1580 Frances Drake completes circumnavigation of the world, sailing into Plymouth aboard the Golden Hind.
1687 Acropolis in Athens attacked by Venetian army trying to eject Turks, damaging the Parthenon.
1687 City council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange’s invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
1815 Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the Holy Alliance.
1901 Great Britain annexes the Ashanti Kingdom and places it under the governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana).
1918 Beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, more than 1 million American soldiers in the largest and most costly offensive of WWI.
1960 The first in a series of historic televised debates (seen by some 85 to 120 million viewers) between U.S. presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon was broadcast.
1965 Queen Elizabeth decorates the Beatles with Order of the British Empire
1980 Bomb attack on Octoberfest in Munich, 12 killed
1988 Polish communist party picks propaganda chief Rakowski as new PM
1994 Switzerland bans racist propaganda
1997 An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse
2014 World Health Organizations estimates that Ebola death toll has reached 3,091 – with Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone hit hardest
2020 108 pilot whales survive, while 350 die in Australia’s largest mass stranding at Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania
Births & Deaths:
2019 French politician Jacques Chirac, who served as president of France from 1995 to 2007, died at age 86.
Film & TV:
1968 “Oliver!” directed by Carol Reed and starring Mark Lester and Ron Moody premieres in London (Best Picture 1969).
Music:
1969 The Beatles release “Abbey Road” album.
Sport:
1983 Australia II wins America’s Cup yacht race – 1st non-US winner.
