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This Day in History:

OCTOBER 8

Happy, Happies to:

*1869 J Frank Duryea, inventor (First auto built & operated in US)

*1890 Eddie [Edward Vernon] Rickenbacker aviator

*1895 Juan Domingo Peron President of Argentina

*1920 Frank Herbert, science-fiction writer (Dune)

*1949 Sigourney [Susan] Weaver actress

*1970 Matt Damon actor

Farewells to:

*1656 John George I, ruler of Saxony (1611-56, Peace of Prague), one of the key players in the Thirty years War, died at 71

*1754 Henry Fielding, English lawyer/author (Tom Jones), died at 47

*1793 John Hancock, US merchant/signer (Declaration of Independence), died at 56

*1953 Nigel Bruce, actor (Son of Lassie, Spider Woman), died of a heart attack at 58

*1982 Fernando Lamas, actor/director (Lost World), died of cancer at 67

On This Day In:

*1806 - British forces laying siege to the French port of Boulogne used Congreve rockets, invented by Sir William Congreve, the first British use of rocket-propelled missiles.

*1856 - Chinese police boarded the British vessel Arrow, arrested 12 Chinese crewmen on suspicion of piracy and lowered the British flag. The incident led to the second Anglo-Chinese War.

*1862 - Battle of Perryville, KY-Confederate invasion halted

*1871 - The Great Fire of Chicago broke out. According to legend, a cow kicked over a lantern in Mrs. O'Leary's barn. The fire destroyed more than 17,000 buildings and left about 100,000 people homeless. An estimated 250 people died.

*1906 - Karl Ludwig Nessler, demonstrated the first "permanent wave" for hair, in his beauty salon in Oxford Street, London, to an invited audience of hair stylists.

*1896 - Dow Jones starts reporting an average of selected industrial stocks

*1908 - In a make-up game necessitated by Fred Merkle's base running blunder on September 23, Three Finger Brown out-duelled Christy Mathewson, 4-2, as the Cubs win the National League pennant by one game over the Giants in one of the most dramatic pennant races of all time.

*1912 - Montenegro declared war on Turkey, beginning the First Balkan War.

*1915 - The Battle of Loos, one of the fiercest of the First World War, ended with virtually no gains for either side. Almost 430,000 French, British and Germans were casualties. The British used poison gas for the first time in the battle.

*1918 - Sergeant 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 United States began.

*1929 - The first in-flight movie is shown (a newsreel & 2 cartoons on Transcontinental Air Transport)

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

*1939 - In the top of the tenth, Yankees' outfielder Joe DiMaggio scored all the way from first as Reds' catcher Ernie Lombardi lay in a daze at home plate as a result of being run over by 'King Kong' Charlie Keller. The Bronx Bombers score three runs thanks to ‘Lombardi's Swoon’ and go on to win the game, 7-4, completing the World Series sweep.

*1944 - The first radio broadcast of the series "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" was heard. The show revolved around the lives of the Nelson family, a real middle class family. The popular radio show aired for nearly 10 years, before, in 1952, the television version started to air.

*1956 - Don Larson pitched a perfect game on this date during the New York Yankees vs the Brooklyn Dodgers World Series game.

*1957 - Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song Great Balls Of Fire.

*1958 – Gene Barry starred in Bat Masterson on NBC

*1958 - Dr Åke Senning implanted the first internal heart pacemaker.

*1970 - The Nobel Prize for Literature was won by Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

*1993 - The United States government issued a report absolving the FBI of any wrongdoing in its final assault in Waco, Texas, on the Branch Davidian compound. The fire that ended the seige killed as many as 85 people.

*1993 - The United Nations General Assembly lifted almost all its remaining economic sanctions against South Africa, begun in the 1960s and built up in subsequent years because of Pretoria's policy of racial apartheid.

This Day in History:

OCTOBER 9

Happy, Happies to:

*1547 Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (Don Quixote)

*1859 Alfred Dreyfus, accused Jewish French officer (Dreyfus Affair)

*1860 Leonard Wood American medical officer and governor general of the Philippines (1921-7)

*1890 Aimee Semple McPherson, evangelist (Pentecostal)/radio preacher

*1899 Bruce Catton, US, historian/writer (Civil War)

*1903 Walter Francis O’Malley baseball executive -- the most hated man in Brooklyn, NY (he moved the Dodges out of town)

*1940 John Lennon singer

*1944 John Entwistle musician, bassist (The Who)

*1948 Jackson Browne songwriter, singer

*1953 Tony Shalhoub actor (Monk)

Farewells to:

*1918 Mikhail V Alekseyev, Russian general (WW I), murdered at 60

*1967 [Ernesto] Che Guevara [Serna], Argentina, erstwhile Cuban revolutionary, was executed by Bolivian soldiers

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

*1987 Clare Boothe Luce - playwright, editor, diplomat, and politician - died at age 83.

*1988 Felix Wankel, developer of Wankel rotary engine, died

On This Day In:

*1635 - Religious dissident Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

*1701 - The Collegiate School of Connecticut -- later Yale University -- was chartered in New Haven.

*1776 - A group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco.

*1799 - The British frigate HMS Lutine sank off the Dutch coast. The ship's bell was salvaged and later mounted in the underwriters' room of Lloyd's of London. The bell is tolled on receipt of important news such as a ship sinking.

*1855 - Isaac Singer of New York patented the sewing machine motor.

*1855 - Joshua C. Stoddard of Worcester, Massachusetts patented the calliope. The inventor originally sold the colorful, noisy instrument which produces 135 decibels, compared to the 100 decibels of sound produced by a jet plane at takeoff, to churches. Sales took off when Stoddard sold the instrument to circuses and steamboat operators.

*1870 - Rome was incorporated into Italy by royal decree.

*1872 - The first mail order catalog, only one page long, was delivered. It was sent out by Aaron Montgomery Ward of Montgomery Ward catalog and department stores.

*1876 - The first two-way telephone conversation is made over outdoor, above-ground wires, using existing telegraph wires (the two persons who made the first phone call, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, speak ot each other between Cambridge and Boston Massachusetts)

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

*1895 - The first "magic lantern" slide show opens (projecting about five slides per second, it is almost a moving picture)

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

*1915 - Austrian and German forces captured Belgrade.

*1934 - Commissioner Landis makes Cardinal Joe Medwick leave Game 7 of the World Series for 'his own safety'. The Tiger fans are upset with his aggressive slide into third and the angry mob begins hurling fruit at the St. Louis outfielder during the Cards 11-0 series-clinching win.

*1946 - In Petersburg, Virginia, the first electric blanket went on sale for $39.50.

*1953 - Marion and George Kirby, played by Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling with Leo G. Carroll as lead character Cosmo Topper debuted on CBS-TV. Topper was the first of the "spirit" shows of the day. Marion and George died with their St. Bernard, Neil, in an avalanche on a skiing vacation. The three returned to their home which was now occupied by Topper. The adventures of the ghosts and Topper were chaotic and fun to watch. The story was loosely based on Thorne Smith's writings.

*1956 – A young, gamer-in-waiting (yours truly) journeyed to Ebbets Field to watch the Dodgers defeat the Yankees 1-0 in ten innings. Bob Turley walked Duke Snider intentionally to get to Jackie Robinson in the bottom of the tenth (can you imagine anyone trying to intentionally pitch to Robinson?) Robinson hit one off the left-field wall, driving in Jr. Gilliam, sending this eight-year old Yankee-hater home happy.

*1960 - The shortest touchdown pass in NFL history, at 2 inches, occurred on this date at Washington, D.C., when Eddie LeBaron of Dallas threw to Dick Bielski.

*1975 - Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Regarded as the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, he contributed perhaps more than anyone else to the military might of the Soviet Union.

*1980 - The hit comedy film, Private Benjamin, starring Goldie Hawn, was released to United States theaters.

*1980 - First consumer use of home banking by computer (Knoxville Tn)

*2008 – Today is Moldy Cheese Day in the US

This Day in History:

OCTOBER 10

Happy, Happies to:

*1813 Giuseppe Fortunio Francesco Verdi Italian composer (La Traviata, Aida)

*1825 Paul Kruger South African President (fomented the Boer War)

*1892 Earle Dickson, Inventor of Band-aids. Finding his wife prone to kitchen accidents - cuts or burns - Dickson frequently was dressing her small wounds with cotton gauze and adhesive tape. After a number of these accidents, Earle devised a way she could easily apply her own dressings. He prepared ready-made bandages by placing squares of cotton gauze at intervals along an adhesive strip and covering them with crinoline. Now all his wife had to do was cut off a length of the strip and wrap it over her cut.

*1900 Helen Hayes [Brown], actress

*1917 Thelonious Sphere Monk composer, pianist

*1924 James du Maresq Clavell author

*1924 Ed Wood, director

*1926 Richard Jaeckel ubiquitous character actor

*1930 Harold Pinter playwright

*1946 John Prine singer, songwriter

Farewells to:

*1659 Able J Tasman, navigator/discovered (Tasmania, NZ), died at about 56

*1980 William "Buckwheat" Thomas, actor (Little Rascals), died at 49. Thomas starred at the age of three and later became a film technician with Technicolor.

*1985 Orson Welles, actor/director (Citizen Kane), died of a heart attack at 70

*1985 Yul Brynner, [Taidje Khan], actor (King & I), died of cancer at 65

*1991 Redd Foxx, comedian (Sanford & Sons), finally had “the Big One,” dying of a heart attack at 68. Foxx had a career as comedian (in)famous for his off-color material.

On This Day In:

*732 - Following an invasion of France by Abd-er-Rahman and a force of 65,000 Saracens, Charles Martel and a force of Frankish infantry defeated the invaders at the battle of Tours.

*1733 - France declared war on Austrian Emperor Charles VI after Augustus III was elected in Poland instead of the French preferred candidate Stanislav Leszczynski.

*1739 – The War of Jenkins’ Ear began.

*1845 – The Naval School (now called US Naval Academy) opened at Annapolis

*1865 - John Wesley Hyatt patented the billiard ball was patented. Hyatt won $10,000 in a contest as the first person to invent a substitute for commonly used ivory ball.

*1886 - Griswold Lorillard, of Lorillard tobacco fame, wore a tailored-in-England, tailless dress coat to the Tuxedo Club in New York City. The club donated its name to create the tuxedo. The tux would replace the tailcoat.

*1911 - After a bomb exploded in Wuchang, Central China, a massive revolt by soldiers and civilians alike against the Manchu dynasty took place. Although the Manchu dynasty was officially overthrown several months later, the Wuchang uprising is honored as the Republic of China's National Day. Sun Yat-sen is considered the founding father of the Republic of China.

*1920 - Indians' Bill Wambsganss became the only player in World Series history to complete an unassisted triple play as he makes a leaping catch, steps on second base and then tags the runner arriving from first base. In the same game, Elmer Smith became the first player to hit a grand slam in World Series history as the Indians defeated the Dodgers and Burleigh Grimes, 8-1. In the same game, Bagby became the first pitcher to hit a home run in World Series history.

*1933 - The first synthetic detergent, Dreft, went on sale. Ten years later Dreft would be the sponsor of "The Dreft Star Playhouse".

*1935 - George Gershwin's American opera, Porgy and Bess, opened in New York City on Broadway, and it received rave reviews from the critics.

*1954 - Ho Chi Minh entered Hanoi after French troops pulled out of the city following Armistice terms.

*1957 - Zorro, starring Guy Williams as Don Diego de la Vega, premiered on ABC,

*1958 - 77 Sunset Strip debuted on ABC. Starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr and Roger Smith, it also featured Edward Byrnes as the then-coolest character on TV: Kookie.

*1962 - The BBC banned the song Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett.

*1964 – The Shangri-Las released Leader Of The Pack.

*1972 - On this date, The Washington Post, in articles by reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, uncovered a massive effort on the part of CREEP, Committee for the Reelection of the President, to disrupt the Democratic campaign. Their activities and findings were later immortalized in the film All The President's Men.

*1973 - United States Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with tax evasion.

*1985 - United States fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane to land in Italy, where the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro were arrested.

*1986 - A tiny asteroid, Asteroid 3753, was found orbitting the Earth - a body in addition to the Moon - by J. D. Waldron at Siding Spring Observatory. It was called Cruithne, (pronounced "Croo-een-ya") after Celtic tribes who came to Britain between about 880 and 500 BC. It is pulled alternately by the Sun and Earth. When viewed from the Earth, its 770-year orbit appears to be horseshoe shaped, but this is an effect of viewing an orbit from a rotating planet. It actually passes closer to the Earth than the Moon. At its closest approach it only gets to within about 15 million km (9 million miles) of our planet

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

*1995 - Israel began its West Bank pullback and freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under a deal with the Palestine Liberation Organization; some inmates refused to go in solidarity with others left behind.

*2008 - National Angel Food Cake Day in the US

This Day in History:

OCTOBER 11

Happy, Happies to:

* 1820 Alfred Washington Ellet, Union Brigadier General who commanded a fleet

*1844 Henry John Heinz catsup & pickle mogul

*1884 [Anna] Eleanor Roosevelt humanitarian, diplomat, wife of 32nd U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt

*1918 Jerome Robbins [Rabinowitz] director

*1919 Art Blakey musician

*1925 Elmore John Leonard, Jr author

Farewells to:

*1424 Jan Zizka, Hussite army leader, died of the plague at 46

*1779 Casimir Pulaski was killed fighting for American independence at the battle of Savannah, Georgia.

*1809 Meriwether Lewis, (Lewis & Clark Expedition), committed suicide at 35

*1889 James Prescott JouleEnglish physicist, inventor, he formed the basis of the law of conservation of energy, the first law of thermodynamics

*1961 Leonard "Chico" Marx, comedian (Marx Brothers), died at 74

*1963 Edith Piaf, French torch-song singer, died at 47

On This Day In:

*1521 - Pope Leo X gave King Henry VIII of England the title of "Defender of the Faith" following the publication of his book against Martin Luther.

*1776 - Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, with a force of 15 gunboats, attempted to block the British from New York at the battle of Valcour Island. The British under Carleton pursued Arnold over two days after which practically all Arnold's ships were destroyed.

*1797 - A Dutch fleet was defeated by the British off Camperdown, Holland.

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

*1887 - A patent for the adding machine was granted to Dorr Eugene Felt of Chicago, Illinois. His Comptometer was the first practical key-driven calculator with sufficient speed, reliablility and economic benefit.

*1899 - The Anglo-Boer War between the British Empire and the South African Boers of Transvaal and Orange Free State began. Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of southern Africa. The war, which began because Great Britain was interested in the gold mines located in the Boer republics, ended with a British victory in 1902. During the Anglo-Boer War, the first attempted use of wireless telegraphy took place.

*1936 - The radio show, "Professor Quiz", aired for the first time. The first national quiz show on radio, it stayed on air until 1948. Contestants asked Professor Quiz, Dr. Craig Earl, questions to see if they could stump him. If they could, they won a $25 prize. Announcers for "Professor Quiz" were Robert Trout and Arthur Godfrey. Sponsors included Kelvinator refrigerators, Teel Shampoo and Velvet pipe tobacco.

*1939 - Albert Einstein and other United States scientists outlined to President Roosevelt the possibilities of developing an atomic bomb.

*1939 - On Bluebird Records, Body and Soul, was recorded by jazz great Coleman Hawkins. It can still be found today on CD compilations.

*1942 – The Battle of Cape Esperance commenced. A force of American cruisers attempted to intercept the Tokyo Express. Despite a tactical victory, the Japanese supply convoy got through.

*1944 - The murder-romantic classic, Laura, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price, opened in United States theaters. Based on the Vera Caspary novel, the film also featured David Raksin's haunting theme. Rouben Mamoulian started directing the film, then Otto Preminger took over. Joseph LaShelle's lush black-and-white cinematography earned an Oscar.

*1962 - McHales Navy debuted on ABC.

*1968 - The United States launched Apollo 7, the first manned space mission to transmit live television broadcasts from orbit.

*1975 - With George Carlin acting as its first guest host, the late-night comedy show, Saturday Night Live, made its debut. The cast included: Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and the voice of Don Pardo. "SNL", with its changing cast, would remain the highest rated late-night show ever.

*1976 - After the death of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, Mao's widow Jiang Qing and three others, dubbed the "Gang of Four," were arrested and charged with plotting a coup. The four were put on trial in 1980 on charges of subverting the government and torturing innocent people. Jiang Qing was found guilty and sentenced to death - a sentence later commuted to life imprisonment. She died in 1991 and is thought to have committed suicide.

*1982 - The ``Mary Rose,'' once Henry VIII's flagship, was raised from the Solent, off southern England.

*1983 - The Last hand-cranked telephones in the U.S. go out of service as 440 telephone customers in Bryant Pond Maine are switched over to direct-dial

1991 - Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, law professor Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas reappeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching."

*2008 - It's My Party Day in the US.

This Day in History:

OCTOBER 12

Happy, Happies to:

*1815 William Joseph Hardee, Lt Gen (Confederate Army)

*1860 Elmer Ambrose Sperry American electrical engineer and inventor of the gyrocompass. In 1908, he patented the active gyrostabilizer which acted to stop a ship's roll as soon as it started. He patented the first gyrocompass designed expressly for the marine environment in 1910. This "spinning wheel" gyro was a significant improvement over the traditional magnetic compass of the day and changed the course of naval history.

*1875 Aleister [Edward S] Crowley, British occultist

*1932 Dick [Richard Claxton] Gregory comedian, author, civil rights activist

*1935 Samuel Moore singer (Sam & Dave)

*1935 Luciano Pavarotti tenor opera singer

Farewells to:

*1694 Matsuo Basho, noted Japanese haiku poet, died

*1870 Robert E Lee, General of Confederate Army, died at 63

*1915 Edith Cavell was shot for helping allied soldiers escape from German occupied Brussels during World War I

*1924 Anatole France [Anatole François Thibault] French writer ("We have medicines to make women speak; we have none to make them keep silence." )

*1940 Tom Mix, a United States film actor in the silent era, was killed in a car crash in Arizona. He had become a huge success and the silent cinema's most popular cowboy star

*1946 ”Vinegar Joe” Stillwell controversial US general

*1989 Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends), died at 79

*1997 John Denver, age 53, was killed when his plane crashed into the oceans of Monterey Bay, California. He was the pilot and only passenger. An accomplished pilot, Denver had just bought the small, single-engine experimental plane, and this was his first flight in it.

*1999 Wilt Chamberlain died at his Los Angeles home at age 63

On This Day In:

*1492 - Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World. His crew landed in the Bahamas after a 33-day voyage from the Canary Islands, initially believing they had found Asia.

*1518 - After proceedings began against Martin Luther for heresy, he was summoned to the Diet of Augsburg and in theological discussions on this day with Cardinal Cajetan, Luther refused to recant his views.

*1609 - Children's rhyme "Three Blind Mice," was published in London

*1702 - As part of the War of the Spanish Succession, Admiral Rooke, with 30 British ships defeated the Spanish at the battle of Vigo Bay and seized 11 ships full of treasure.

*1810 - Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The festivities became an annual event and evolved into the present-day Oktoberfest celebration of beer and bratwurst.

*1822 - Brazil formally became independent of Portugal.

*1823 - Charles Macintosh of Scotland began selling raincoats (Macs)

*1862 - JEB Stuart completed his "2nd ride around McClellan"

*1920 - The leading money winner of race horses, Man o' War ran for the last time. He beat Sir Barton in Canada’s Kenilworth Park bringing his career earnings to nearly $250,000.

*1920 - Construction of the Holland Tunnel began. The tunnel would provide a direct path from Twelfth Street in Jersey City, New Jersey to Canal Street in New York. The tunnel includes two tubes over 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) long. On November 13, 1927, it opened to traffic. It was named for the civil engineer who died directing the tunnel’s construction, Clifford Milburn Holland (1883-1924).

*1928 - The first "iron lung" was used at Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts on a patient suffering from poliomyelitis.

*1933 - John Dillinger escaped from the Allen County Ohio jail

*1942 - The U.S. Navy defeated the Japanese in the WW II Battle of Cape Esperance

*1950 - To investigate interstate organized crime, the Kefauver Crime Commission convened in New York. The next year, television coverage showed Frank Costello’s hands for a very long time, as he told Senator Estes Kefauver’s committee he would refuse to testify on television if his face was shown. So lucky viewers got to watch his hands instead.

*1950 - The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show debuted on CBS. It was one of the few radio shows to move successfully to television, and it was on the air for eight seasons. Burns and Allen, married in real life, portrayed a married couple who are entertainers. The show, which showcased Allen's comic gifts as a scatterbrain and Burns's laid-back style as the straight man, also featured their real-life teenage son, Ronnie Burns.

*1960 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, angered during a debate on colonialism at the United Nations General Assembly, took off his shoe and pounded his desk with it several times.

*1964 - The Soviet Union launched Voskhod-1 into orbit around the Earth. It was the first spaceship to carry a multiple crew.

*1971 - Jesus Christ Superstar premiered on Broadway. The Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Weber collaboration became a hit, running on Broadway for 720 shows, and introducing several hit songs

*1983 - The last wringer-washer by Maytag was made. Maytag was one of the last companies to make the hand-operated washers.

*1986 - The Angels were one strike away from the World Series, when Dave Henderson, who had earlier watched Bobby Grich's fly ball bounce off the heel of his glove and over the center field fence to give California the lead, hit a two-run homer off of Donnie Moore on a 2-2 count putting the Red Sox ahead, 6-5; California would tie the game in the bottom of the frame, but Boston prevailed scoring the deciding run in the 11th inning on a Henderson sac fly. (Moore was so distraught over surrendering this home run that he later committed suicide)

*2000 - An explosion from a suicide bomb attack by terrorists blows a 40'x20' hole in the destroyer U.S.S. Cole while re-fueling at a port in Yemen (17 sailors were killed, 40 injured)

This Day in History:

OCTOBER 13

Happy, Happies to:

*1537 Jane Grey, Queen of England for 9 days

*1754 Molly Pitcher [Mary Hayes McCauley Ludwig] American heroine

*1853 Lillie Langtry, [Jersey Lily], vaudevillian actress

*1909 Art Tatum American jazz pianist

*1917 Burr Tillstrom puppeteer (Kukla, Fran, and Ollie)

*1925 Lenny Bruce comedian, social commentator

*1925 Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness of Kesteven [Roberts] Prime Minister of Great Britain.

*1941 Paul Simon songwriter, singer

*2324 Dr. Beverly Crusher, Starfleet medical officer (Star Trek: TNG)

Farewells to:

*54 Claudius I died after eating poisoned mushrooms given to him by his wife, the Empress Agrippina.

*1601 Tycho Brahe, astronomer, died in Prague

*1815 Joachim Murat, cavalry leader who was one of Napoleon's most famous marshals and became king of Naples from 1808, was captured and executed after trying to re-capture Naples.

*1974 Ed Sullivan, television and radio personality and a former newspaper columnist, died at age 73 in New York City. Sullivan was obsessed to be on the cutting-edge of entertainment, and despite his cement-faced, wooden appearance on television, was a superb judge of new talent. Sullivan was the first to showcase The Beatles in the United States in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show, which had the highest television viewership rating at that: an estimated 70 million. His Sunday night variety show was on the air for 23 years, and it won an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Variety Show.

*1995 Henry Roth, novelist (Call it Sleep), died at 89

*2002 Stephen E. Ambrose, author, died at age 66

On This Day In:

*1307 - In Paris, Philip IV of France had the Knights Templar arrested on charges of heresy and had their property seized. This is one explanation of the derivation of Friday the 13th being bad luck.

*1775 - The Second Continental Congress gave its country the go-ahead to acquire ships to form what is now the United States Navy.

*1792 - In Washington, D.C., George Washington laid the cornerstone of what was called the "President’s House". Not until 1888 was the name, "White House," adopted. Designed by James Hoban, the house would be three stories tall with over 100 rooms.

*1812 - British forces under Sir Isaac Brock defeated the Americans at the Battle of Queenston Heights, Ontario, helping to put an end to the United States attempt to invade Canada. Brock was killed in the battle.

*1843 - In order to help others like themselves, twelve Jewish German immigrants meet on New York’s Lower East Side to found what would become the B'nai B'rith ("Children of the Covenant"), a U.S. service organization uniting persons of the Jewish faith in service to their community and the world.

*1862 - Bismarck gave his "Blood & Iron" speech.

*1884 - Greenwich was established as the universal time meridian of longitude from which standard times throughout the world are calculated.

*1903 - Starting tonight, "Babes in Toyland" would run for 192 performances. Victor Herbert's operetta entertained all ages in New York City.

*1903 – Major league baseball’s first World Series was won by the Boston Americans, who defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates five games to three. (The world Series was not played in 1904 but resumed in 1905)

*1914 - Garrett Morgan invented and patented a gas mask, a breathing device consisting of a canvas hood placed over the head. A double tube extended from the hood and merged into a single tube at the back. The open end held a sponge soaked with water to filter out smoke and to cool incoming air. On 25 Jul 1916, Morgan made national news for using the gas mask to rescue several men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel beneath Lake Erie. After the rescue, Morgan's company received requests from fire departments around the country who wished to purchase the new masks. The Morgan gas mask was later refined for use by U.S. Army during World War I.

*1923 - The Turkish Grand National Assembly declared Ankara - formerly Angora - the capital of Turkey.

*1943 - Italy declared war on its former Axis partner Germany and the allied nations accepted the active cooperation of Italy.

*1950 - All About Eve opened across the country. A tremendous vehicle for over-4