TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, OCT. 19, the 292nd day of 2017. There are 73 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent, (its biggest daily percentage loss), to close at 1,738.74 in what came to be known as “Black Monday.”
In 1216, John, King of England, died, more than a year after affixing his royal seal to Magna Carta (“The Great Charter”).
In 1781, British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Va., as the American Revolution neared its end.
In 1789, John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
In 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s soldiers attacked Union forces at Cedar Creek, Va.; the Union troops rallied and defeated the Confederates.
In 1914, the First Battle of Ypres began during World War I.
In 1936, H.R. Ekins of the New York World-Telegram beat Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times in a round-the-world race on commercial flights that lasted 18½ days.
In 1944, the U.S. Navy began accepting black women into WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).
In 1953, the Ray Bradbury novel “Fahrenheit 451,” set in a dystopian future where books are banned and burned by the government, was first published by Ballantine Books.
In 1967, the U.S. space probe Mariner 5 flew past Venus.
In 1977, the supersonic Concorde made its first landing in New York City.
In 1982, automaker John Z. DeLorean was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles, accused of conspiring to sell $24 million of cocaine to salvage his business. (DeLorean was acquitted at trial on grounds of entrapment.)
In 1994, 22 people were killed as a terrorist bomb shattered a bus in the heart of Tel Aviv’s shopping district.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Author John le Carre is 86. Actor Michael Gambon is 77. Actor John Lithgow is 72. Rock singer-musician Patrick Simmons (The Doobie Brothers) is 69. Singer Jennifer Holliday is 57. Boxer Evander Holyfield is 55. Host Ty Pennington (TV: “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) is 53. Amy Carter is 50. “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker is 48. Comedian Chris Kattan is 47. Actor Omar Gooding is 41. Writer-director Jason Reitman is 40. Actress Gillian Jacobs is 35. Rock singer Zac Barnett (American Authors) is 31. Actress Hunter King is 24.