Nikki
10-10-03, 10:26 AM
October 10th
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.
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.
1913 - United States President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, which ended the construction of the Panama Canal.
1918 - In World War I the Leinster, an Irish mail boat, was sunk by a German submarine on its way to Holyhead. At least 480 people were killed.
1928 - Broadway show "Hold Everything" opened. It gave us the phrase "You’re the Cream in My Coffee". It ran for 413 performances.
1930 - Three United States airlines merged to form Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA), later TransWorld Airlines.
1932 - Two of radio’s earliest soap operas were heard for the first time: "Judy and Jane", sponsored by Folger’s Coffee, and "Betty and Bob", sponsored by General Mills.
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.
1937 - The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood" with 48 sponsors sharing the cost of the program. Across the United States, it aired in 72 cities as the first Mutual co-op radio show. George Jessel and Norma Talmadge starred, and music was provided by the Tommy Tucker Orchestra.
1938 - Germany completed its occupation of the Sudetenland in taking part of Czechoslovakia.
1940 - On the Victor label, "Moonlight and Roses" by Lanny Ross was recorded.
1943 - Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as the president of China.
1954 - Ho Chi Minh entered Hanoi after French troops pulled out of the city following Armistice terms.
1956 - Elvis Presley's hit recording of Love Me Tender entered Billboard's popular record charts on this date, stayed on the charts for 19 weeks, and was Number 1 for 5 of those weeks. The song, from Presley's first film with the same title, was adapted from the tune Aura Lee, written in 1861.
1963 - Flooding from a burst dam in Italy left 3,000 people dead.
1965 - In the "Peanuts" comic strip, the Red Baron made his first appearance with the defender of good, Snoopy.
1970 - Neil Diamond's single, Cracklin' Rosie, hit Number 1 on Billboard's record charts, and stayed there a week.
1970 - Fiji, a British colony since 1874, became an independent member of the Commonwealth.
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.
1975 - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor married for the second time at a remote location in Botswana. They divorced the following year.
1977 - It was all over for Joe Namath, as he ended his playing career on ABC’s "Monday Night Football". That game saw his new team, the LA Rams, face the Chicago Bears.
1979 - The musical group, Fleetwood Mac, got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1982 - The United States imposed sanctions against Poland after the Polish government banned the Solidarity trade union.
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 - An estimated 1,500 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck San Salvador, El Salvador.
1993 - The New York Friars Club issued a formal apology to the press on this date regarding the racial jokes made by actor Ted Danson a few days earlier at a Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg. Danson appeared in minstrel black-face, with huge white lips painted over his own. While most of the club members laughed, including Goldberg, some in attendance felt that Danson's performance was in poor taste. Despite the criticism in the press, Goldberg publicly supported Danson's actions. Soon after the roast scandal died down, Danson and Goldberg broke up.
1993 - The Seohae, a ferry overloaded with 362 people, capsized off Puan county (135 miles south of Seoul). The boat was licensed to carry 292. The final death toll was 292. Seventy people survived.
1994 - Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras resigned as Haiti's commander-in-chief of the army and pledged to leave the country.
1995 - Gary Kasparov won a 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.
1997 - The International Campaign to Ban Landmines and American campaign coordinator Jodie Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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.
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.
1913 - United States President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, which ended the construction of the Panama Canal.
1918 - In World War I the Leinster, an Irish mail boat, was sunk by a German submarine on its way to Holyhead. At least 480 people were killed.
1928 - Broadway show "Hold Everything" opened. It gave us the phrase "You’re the Cream in My Coffee". It ran for 413 performances.
1930 - Three United States airlines merged to form Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA), later TransWorld Airlines.
1932 - Two of radio’s earliest soap operas were heard for the first time: "Judy and Jane", sponsored by Folger’s Coffee, and "Betty and Bob", sponsored by General Mills.
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.
1937 - The Mutual Broadcasting System debuted "Thirty Minutes in Hollywood" with 48 sponsors sharing the cost of the program. Across the United States, it aired in 72 cities as the first Mutual co-op radio show. George Jessel and Norma Talmadge starred, and music was provided by the Tommy Tucker Orchestra.
1938 - Germany completed its occupation of the Sudetenland in taking part of Czechoslovakia.
1940 - On the Victor label, "Moonlight and Roses" by Lanny Ross was recorded.
1943 - Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as the president of China.
1954 - Ho Chi Minh entered Hanoi after French troops pulled out of the city following Armistice terms.
1956 - Elvis Presley's hit recording of Love Me Tender entered Billboard's popular record charts on this date, stayed on the charts for 19 weeks, and was Number 1 for 5 of those weeks. The song, from Presley's first film with the same title, was adapted from the tune Aura Lee, written in 1861.
1963 - Flooding from a burst dam in Italy left 3,000 people dead.
1965 - In the "Peanuts" comic strip, the Red Baron made his first appearance with the defender of good, Snoopy.
1970 - Neil Diamond's single, Cracklin' Rosie, hit Number 1 on Billboard's record charts, and stayed there a week.
1970 - Fiji, a British colony since 1874, became an independent member of the Commonwealth.
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.
1975 - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor married for the second time at a remote location in Botswana. They divorced the following year.
1977 - It was all over for Joe Namath, as he ended his playing career on ABC’s "Monday Night Football". That game saw his new team, the LA Rams, face the Chicago Bears.
1979 - The musical group, Fleetwood Mac, got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1982 - The United States imposed sanctions against Poland after the Polish government banned the Solidarity trade union.
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 - An estimated 1,500 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale struck San Salvador, El Salvador.
1993 - The New York Friars Club issued a formal apology to the press on this date regarding the racial jokes made by actor Ted Danson a few days earlier at a Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg. Danson appeared in minstrel black-face, with huge white lips painted over his own. While most of the club members laughed, including Goldberg, some in attendance felt that Danson's performance was in poor taste. Despite the criticism in the press, Goldberg publicly supported Danson's actions. Soon after the roast scandal died down, Danson and Goldberg broke up.
1993 - The Seohae, a ferry overloaded with 362 people, capsized off Puan county (135 miles south of Seoul). The boat was licensed to carry 292. The final death toll was 292. Seventy people survived.
1994 - Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras resigned as Haiti's commander-in-chief of the army and pledged to leave the country.
1995 - Gary Kasparov won a 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.
1997 - The International Campaign to Ban Landmines and American campaign coordinator Jodie Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize.