1492 Christopher Columbus learns how to grow and harvest maize (corn) from Cuba’s indigenous population.
1556 Second Battle of Panipat: Hindu Emperor of north India Hem Chandra Vikramaditya defeated by forces of Mughal Emperor Akbar, who captures and later beheads Hem Chandra.
1605 Gunpowder Plot: Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament. Plot discovered, Guy Fawkes caught, tortured and later executed along with seven others. Celebrated ever since as Guy Fawkes Day, where his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, accompanied by fireworks.
1937 Adolf Hitler informs his military leaders in a secret meeting of his intentions of going to war.
1956 Britain and France land airborne forces at Port Said in Egypt, escalating the Suez Crisis
1979 Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini describes the United States as “The Great Satan” amid accusations of imperialism and the sponsoring of corruption
Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1956 “The Nat King Cole Show” debuts on NBC, the first variety program to be hosted by an African-American
Today in Music
1955 The rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens after it was destroyed in World War II, with Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Fidelio”
Today in Sport
1992 “Revenge Match of the 20th century” American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky to win an unofficial match in Belgrade
1935 Parker Brothers launches the board game Monopoly
1889 Louisa Woosley first women to be ordained as a minister in any Presbyterian denomination (US Cumberland Presbyterian Church).
Famous Weddings
1940 American author and journalist “The Old Man and the Sea” Ernest Hemingway marries journalist Martha Gellhorn
1941 Writer and veterinary surgeon James Herriot (25) weds Joan Catherine Danbury
1977 Future Texas governor and 43rd US President George W. Bush (31) weds Laura Welch (31) at The First United Methodist Church in Midland, Texas
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