UN
Day
World
Cities Day
Events
of the day
475 – Romulus Augustulus
is proclaimed Western Roman Emperor.
1517 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther
posts his 95 theses on the door of the Castle
Church in Wittenberg.
1587 – Leiden University Library opens its
doors after its founding in 1575.
1822 – Emperor Agustín de Iturbide attempts
to dissolve the Mexican Empire.
1861 – American Civil War: Citing failing
health, Union General Winfield Scott resigns
as Commander of the United States Army.
1863 – The Maori Wars resumes as British
forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan
Cameron begin their Invasion of the Waikato.
1864 – Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S.
state.
1876 – A monster cyclone ravages India,
resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
1913 – Dedication of the Lincoln Highway,
the first automobile road across United
States.
1913 – The Indianapolis Street Car Strike
and subsequent riot begins.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Beersheba
– "last successful cavalry charge in
history".
1918 – Banat Republic is founded
1923 – The first of 160 consecutive days
of 100 degrees Fahrenheit at Marble Bar,
Australia.
1924 – World Savings Day is announced in
Milan, Italy by the Members of the Association
at the 1st International Savings Bank Congress
(World Society of Savings Banks).
1926 – Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene
and peritonitis that developed after his
appendix ruptured.
1938 – Great Depression: In an effort to
restore investor confidence, the New York
Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program
aimed to upgrade protection for the investing
public.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of Britain
ends – the United Kingdom prevents a possible
German invasion.
1941 – After 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore
is completed.
1941 – World War II: The destroyer USS Reuben
James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near
Iceland, killing more than 100 United States
Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy
vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.
1941 – A fire in a clothing factory in Huddersfield,
England kills 49.
1943 – World War II: An F4U Corsair accomplishes
the first successful radar-guided interception.
1944 – Dr. jur. Erich Göstl, a member of
the Waffen SS, is awarded the Knight's Cross
of the Iron Cross, to recognise extreme
battlefield bravery, after losing his face
and eyes during the Battle of Normandy.
1954 – Algerian War of Independence: The
Algerian National Liberation Front begins
a revolt against French rule.
1956 – Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and
France begin bombing Egypt to force the
reopening of the Suez Canal.
1959 – Lee Harvey Oswald attempts to renounce
his American citizenship at the US Embassy
in Moscow, USSR.
1961 – In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's
body is removed from Lenin's Tomb.
1963 – An explosion at the Indiana State
Fair Coliseum (now Pepsi Coliseum) in Indianapolis
kills 74 people during an ice skating show.
The explosion also injures 400. A faulty
propane tank connection in a concession
stand is blamed.
1968 – Vietnam War October surprise: Citing
progress with the Paris peace talks, US
President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to
the nation that he has ordered a complete
cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery
bombardment of North Vietnam" effective
November 1.
1973 – Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape.
Three Provisional Irish Republican Army
members escape from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin,
Republic of Ireland aboard a hijacked helicopter
that lands in the exercise yard.
1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
is assassinated by two security guards.
Riots break out in New Delhi and nearly
10,000 Sikhs are killed.
1994 – An American Eagle ATR-72 crashes
in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in
icy weather, killing 68 passengers and crew.
1996 – A Fokker F100 operating as TAM Transportes
Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 crashes into
several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing
98 including 2 on the ground.
1997 – 19-year-old British au pair Louise
Woodward, convicted by a Cambridge, Massachusetts,
jury of second-degree murder the day before,
is sentenced to life in prison.
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis begins: Iraq
announces it would no longer cooperate with
United Nations weapons inspectors.
1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from
New York City to Cairo crashes off the coast
of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all
217 on-board.
1999 – Yachtsman Jesse Martin returns to
Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating
the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.
2000 – A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400
operating as Flight 006 collides with construction
equipment upon takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan
killing 79 passengers and four crew members.
2000 – A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes
after takeoff in Northern Angola killing
50.
2000 – Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the
first resident crew to the International
Space Station. The ISS has been continuously
crewed since.
2002 – A federal grand jury in Houston,
Texas indicts former Enron Corp. chief financial
officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire
fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and
obstruction of justice related to the collapse
of his ex-employer.
2003 – A bankruptcy court approves MCI's
reorganization plans, essentially clearing
the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy.
2003 – Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns as Prime
Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in
power.
Holidays
and observances
Allantide
(Cornwall, United Kingdom)
Christian Feast Day:
Abaidas (Coptic Church)
Quentin
Wolfgang of Regensburg
October 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Halloween (Ireland, Canada, United Kingdom,
United States and other places)
Reformation Day (Slovenia and Protestant
Church)
Samhain in the northern hemisphere, Beltane
in the southern hemisphere; begins on sunset
of October 31 (Gaels, Welsh people and Neopagans)
For details, contact Datacentre
