TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, OCT. 9, the 282nd day of 2017. There are 83 days left in the year. This is Columbus Day in the United States, as well as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was summarily executed by the Bolivian army.
In 1514, Mary Tudor, the 18-year-old sister of Henry VIII, became Queen consort of France upon her marriage to 52-year-old King Louis XII, who died less than three months later.
In 1776, a group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco.
In 1914, the Belgian city of Antwerp fell to German forces during World War I.
In 1936, the first generator at Boulder, later Hoover, Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.
In 1946, the Eugene O’Neill drama “The Iceman Cometh” opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York.
In 1958, Pope Pius XII died at age 82, ending a 19-year papacy.
In 1975, Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1985, the hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered two days after seizing the vessel in the Mediterranean. Passenger Leon Klinghoffer was killed by the hijackers during the standoff.
In 1995, a sabotaged section of track caused an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, to derail in Arizona; one person was killed and about 80 were injured. The case remains unsolved.
In 2009, President Barack Obama was named the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 77. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 76. Singer Jackson Browne is 69. Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams and actor Gary Frank are 67. Actors Richard Chaves and Robert Wuhl are 66. Actress-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 65. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 64. Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Mike Singletary and actor Michael Pare are 59. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 57. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 56. Country singer Gary Bennett and movie director Guillermo del Toro are 53. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is 51. Singer P.J. Harvey and movie director Steve McQueen (Film: “12 Years a Slave”) are 48. World Golf Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam is 47. Rock singer Sean Lennon is 42. Comedian Melissa Villasenor (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 30.