Friday, October 21

This Day In History

• 1797   The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, was launched in Boston's harbor.
  
• 1805   A British fleet commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson defeated a French and Spanish fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson, however, was killed.
  
• 1879   After 14 months of experimenting in Menlo Park, NJ, Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in producing a working prototype of the electric, incandescent lamp. It could burn for thirteen and a half hours.
  
• 1917   American soldiers first saw action in World War I on the front lines in France.
  
• 1944   U.S. troops captured the German city of Aachen during World War II.
  
• 1959   The Guggenheim Museum opened to the public in New York.
  
• 1966   More than 140 people, mostly children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and several houses in south Wales.
  
• 1967   Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C.
  
• 1971   President Richard M. Nixon nominated Lewis F. Powell and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  
• 1975   Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit a ball that struck the left field foul pole in Boston's Fenway Park for a home run, giving the Red Sox a 7-6 victory in 12 innings over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6 of the World Series.
  
• 1988   A federal grand jury in New York indicted former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife, Imelda, on charges of fraud and racketeering.
  
• 1997   Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997", was declared by "The Guinness Book of Records" to be the biggest-selling single record of all time. In 37 days, the single reached 31.8 million copies sold, eclipsing the previous record held by Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas". The Crosby song sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide -- in 55 years.
  
• 2001   Washington postal worker Thomas L. Morris Jr. died of inhaled anthrax; officials closed two postal facilities and began testing thousands of postal employees.
  
• 2002   A car packed with explosives pulled up to a bus in northern Israel during rush hour, igniting a massive fireball that killed 14 people along with two suicide attackers.
  
• 2003   Invoking a hastily-passed law, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ordered a feeding tube reinserted into Terry Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman at the center of a bitter right-to-die battle.
  
• 2003   The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding that Israel tear down a barrier jutting into the West Bank.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1772   Samuel Coleridge (poet: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan; died July 25, 1834)
  
• 1833   Alfred Nobel (chemist: invented dynamite; industrialist: revenues from his dynamite factories made Nobel a fortune; philanthropist: his will created the Nobel Prizes, awarded annually for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace; died Dec 10, 1896)
  
• 1956   Carrie Fisher (actress: Star Wars series; daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds)