1571 – Battle of Lepanto: Holy League of southern European nations destroy Ottoman fleet in significant loss off Western Greece
1737 – A cyclone causes 40 foot waves that are believed to have killed 300,000 in Calcutta, India
1763 – George III of Great Britain issues Proclamation of 1763, closing lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlement
1919 – KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines, established (oldest existing airline)
1959 – Far side of Moon seen for the 1st time, courtesy of USSR’s Luna 3 space probe
1963 – JFK signs ratification for nuclear test ban treaty
1985 – Members of the Palestine Liberation Front, a small faction headed by Abu Abbas within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), hijacked an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro.
2001 – The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan starts with an air assault and covert operations on the ground
2001 – Crude oil resumes flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline after workers welded shut a bullet hole that caused 260,000 US gallons of oil to spill out
2003 – American gubernatorial recall election is held in California. Governor Gray Davis is recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes governor.
2014 – Spanish nurse diagnosed with Ebola, the first case outside west Africa
2018 – Jodie Whittaker debuts in her first full episode as the 13th and first female Doctor Who on BBC television
2019 – Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology awarded to Peter Ratcliffe, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza for discovering how cells sense oxygen
Births & Deaths:
1934 – Playwright, poet, novelist, and essayist Amiri Baraka, who wrote of the experiences and anger of African Americans, was born
1952 – Russian politician Vladimir Putin, who served as president and prime minister of Russia, was born.
Film & TV:
1971 – “The French Connection” directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey premieres in the US (Academy Awards Best Picture 1972)
Music:
1959 – The romantic comedy Pillow Talk was released nationwide in the United States; it was the first of several on-screen pairings of actors Rock Hudson and Doris Day.
1982 – Musical “Cats” opens at Winter Garden Theater on Broadway NYC and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.
Sport:
2000 – Last ever competitive soccer match at Wembley Stadium, England defeated 1-0 by Germany, last goal scored by Liverpool’s Dietmar Hammann. Match is Tony Adams’ 60th at Wembley, the record for most appearances at the stadium.
