Today is Friday, October 9, the 282nd day of 2015. There are 83 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On October 9, 1940, rock-and-roll legend John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. (On this date in 1975, his son, Sean, was born in New York.)
On this date:
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 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.
In 1914, the Belgian city of Antwerp fell to German forces during World War I.
In 1934, King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was assassinated in Marseille, France, by a Macedonian gunman.
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. (He was succeeded by Pope John XXIII.)
In 1967, Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian army a day after he was captured.
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 for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Ten years ago: Dozens of foreign tourists fled devastated lakeside Mayan towns as Guatemalan officials said they would abandon communities buried by landslides caused by Hurricane Stan and declare them mass graveyards. A driverless Volkswagen Touareg, designed by Stanford University, won a $2 million race across the rugged Nevada desert, beating four other robot-guided vehicles that completed a Pentagon-sponsored contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans. Actor-comedian Louis Nye died in Los Angeles at age 92.
Five years ago: Chile’s 33 trapped miners cheered and embraced each other as a drill punched into their underground chamber where they had been stuck for an agonizing 66 days. The International Monetary Fund wrapped up two days of talks in Washington without resolving deep differences over currency movements. A crush of fans circled a flower-graced mosaic in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields and sang lyrics from “Imagine” to honor John Lennon on his 70th birthday.
One year ago: Six U.S. military planes arrived in the Ebola hot zone with more Marines as West African leaders pleaded for the world’s help in dealing with what Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma described as “a tragedy unforeseen in modern times.” French novelist Patrick Modiano was named the recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carolyn Kizer, 89, died in Sonoma, California.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Fyvush Finkel is 93. Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 75. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 74. C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb is 74. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nona Hendryx is 71. Singer Jackson Browne is 67. Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams is 65. Actor Gary Frank is 65. Actor Richard Chaves is 64. Actor Robert Wuhl is 64. Actress-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 63. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 62. Actor Scott Bakula is 61. Musician James Fearnley (The Pogues) is 61. Actor John O’Hurley is 61. Writer-producer-director-actor Linwood Boomer is 60. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 57. Actor Michael Pare is 57. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 55. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 54. Country singer Gary Bennett is 51. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 51. British Prime Minister David Cameron is 49. Singer P.J. Harvey is 46. Movie director Steve McQueen (Film: “12 Years a Slave”) is 46. World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 45. Actress Cocoa Brown is 43. Country singer Tommy Shane Steiner is 42. Actor Steve Burns is 42. Rock singer Sean Lennon is 40. Actor Randy Spelling is 37. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is 36. Actor Brandon Routh is 36. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is 34. Actress Spencer Grammer is 32. Actor Tyler James Williams is 23. Country singer Scotty McCreery (TV: “American Idol”) is 22.
Thought for today: “I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.” — Al McGuire, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (1928-2001).
Associated Press
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