This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

October18

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.

1386 – Opening of Heidelberg University.

1540 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.

1648 – Boston Shoemakers form first American labor organization.

1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.

1851 – Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

1898 – The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

1929 – The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.

1945 – The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1945 – Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva "Evita" Duarte.

1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio.

1963 – Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat becomes the first cat launched into space.

Births

1785 – Thomas Love Peacock; 1919 – Anita O'Day; 1919 – Pierre Trudeau; 1921 – Jesse Helms; 1923 – Jessie Mae Hemphill; 1926 – Chuck Berry; 1926 – Klaus Kinski; 1927 – George C. Scott; 1928 – Keith Jackson; 1934 – Inger Stevens; 1935 – Peter Boyle; 1938 – Dawn Wells; 1939 – Mike Ditka; 1939 – Lee Harvey Oswald; 1945 – Huell Howser; 1946 – Howard Shore; 1947 – Joe Morton; 1950 – Wendy Wasserstein; 1951 – Pam Dawber; 1951 – Terry McMillan; 1952 – Chuck Lorre; 1954 – Arliss Howard; 1955 – David Twohy; 1956 – Martina Navratilova; 1958 – Thomas Hearns; 1960 – Jean-Claude Van Damme; 1960 – Erin Moran; 1961 – Wynton Marsalis; 1962 – Vincent Spano; 1984 – Lindsey Vonn; 1987 – Zac Efron

Deaths

1931 – Thomas Edison; 1966 – Elizabeth Arden; 1966 – S. S. Kresge; 1973 – Walt Kelly; 1982 – Bess Truman; 2008 – Dee Dee Warwick; 2013 – Tom Foley; 2013 – Bum Phillips