On This Day In History
October 18th
1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock
1685 French King Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes cancelling rights of French Protestants
1867 Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million
1931 American gangster Al Capone convicted of tax evasion
1962 James Watson (US), Francis Crick (UK) and Maurice Wilkins (UK) win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in determining the structure of DNA [1]
Did You Know?
In a bar decorated with bird tail in Elmsford, New York, a customer requests a glassful of “those cock tails” from bartender Betsy Flanagan
Today in History in 1776
Would You Believe?
Count Bernard von Bulow becomes Chancellor of Germany, famous for first referring to Germany’s need for ‘place in the sun’ and global empire
Today in History in 1900
October 19th
202 BC Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending 2nd Punic War
1781 British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 pm, ending the US Revolutionary War
1926 Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers
1943 Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University in Pistcaway, New Jersey
1987 Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record
2015 US scientists from University of California find evidence life on earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million earlier than previously thought
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French C. Hopffer patents the automatic fire extinguisher in England
Today in History in 1722
Would You Believe?
Santos-Dumont proves airship manoeuverable by circling Eiffel Tower
Today in History in 1901
October 20th
1097 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade
1603 Chinese uprising in the Philippines fails after 23,000 killed
1803 US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase
1917 US suffragette Alice Paul begins a 7 month jail sentence for peacefully picketing in support of the women’s Suffrage (right to vote) Amendment at the White House in Washington, D.C.
1935 Communist forces end their Long March at Yan’an, in Shaanxi, China, bringing Mao Zedong to prominence
1944 US forces under General Douglas MacArthur return to the Philippines with the landing of the US 6th army on Leyte
2020 US Justice Department sues Google for illegal monopoly over search and search advertising
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Publication of “The Return of the King”, the 3rd and final volume of “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien by George Allen and Unwin in London
Today in History in 1955
Would You Believe?
A purported bigfoot is filmed at Bluff Creek by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin in Northern California
Today in History in 1967
October 21st
1805 Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson shot and killed during battle.
1854 Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War
1944 World War II: US troops capture Aachen, 1st large German city to fall
1948 UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons
1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet
1993 Failed military coup in Burundi, led by ex-President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, includes assassination President Ndadaye; 525,000 Hutus flee
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Explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet reach Cape Virgenes and become the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific Ocean
Today in History in 1520
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Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 min
Today in History in 1918
October 22nd
1633 Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Dutch East India Company defeated by Chinese Ming naval forces in southern Fujian sea
1721 Tsar Peter the Great becomes “All-Russian Imperator”
1879 Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb
1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide, creating 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich meridian
1907 Panic of 1907: A run on Knickerbocker Trust Company stock leads to US wide run on banks
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy addresses TV about Russian missile bases in Cuba and imposes a naval blockade on Cuba, beginning the missile crisis
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World’s first car dealer opens in London
Today in History in 1897
Would You Believe?
In Paris an express train overruns a buffer stop, crosses more than 30 meters of concourse before plummeting through a window at Gare Montparnasse
Today in History in 1895
October 23rd
42 BC Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus‘s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.
1911 1st aerial reconnaissance mission is flown by an Italian pilot over Turkish lines during the Italo-Turkish War
1942 During WWII, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt
1977 Paleontologist Elso Barghoorn announces discovery of a 3.4-billion year old one-celled fossil, one of the earliest life forms on Earth
1981 US national debt hits $1 trillion
2001 The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks
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Tornado (possible T8/F4) strikes the heart of London killing two and demolishing the wooden London Bridge (OS 17 Oct)
Today in History in 1091
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English newspaper “The Times” gives precise British positions in Crimea during Crimean War
Today in History in 1854
October 24th
1260 Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself
1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland’s independence recognized
1929 “Black Thursday”, start of stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
2008 “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
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Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion
Today in History in 1931
Would You Believe?
Alleged teleportation of Spanish soldier Gil Perez from the Philippines to Mexico
Today in History in 1593