TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2017

On this day in history:

1847 - Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson discovered the anethestic qualities of chloroform. 1878 - Police patrols are increased along the Murray River as the manhunt for the Kelly gang intensifies, following the murder of three policemen at Stringybark Creek.

1922 - In Egypt, Howard Carter discovered the entry of the lost tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

1930 - Australia’s greatest racehorse, Phar Lap, wins the Melbourne Cup. ]

1932 - Australia’s first Milk Bar is opened.

1942 - During the Second World War, Axis forces retreated from El Alamein in North Africa. It was a major victory for the British.

1956 - Soviet forces enter Hungary in order to suppress the uprising that had begun on October 23, 1956.

1970 - Former King Peter II of Yugoslavia died in Denver, CO. He was the first European king or queen to die and to be buried in the US.

1979 - Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage (90 total hostages). The militants, mostly students, demanded that the U.S. send the former shah back to Iran to stand trial. Many hostages were later released, but 52 were held for the next 14 months.

1984 - Nicaragua held its first free elections in 56 years. 1985 - Soviet defector Vitaly Yurchenko announced he was returning to the Soviet Union. He had charged that he had been kidnapped by the CIA. 1989 - About a million East Germans filled the streets of East Berlin in a pro-democracy rally.

1990 - Iraq issued a statement saying it was prepared to fight a “dangerous war” rather than give up Kuwait.

1995 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 73 years old, was assassinated by right-wing Israeli Yigal Amir after attending a peace rally. 2001 - The movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

had its world premiere in London.

2001 - Hurrican Michelle hit Cuba destroying crops and thousands of homes.