Once Upon A Time – October 12 – 1999 – The Day of Six Billion: Proclaimed 6 Billionth Living Human In The World Is Born

539 BC The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon

1492 Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas). The explorer believes he has reached East Asia (OS 21 Oct)

1864 War of the Triple Alliance begins with Brazilian troops under the command of Gen. João Propício Mena Barreto invading Uruguay

1900 The first modern submarine is commissioned by the U.S. Navy as the USS Holland, named for its designer John Philip Holland

1915 Ford Motor Company under Henry Ford manufactures its 1 millionth automobile at the River Rouge plant in Detroit

1999 The Day of Six Billion: the proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1960 Japanese politician Inejiro Asanuma is assassinated with a sword during a televised debate live on TV by 17-year old nationalist Otoya Yamaguchi

Today in Music
1987 George Harrison releases single “Got My Mind Set On You”, becomes his third solo #1 hit, and the last chart-topper by any of the Beatles

Today in Sport
1968 IXX Summer Olympic Games open at Mexico City, Mexico; first Olympics in Latin America

MORE FACTS…
1609 Children’s rhyme “Three Blind Mice” is published in London in a book edited by and possibly written by Thomas Ravenscroft

1216 King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash as the flood tide swamps his wagons, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge

Famous Weddings
1810 First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

1822 “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” author Victor Hugo (20) weds Adele Fourcher

1893 Education pioneer Booker T. Washington (37) weds Margaret James Murray