1138 Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000
1634 Burchardi flood – “the second Grote Mandrenke” kills about 15,000 in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany
1718 Dedication of New Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar, India.
1737 Earthquake reported to have killed 300,000 and destroyed half of Calcutta in India. Now thought to have been an exaggerated account of a hurricane which claimed 3,000 of the city’s estimated 20,000 residents.
1797 Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin): British navy defeats Dutch fleet
1945 Chinese civil war begins between Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party
1962 Second Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII
1986 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland
Today in Film & TV
1975 “Saturday Night Live” created by Lorne Michaels premieres on NBC with George Carlin as host
Today in Music
1983 “Can’t Slow Down” second studio album by Lionel Richie is released
Today in Sport
2000 South African Cricket Board issues former captain Hansie Cronje with a life ban as a result of match-fixing allegations
Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?
Albert Einstein informs FDR of the possibilities of an atomic bomb, on this day in 1939
Would you believe this fact about today? Would You Believe?
First woman FBI “special investigator”, Alaska Davidson, appointed, on this day in 1922
