after attending a peace rally.

1999 - Cristina Saralegui received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - The United Nations imposed economic sanctions against the Taliban that controlled most of Afghanistan. The sanctions were imposed because the Taliban had refused to turn over Osama bin Laden, who had been charged with masterminding the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

2001 - Hurrican Michelle hit Cuba destroying crops and thousands of homes. The United States made the gesture of sending humanitarian aid. On December 16, 2002, Cuba received the first commercial food shipment from the U.S. in nearly 40 years.

1952: Landslide victory for Eisenhower

General Dwight D Eisenhower sweeps to victory in the American presidential elections with the largest number of popular votes ever recorded for a presidential candidate.

Robert Maxwell with his wife Elizabeth 1991: Publisher Robert Maxwell dies at sea
The body of the millionaire newspaper publisher, Robert Maxwell, is found in the sea off the coast of Tenerife.

Aftermath of Hither Green rail crash 1967: Forty die in Hither Green rail crash
At least 40 people are killed and 80 hurt after a train derails in south-east London.

President Daniel Ortega 1984: Sandinistas claim election victory
Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista Front claims a decisive victory in the country's first elections since the revolution five years ago.

Shah of Iran 1978: Iran's PM steps down amid riots
Iran's Prime Minister Jaffer Sharif-Emani resigns after two days of virtual mob rule.

1605 - The "Gunpowder Plot" attempted by Guy Fawkes failed when he was captured before he could blow up the English Parliament. Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated every November 5th in Britain to celebrate his failure to blow up all the members of Parliament and King James I.

1844 - In California, a grizzly bear underwent a successful cataract operation at the Zoological Garden.

1872 - In the U.S., Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the presidential election. She never paid the fine.

1895 - George B. Selden received the first U.S. patent for an automobile. He sold the rights for $200,000 four years later.

1911 - Italy officially annexed Tripoli.

1935 - The game "Monopoly" was introduced by Parker Brothers Company.

1940 - U.S. President Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office.

1944 - Lord Moyne, a British official, was assassinated by the Zionist Stern gang in Cairo, Egypt.

1946 - John F. Kennedy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives at the age of 29.

1955 - The Vienna State Opera House in Austria formally opened.

1956 - British and French forces began landing in Egypt during the Suez Canal Crisis. A cease-fire was declared 2 days later.

1959 - The American Football League was formed.

1963 - Archaeologists found the remains of a Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

1974 - Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut. She was the first woman in the U.S. to win a governorship without succeeding her husband.

1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NFL had exceeded antitrust limits in attempting to stop the Oakland Raiders from moving to Los Angeles.

1986 - The White House reaffirmed the U.S. ban on the sale of weapons to Iran.

1987 - In South Africa, Goban Mbeki was released after serving 24 years in the Robben Island prison. He had been sentenced to life for treason against the white minority government of South Africa.

1990 - Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Kach movement, was shot to death after a speech at a New York Hotel. His assassin, Egyptian El Sayyid, was later convicted of the murder and was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the World Trade Center bombing.

1992 - Malice Green, a black motorist, was beaten to death in Detroit during a struggle with police. Two officers were later convicted in his death and sentenced to prison.

1994 - Former U.S. President Reagan announced that he had Alzheimer's disease.

1994 - George Foreman, 45, became boxing's oldest heavyweight champion when he knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of their WBA fight in Las Vegas, NV.

1998 - In the U.S., Chairman Henry Hyde of the Judiciary Committee asked President Clinton to answer 81 questions for the House impeachment inquiry.

1998 - The U.N. announced that the Taliban militia had killed up to 5,000 civilians in a takeover of an Afghani town.

1998 - Scientists published a genetic study that showed strong evidence that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one child of his slave, Sally Hemings.

1999 - A 12-day conference on global warming, attended by delegates from 170 nations, ended in Bonn, Germany.

1999 - Dennis Rodman (NBA) and Carmen Electra were both arrested and charged with battery and domestic violence in a hotel in Miami Beach, FL.

1999 - U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft Corp. enjoyed "monopoly power".

2001 - It was announced that European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Dubai-based Emirates airlines set up a joint venture specializing in airline services.

1956: Allied forces take control of Suez

British and French troops protecting allied interests in the Suez Canal battle with Egyptian soldiers in the Canal Zone.

Bill and Hilary Clinton 1996: 'Comeback Kid' wins second term
Democratic President Bill Clinton crushes Bob Dole but Republicans retain control of both Houses.

Supporters of the NO vote hand out flags and placards at a rally in Sydney 1999: Australia rejects republic
Australians reject a proposal to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic.

Richard Nixon 1968: Nixon wins close contest for president
Richard Nixon finally emerges as the next president of the US narrowly beating Hubert Humphrey.

Chinook helicopter 1986: Oil workers die in helicopter crash
A Chinook helicopter carrying oil rig workers plunges into the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.

1972: Pay and price freeze aims to curb inflation
The British Government impose controversial measures to try and halt spiralling inflation.

1789 - Father John Carroll was appointed as the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States of America.

1832 - Joseph Smith, III, was born. He was the first president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was also the son of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.

1851 - Charles Henry Dow was born. He was the founder of Dow Jones & Company.

1860 - Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the sixteenth president of the United States.

1861 - Jefferson Davis was elected as the president of the Confederacy in the U.S.

1861 - The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, was born.

1869 - The first official intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick, NJ.

1913 - Mohandas K. Gandhi was arrested as he led a march of Indian miners in South Africa.

1917 - During World War I, Candian forces take the village of Passchendaele, Belgium, in the Third Battle of Ypres.

1923 - Jacob Schick was granted a patent for the electric shaver.

1935 - Edwin H. Armstrong announced his development of FM broadcasting.

1947 - "Meet the Press" debuted on NBC-TV. The show went to a weekly show on September 12, 1948.

1952 - The first hydrogen bomb was exploded at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1962 - The U.N. General Assembly adopts a resolution that condemned South Africa's racist apartheid policies. The resolution also called for all member states to terminate military and economic relations with South Africa.

1965 - The Freedom Flights program began which would allow 250,000 Cubans to come to the United States by 1971.

1967 - Phil Donahue began a TV talk show in Dayton, OH. The show was on the air for 29 years.

1975 - King Hassan II of Morocco launches the Green March, a mass migration of 300,000 unarmed Moroccans, that march into the nation of Western Sahara.

1977 - 39 people were killed when an earthen dam burst, sending a wall of water through the campus of Toccoa Falls Bible College in Georgia.

1983 - U.S. Army choppers dropped hundreds of leaflets over northern and central Grenada. The leaflets urged residents to cooperate in locating any Grenadian army or Cuban resisters to the U.S-led invasion.

1984 - For the first time in 193 years, the New York Stock Exchange remained open during a presidential election day.

1985 - Leftist guerrillas belonging to Columbia's April 19 Movement seized control of the Palace of Justice in Bogota.

1986 - Former Navy radioman John A. Walker Jr., was sentenced in Baltimore to life imprisonment. Walker had admitted to being the head of a family spy ring.

1989 - In the hopes of freeing U.S. hostages held in Iran, the U.S. announced that it would unfreeze $567 million in Iranian assets that had been held since 1979.

1990 - About 20% of the Universal Studios backlot in southern California was destroyed in an arson fire.

1991 - Kuwait celebrated the dousing of the last of the oil fires ignited by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.

1995 - Art Modell, the owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced plans to move his team to Baltimore. (NFL)

1995 - Mark Messier scored his 500th NHL goal.

1996 - Michael Jordan scored 50 points for the 29th time in his NBA career.

1998 - The Islamic militant group Hamas exploded a car bomb killing the two attackers and injuring 21 civilians.

1999 - Australian voters rejected a referendum to drop Britain's queen as their head of state.

2001 - In London, the "Lest We Forget" exhibit opened at the National Memorial Arboretum. Fred Seiker was the creator of the 24 watercolors. Seiker was a prisoner of war that had been forced to build the Burma Railroad, the "railway of death," for the Japanese during World War II.

2001 - In Madrid, Spain, a car bomb injured about 60 people. The bomb was blamed on Basque separatists.

2001 - Ten people were executed in Beijing, China. The state newspaper of China said that all of the people executed were robbers and killers aged 20-23.

1989: Protests force out East German rulers

East German leader Egon Krenz prepares to choose a new government after mass resignations of Communist ministers.

1974: Police hunt Lord Lucan after murder
Detectives are searching for British aristocrat Lord Lucan following the death of his children's nanny last night.

Ronald Reagan 1984: Four more years for Reagan
Ronald Reagan wins a second term as US President in the biggest landslide since George Washington in 1792.

1972: Nixon takes second term by landslide
President Richard Nixon wins an overwhelming victory in the US presidential elections for a second term in the White House.

President Eisenhower 1956: Eisenhower re-elected with record vote
Eisenhower is returned to the White House with the biggest share of votes for 100 years.

1975: IRA kidnappers release industrialist
Dr Tiede Herrema, a Dutch industrialist kidnapped by the IRA more than a month ago, is freed.

1998: Oldest astronaut back on Earth
Senator John Glenn, the world's oldest astronaut, lands back on Earth after his historic nine-day mission.

1637 - Anne Hutchinson, the first female religious leader in the American colonies, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for heresy.

1665 - "The London Gazette" was first published.

1811 - The Shawnee Indians of chief Tecumseh were defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Wabash (or (Tippecanoe).

1837 - In Alton, IL, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot to death by a mob ( of supporters of slavery) while trying to protect his printing shop from a third destruction.

1874 - The Republican party of the U.S. was first symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.

1876 - The cigarette manufacturing machine was patented by Albert H. Hook.

1877 - "The Sorcerer" was performed for the first time of 178 total performances.

1893 - The state of Colorado granted its women the right to vote.

1895 - The last spike was driven into Canada's first transcontinental railway in the mountains of British Columbia.

1914 - The "New Republic" magazine was printed for the first time.

1916 - Jeanette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

1917 - Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place. The provisional government of Alexander Kerensky was overthrown by forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

1918 - During World War I, a false report through the United Press announced that an armistice had been signed.

1929 - The Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened to the public.

1932 - "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" was broadcast for the first on CBS Radio.

1933 - Voters in Pennsylvania eliminated sports from Pennsylvanian "Blue Laws."

1940 - The middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm. The suspension bridge had opened to traffic on July 1, 1940.

1944 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first person to win a fourth term as president.

1963 - The comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" premiered in Hollywood.

1963 - Elston Howard, of the New York Yankees, became the first black player to be named the American League's Most Valuable Player.

1965 - The "Pillsbury Dough Boy" debuted in television commercials.

1967 - Carl Stokes was elected the first black mayor Cleveland, OH, becoming the first black mayor of a major city.

1967 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

1967 - The U.S. Selective Service Commission announced that college students arrested in anti-war demonstrations would lose their draft deferments.

1973 - New Jersey became the first U.S. state to permit girls to play on Little League baseball teams.

1973 - The U.S. Congress over-rode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.

1983 - A bomb exploded in the U.S. Capitol. No one was injured.

1985 - The Colombian army stormed the country's Palace of Justice. The siege claimed the lives of 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court Justices. The Palace had been seized by leftist guerrillas belonging to the April 19 Movement.

1987 - Tunisia's president Habib Bourguiba was overthrown. He had been president since the country's independence in 1956.

1989 - L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the first elected African-American state governor in U.S. history.

1989 - David Dinkins was elected and become New York City's first African-American mayor.

1989 - Richard Ramirez, convicted of California's "Night Stalker" killings, was sentenced to death.

1991 - Magic Johnson (NBA) announced that he had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, and that he was retiring from basketball.

1991 - Pro- and anti-Communists rallies took place in Moscow on the 74th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.

1995 - In a Japanese courtroom, three U.S. military men admitted to the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl.

1999 - Tiger Woods became the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four straight tournaments.

2000 - Hillary Rodham Clinton made history as the first president's wife to win public office. The state of New York elected her to the U.S. Senate.

2001 - The new .BIZ domain extension was officially launched.

2001 - After a 16-month stoppage the Concorde resumed flying commercially.

1987: Bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen

Eleven people are killed after a bomb explodes during a Remembrance Day service at Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.

Al Gore and running mate Joe Lieberman 2000: Bush and Gore fight to the finish
The result of the American presidential election is still hanging in the balance hours after the polls officially closed.

Edward and Sophie 2003: Royal baby born prematurely
The Countess of Wessex has given birth to a baby girl a month early and without her husband, Prince Edward, at her side.

Sellafield nuclear reactor 1957: Inquiry publishes cause of nuclear fire
An report into the fire at Windscale nuclear power plant in Cumbria blames the accident on human error, poor management and faulty instruments.

Ronald Milhench 1974: PM forger Milhench is jailed
Businessman Ronald Milhench who forged Harold Wilson's signature to help pull off a deal is jailed for three years.

1990: Ireland elects first woman president
Voters in the Republic of Ireland choose their first female president.

1656 - Edmond Halley was born. Halley, an astronomer-mathmatician, was the first to calculate the orbit that was named after him. The comet makes an appearance every 76 years.

1793 - The Louvre Museum, in Paris, opened to the public for the first time.

1805 - The "Corps of Discovery" reached the Pacific Ocean. The expedition was lead by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis. The journey had begun on May 14, 1804, with the goal of exploring the Louisiana Purchase territory.

1880 - French actress Sarah Bernhardt made her American stage debut in "Adrienne Lecouvreur" in New York City.

1887 - Doc Holliday died at the age of 35. The gun fighting dentist died from tuberculosis in a sanitarium in Glenwood Springs, CO.

1889 - Montana became the 41st U.S. state.

1895 - Wilhelm Roentgen while experimenting with electricity discovered the scientific principle involved and took the first X-ray pictures.

1910 - William H. Frost patented the insect exterminator.

1923 - Adolf Hitler made his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the "Beer-Hall Putsch."

1933 - The Civil Works Administration was created by executive order by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The organization was designed to create jobs for more than 4 million unemployed people in the U.S.

1939 - "Life With Father" premiered on Broadway in New York City.

1942 - The U.S. invaded Morocco and Algeria.

1942 - During World War II, Operation Torch began as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.

1950 - During the Korean conflict, the first jet-plane battle took place as U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.

1954 - The American League approved the transfer of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team to Kansas City, MO.

1956 - After turning down 18,000 names, the Ford Motor Company decided to name their new car the "Edsel," after Henry Ford's only son.

1959 - The 'Big E', Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers, scored 64 points and set a National Basketball Association scoring record.

1965 - The soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuted on NBC-TV.

1966 - Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts became the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote.

1966 - Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California.

1979 - The program, "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage", premiered on ABC-TV. The show was planned to be temporary, but it evolved into "Nightline" in March of 1980.

1979 - U.S. Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Mac Mathias (R-MD) introduced legislation to provide a site on the National Mall for the building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1980 - Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California announced that they had discovered a 15th moon orbiting the planet Saturn.

1985 - A letter signed by four American hostages in Lebanon was delivered to The Associated Press in Beirut. The letter, contained pleas from Terry Anderson, Rev. Lawrence Jenco, David Jacobsen and Thomas Sutherland to President Reagan to negotiate a release.

1986 - Vyacheslav M. Molotov died at age 96. During World War II, Molotov ordered the mass production of bottles filled with flammable liquid later called the "Molotov cocktail."

1987 - A bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army exploded in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, at a ceremony honoring Britain's war dead. Eleven people were killed.

1990 - U.S. President Bush ordered more troop deployments in the Persian Gulf, adding about 150,000 soldiers to the multi-national force fighting against Iraq.

1991 - The European Community and Canada imposed economic sanctions on Yugoslavia in an attempt to stop the Balkan civil war.

1992 - About 350,000 people rallied in Berlin against racist violence.

1993 - Five Picasso paintings and other artwork were stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, Sweden. The works were valued at $52 million.

1997 - Chinese engineers diverted the Yangtze River to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.

2000 - In Florida, a statewide recount began to decide the winner of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

2000 - Waco special counsel John C. Danforth released his final report that absolved the government of wrongdoing in the 1993 seige of the Branch Davidian compound in Texas.

2001 - The "Homage to Van Gogh: International Artists Pay Tribute to a Legend" exhibit opened at the Appleton Museum of Art in Florida.

1989: Berliners celebrate the fall of the Wall

The Berlin Wall is dramatically breached after nearly three decades of keeping East and West Berliners apart.

John F Kennedy 1960: Narrow victory for John F Kennedy
Senator John F Kennedy has won the election to become the youngest elected president of the United States.

Yew Tree Farm 1979: Paperboy's killers convicted
Four men are found guilty of killing paperboy Carl Bridgewater. Eighteen years later their convictions were quashed.

1993: Diana sues over gym photos
Lawyers acting for the Princess of Wales start legal action over pictures secretly taken of her exercising.

President George Bush 1988: Bush wins with 'no new taxes' promise
Vice President George Bush sweeps into the White House as the 41st president of the United States.

1857 - The "Atlantic Monthly" first appeared on newsstands and featured the first installment of "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

1872 - A fire destroyed about 800 buildings in Boston, MA.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt left for Panama to see the progress on the new canal. It was the first foreign trip by a U.S. president.

1911 - George Claude of Paris, France, applied for a patent on neon advertising signs.

1918 - Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II announced he would abdicate. He then fled to the Netherlands.

1923 - In Munich, the Beer Hall Putsch was crushed by German troops that were loyal to the democratic government. The event began the evening before when Adolf Hitler took control of a beer hall full of Bavarian government leaders at gunpoint.

1935 - United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization.

1938 - Nazi troops and sympathizers destroyed and looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, burned 267 synagogues, killed 91 Jews, and rounded up over 25,000 Jewish men in an event that became known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass."

1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within the scope of federal antitrust laws.

1961 - Major Robert White flew an X-15 rocket plane at a world record speed of 4,093 mph.

1961 - The Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) eliminated is "caucasians only" rule.

1963 - In Japan, about 450 miners were killed in a coal-dust explosion.

1963 - In Japan, 160 people died in a train crash.

1965 - The great Northeast blackout occurred as several states and parts of Canada were hit by a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours.

1967 - A Saturn V rocket carrying an unmanned Apollo spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.

1976 - The U.N. General Assembly approved ten resolutions condemning the apartheid government in South Africa.

1979 - The United Nations Security Council unanimously called upon Iran to release all American hostages "without delay." Militants, mostly students had taken 63 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4.

1982 - Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing. In 1984 Leonard came out of retirement to fight one more time before becoming a boxing commentator for NBC.

1984 - A bronze statue titled "Three Servicemen," by Frederick Hart, was unveiled at the site of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

1989 - Communist East Germany opened its borders, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany.

1990 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a non-aggression treaty with Germany.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin, visiting London, appealed for assistance in rescheduling his country's debt, and asked British businesses to invest.
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1998 - A federal judge in New York approved the richest antitrust settlement in U.S. history. A leading brokerage firm was ordered to pay $1.03 billion to investors who had sued over price-rigging of Nasdaq stocks.

1995: Nigeria hangs human rights activists

The writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, has been executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency.

Louise Woodward in court 1997: British au pair freed after appeal
A British child-minder is freed from jail in the United States after her conviction for murdering a baby is reduced to manslaughter.

Leonid Brezhnev 1982: Brezhnev rumours sweep Moscow
Speculation is growing that Leonid Brezhnev, who has ruled the Soviet Union for the past two decades, has died.

Penguin notice reads 'Sold out' 1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out
Penguin's first run of the DH Lawrence's sexually explicit novel banned for more than 30 years sells out.

1775 - The U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress. The Marines went out of existence after the end of the Revolutionary War in April of 1783. The Marine Corps were formally re-established on July 11, 1798.

1801 - The U.S. state of Tennessee outlawed the practice of dueling.

1871 - Henry M. Stanley, journalist and explorer, found David Livingstone. Livingston was a missing Scottish missionary in central Africa. Stanley delivered his now famous greeting: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

1879 - Western Union and the National Bell Telephone Company reached a settlement over various telephone patents.

1917 - 41 suffragists were arrested in front of the White House.

1919 - The American Legion held its first national convention, in Minneapolis, MN.

1928 - Michinomiya Hirohito was enthroned as Emperor of Japan.

1951 - Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began when Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, NJ, called his counterpart in Alameda, CA.

1954 - The Iwo Jima Memorial was dedicated in Arlington, VA.

1957 - 102,368 people attended the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams game. The crowd was the largest regular-season crowd in NFL history.

1969 - "Sesame Street" made its debut on PBS.

1970 - The Great Wall of China opened for tourism.

1975 - The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution that equated Zionism with racism. The resolution was repealed in December of 1991.

1975 - The Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore-hauling ship, and its crew of 29 vanished during a storm in Lake Superior.

1976 - The Utah Supreme Court gave approval for Gary Gilmore to be executed, according to his wishes. The convicted murderer was put to death the following January.

1977 - The Major Indoor Soccer League was officially organized in New York City.

1980 - CBS News anchor Dan Rather claimed he had been kidnapped in a cab. It turned out that Rather had refused to pay the cab fare.

1982 - Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev died of a heart attack at age 75. He was suceeded by Yuri V. Andropov.

1984 - The U.S. Postal Service issues a commemorative stamp of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1986 - Camille Sontag and Marcel Coudari, two Frenchmen were released by the captors that held them in Lebanon.

1988 - The U.S. Department of Energy announced that Texas would be the home of the atom-smashing super-collider. The project was cancelled by a vote of the U.S. Congress in Oct. 1993.

1990 - Chandra Shekhar was sworn in as India's new prime minister.

1991 - Robert Maxwell was buried in Israel, five days after his body was recovered off the Canary Islands.

1993 - John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted on the charge of marital sexual assault against his wife who sexually mutilated him. Lorena Bobbitt was later acquitted of malicious wounding her husband.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Brady Bill, which called for a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

1994 - U.S. officials that it planned to stop enforcing the arms embargo against the Bosnian government the following week. The U.N. Security Council was opposed to lifting the ban.

1994 - Iraq recognized Kuwait's borders in the hope that the action would end trade sanctions.

1995 - Nigeria's military rulers hanged playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa along with several other anti-government activists.

1995 - In Katmandu, Nepal, searchers rescued 549 hikers after a massive avalanche struck the Himalayan foothills. The disaster left 24 tourists and 32 Nepalese dead.

1996 - Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins) became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 50,000 yards.

1997 - WorldCom Inc. acquired MCI Communication Corporation. It was the largest merger in U.S. history valued at $37 billion.

1997 - A jury in Virginia convicted Mir Aimal Kasi of the murder of two CIA employees in 1993.

1997 - A judge in Cambridge, MA, reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to manslaughter and sentenced the English au pair to time served. She had served 279 days in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

1998 - At the White House, U.S. Vice President Al Gore unveiled "The Virtual Wall" website that enables visitors to experience The Wall through the Internet.

2001 - The musical "Lady Diana - A Smile Charms the World" opened in Germany.

1965: Rhodesia breaks from UK

The Rhodesian Government, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, illegally severs its links with the British Crown.

Woman minister celebrates the news 1992: Church of England votes for women priests
The Church of England's parliament votes by a narrow margin to allow women to be ordained as priests.

Dr Agostinho Neto 1975: Divided Angola gets independence
The southern African state of Angola gains its independence from former colonial power Portugal.

Group of pensioners arriving at Central Hall 1954: Pensioners demand more money
Thousands of elderly people take part in a rally in London calling for an increase in their pensions.

Vincent van Gogh self-portrait 1987: Van Gogh fetches record price
A painting by Vincent Van Gogh is sold for $49m (£27m) - a world record for a work of art.

1620 - The Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower when they landed in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The compact called for "just and equal laws.

1831 - Nat Turner, a slave and educated minister, was hanged in Jerusalem, VA, after inciting a violent slave uprising.

1851 - The refracting telescope was patented by Alvan Clark.

1868 - The first indoor amateur track and field meet was held by the New York Athletic Club.

1880 - Australian outlaw and bank robber Ned Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne jail at age 25.

1887 - Labor Activists were hanged in Illinois after being convicted of being connected to a bombing that killed eight police officers.

1889 - Washington became the 42nd state of the Union.

1918 - World War I came to an end when the Allies and Germany signed an armistice. This day became recognized as Veteran's Day in the United States.

1918 - Poland was reestablished under the the Treaty of Versailles.

1920 - The body of an unknown British soldier was buried in Westminster Abbey. The service was recorded with the first electronic recording process developed by Lionel Guest and H.O. Merriman.

1921 - The Tomb of the Unknowns was dedicated at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia by U.S. President Harding.

1938 - Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on network radio.

1940 - The Jeep made its debut.

1942 - During World War II, Germany completed its occupation of France.

1946 - The New York Knickerbockers (now the Knicks) played their first game at Madison Square Garden.

1952 - The first video recorder was demonstrated by John Mullin and Wayne Johnson in Beverly Hills, CA.

1965 - The government of Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain. The country later became known as Zimbabwe.


1966 - The U.S. launched Gemini 12 from Cape Kennedy, FL. The craft circled the Earth 59 times before returning.

1972 - The U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Bihn to the South Vietnamese army. The event symbolized the end of direct involvement in the Vietnam War by the U.S. military.

1975 - Civil war broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal.

1981 - Stuntman Dan Goodwin scaled the outside of the 100-story John Hancock Center in Chicago in about six hours.

1984 - The Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. died in Atlanta at age 84.

1984 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan accepted the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a gift to the nation from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

1986 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merged to form "Unisys," becoming the second largest computer company.

1987 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises" was sold for a then record 53.9 million dollars in New York.

1991 - The U.S. stationed its first diplomat in Cambodia in 16 years to help the nation arrange democratic elections.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin told U.S. senators in a letter that Americans had been held in prison camps after World War II. Some were "summarily executed," but others were still living in his country voluntarily.

1992 - The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.

1993 - Walt Disney Co. announced plans to build a U.S. history theme park in a Virginia suburb of Washington. The plan was halted later due to local opposition.

1993 - In Washington, DC, a bronze statue was dedicated honoring the more than 11,000 women who had served in the Vietnam War.

1994 - In Gaza, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at an Israeli military checkpoint killing three soldiers.

1996 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund unveiled "The Wall That Heals." The work was a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that would tour communities throughout the United States.

1997 - The Eastman Kodak Company announced that they were laying off 10,000 employees.

1997 - Roger Clemens (Toronto Blue Jays) became the third major league player to win the Cy Young Award four times.

1998 - Jay Cochrane set a record for the longest blindfolded skywalk. He walked on a tightrope between the towers of the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, NV. The towers are 600 feet apart.


1998 - Israel's Cabinet ratified a land-for-peace agreement with the Palestinians.

2002 - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates pledged $100 million to fight AIDS in India.

1982: Solidarity leader Walesa released

The Polish government frees the leader of the outlawed Solidarity movement, Lech Walesa, after 11 months of internment.

1984: Quid notes out - pound coins in
The English pound note is to disappear after more than 150 years.

1954: New York's Ellis Island closes
New York's main immigration point, Ellis Island, shuts its doors after 62 years.

Ronnie Biggs 1997: 'Great Train Robber' escapes extradition again
The so-called 'Great Train Robber', Ronnie Biggs, celebrates after Brazil rejects a British request to extradite him.

Some of the planespotters being taken to court 2001: Greece holds plane-spotting 'spies'
The Greek authorities are to carry out further inquiries in the case of 12 British plane-spotters being held on spying charges.

1799 - Andrew Ellicott Douglass witnesses the Leonids meteor shower from a ship off the Florida Keys.

1815 - American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, NY.

1840 - Sculptor Auguste Rodin was born in Paris. His most widely known works are "The Kiss" and "The Thinker."

1859 - The first flying trapeze act was performed by Jules Leotard at Cirque Napoleon in Paris, France. He was also the designer of the garment that is named after him.

1892 - William "Pudge" Heffelfinger became the first professional football player when he was paid a $500 bonus for helping the Allegheny Athletic Association beat the Pittsburgh Athletic Club.

1915 - Theodore W. Richards, of Harvard University, became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

1918 - Austria was declared an independent republic only one day after the end of World War I.

1920 - Judge Keneshaw Mountain Landis was elected the first commissioner of the American and National Leagues.

1921 - Representatives of nine nations gathered for the start of the Washington Conference for Limitation of Armaments.

1927 - Joseph Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union. Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party leading to Stalin coming to power.

1931 - Maple Leaf Gardens opened in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was to be the new home of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League (NHL).

1933 - In Philadelphia, the first Sunday football game was played.

1940 - Walt Disney released "Fantasia."

1942 - During World War II, naval battle of Guadalcanal began between Japanese and American forces. The Americans won a major victory.

1944 - During World War II, the German battleship "Tirpitz" was sunk off the coast of Norway.

1946 - The first drive-up banking facility opened at the Exchange National Bank in Chicago, IL.

1948 - The war crimes tribunal sentenced Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and six other World War II Japanese leaders to death.

1953 - The National Football League (NFL) policy of blacking out home games was upheld by Judge Allan K. Grim of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

1954 - Ellis Island, the immigration station in New York Harbor, closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since 1892.

1964 - Paula Murphy set the female land speed record 226.37 MPH.

1972 - Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, became the first NFL head coach to win 100 regular season games in 10 seasons.

1975 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas retired because of failing health, ending a record 36½-year term.

1979 - U.S. President Carter ordered a halt to all oil imports from Iran in response to 63 Americans being taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran on November 4.

1980 - The U.S. space probe Voyager I came within 77,000 miles of Saturn while transmitting data back to Earth.

1982 - Yuri V. Andropov was elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.

1984 - Space shuttle astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared the Palapa B-2 satellite in history's first space salvage.

1985 - In Norfolk, VA, Arthur James Walker was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a spy ring run by his brother, John A. Walker Jr.

1987 - The American Medical Association issued a policy statement that said it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.

1990 - Japanese Emperor Akihito formally assumed the Chrysanthemum Throne.

1991 - In the U.S., Robert Gates was sworn in as CIA director.

1995 - The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

1997 - Four Americans and their Pakistani driver were shot to death in Karachi, Pakistan. The Americans were oil company employees.

1997 - The UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iraq for constraints being placed on UN arms inspectors.

1997 - Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

1998 - Daimler-Benz completed a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler AG.

2001 - American Airlines flight 587 crashed just minutes after take off from Kennedy Airport in New York. The Airbus A300 crashed into the Rockaway Beach section of Queens. All 260 people aboard were killed.

2001 - It was reported that the Northern Alliance had taken the Kabul, Afghanistan, from the ruling Taliban. The Norther Alliance at this point was reported to have control over most of the northern areas of Afghanistan.

1985: Volcano kills thousands in Colombia

About 20,000 people are feared dead after a volcanic eruption in northern Colombia.

1995: Ecstasy pill puts party girl in coma
An 18-year-old student is on a life-support machine after taking an ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party.

Consultant George Wynn-Williams 1969: Quintuplets born at London hospital
Britain's first live quintuplets born this century make satisfactory progress at Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital in London.

Man reading new Times edition at train station 1979: Times returns after year-long dispute
The Times newspaper is published for the first time in nearly a year.

1775 - During the American Revolution, U.S. forces captured Montreal.

1789 - Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to a friend in which he said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

1805 - Johann George Lehner, a Viennese butcher, invented a recipe and called it the "frankfurter."

1850 - Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is best known for Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

1909 - 250 miners were killed in a fire and explosion at the St. Paul Mine at Cherry, IL.

1927 - The Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.

1933 - In Austin, MN, the first sit-down labor strike in America took place.

1940 - The Walt Disney movie "Fantasia" had its world premiere at New York's Broadway Theater.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.

1956 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.

1971 - The U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars.

1977 - The comic strip "Li'l Abner" by Al Capp appeared in newspapers for the last time.

1982 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

1984 - A libel suit against Time, Inc. by former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon went to trial in New York.

1985 - About 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a gigantic mudslide buried the city. The slide was triggered by a mild eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly acknowledged that the U.S. had sent "defensive weapons and spare parts" to Iran. He denied that the shipments were sent to free hostages, but that they had been sent to improve relations.

1991 - Roger Clemens won his third Cy Young Award for the American League.

1994 - In San Francisco, CA, a heavily armed gunman traded fire with police, hitting two police officers, a paramedic and another person before being killed.

1994 - Sweden voted to join the European Union.

1995 - Greg Maddox (Altlanta Braves) became the first major league pitcher to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards.

1995 - Seven people, including five Americans are killed in a car bomb attack at a U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

1997 - Iraq expelled six UN arms inspectors that are U.S. citizens.

1998 - "The Wizard of Oz" was released on the big screen by Warner Bros. 59 years after its original release.

1998 - Monica Lewinsky signed a deal with St. Martin's Press for the North American rights to her story about her affair with U.S. President Bill Clinton.

1998 - U.S. President Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000, without an apology or admission of guilt, to throw out her sexual harassment lawsuit.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed an executive order that would allow for military tribunals to try any foreigners captured with connections to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. It was the first time since World War II that a president had taken such action.

1991: US accuses Libyans of Lockerbie bombing

America demands Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi hand over Libyan intelligence officers indicted over the Lockerbie bombing.

Firefighters holding banner 1977: Firefighters strike over pay claim
Firefighters claim widespread support for their first national strike, over a 30% pay demand.

1973: Crowds cheer marriage of Princess Anne
The wedding of the Queen's only daughter, Princess Anne, takes place at Westminster Abbey.

Fuel tax protesters in Hyde Park, London 2000: Fuel protesters rally for tax cut
Convoys of lorries and tractors have converged on London and Edinburgh to mark the 60-day deadline for government action to cut fuel tax.