Today In History

Today is Monday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2018. There are 85 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 2001: The war in Afghanistan started as the United States and Britain launched air attacks against military targets and Osama bin Laden’s training camps in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

ON THIS DATE

› 1777: The second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. (British forces under General John Burgoyne surrendered 10 days later.)

› 1849: Author Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, Maryland, at age 40.

› 1954: Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

› 1960: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard Nixon held their second televised debate, this one in Washington, D.C.

› 1979: Pope John Paul II concluded his weeklong tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.

› 1985: Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean. (The hijackers shot and killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American tourist in a wheelchair, and pushed him overboard, before surrendering on Oct. 9.)

› 1991: University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill’s allegations.

› 1992: Trade representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico initialed the North American Free Trade Agreement during a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, in the presence of President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

› 1996: Fox News Channel made its debut.

› 2003: California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger their new governor.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Retired South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu is 88. Author Thomas Keneally is 84. Comedian Joy Behar is 77. Former National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver North is 76. Rock musician Kevin Godley (10cc) is 74. Actress Jill Larson is 72. Country singer Kieran Kane is 70. Singer John Mellencamp is 68. Russian President Vladimir Putin is 67. Actress Mary Badham (Film: “To Kill a Mockingbird”) is 67. Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) is 66. Actress Christopher Norris is 64. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is 64. Gospel singer Michael W. Smith is 62. Olympic gold medal ice dancer Jayne Torvill is 62. Recording executive and TV personality Simon Cowell is 60. Rock musician Charlie Marinkovich (formerly with Iron Butterfly) is 60. Actress Paula Newsome is 58. Country singer Dale Watson is 57. Pop singer Ann Curless (Expose) is 56. Rhythm and blues singer Toni Braxton is

52. Rock singer-musician Thom Yorke (Radiohead) is 51. Rock musician-dancer Leeroy Thornhill is

50. Actress Nicole Ari Parker is 49. Actress Allison Munn is 45. Rock singer-musician Damian Kulash is 44. Neo-soul singer Nathaniel Rateliff (Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats) is 41. Actor Shawn Ashmore is 40. Actor Jake McLaughlin is 37. Electronic musician Flying Lotus (aka Stephen Ellison) is 36. Actress Holland Roden is 33. Actress Amber Stevens is

33. Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is 27. Actress Lulu Wilson is 14.