TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2019
On this day in history:
1789 - Australia’s first ferry service begins operation.
1857 - The first leg is opened of what later becomes the Adelaide to Darwin transcontinental railway line.
1919 - Enzo Ferrari debuted in his first race. He later founded the Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari, an independent manufacturing company.
1969 - A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.
1969 - Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted on BBC television.
1970 - Anwar Sadat took office as President of Egypt replacing Gamal Abdel Nassar. Sadat was assassinated in 1981.
1985 - An Egyptian policeman went on a shooting rampage at a Sinai beach. Seven Israeli tourists were killed. The policeman died in prison the following January of an apparent suicide.
1989 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet. Gyatso was the 15th Dalai Lama.
1990 - The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall opened.
1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced that his country would cut its nuclear arsenal in response to the arms reduction that was initiated by U.S. President George Bush.
1993 - China set off an underground nuclear explosion.
1995 - A 60-day cease-fire was agreed upon by Bosnian combatants. The civil war had lasted 3 1/2.
1997 - In London, the Express Newspapers printed an article claiming that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were homosexual and that their marriage was a sham to cover the truth. The paper paid damages in a settlement on October 29, 1998.