Pop Culture Happenings: October

Photo by History in HD

Israel fights back, Richie can’t slow down and Glenn shuttles back to space.

1973

50 years ago

On Oct. 6, 1973, a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. The effects of the war spread beyond the Middle East, with the United States allied with Israel and the Soviet Union backing Egypt, causing Cold War temperatures to rise between the two nuclear-armed superpowers. Israeli forces counterattacked, pushing back both military forces and surrounding the capital cities of both countries in Damascus and Cairo. A ceasefire was reached on Oct. 25, 1973, to officially end the Yom Kippur War, but tensions between Israel and neighboring countries still exist.

1983

40 years ago

On Oct. 14, 1983, Lionel Richie released his second solo album, “Can’t Slow Down.” Five singles from the album reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, two of which — “All Night Long” and “Hello” — reached No. 1. The album won Album of the Year at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards and went on to sell more than 10 million copies in the United States, making it Richie’s best-selling album, and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s. Richie has been a judge on the ABC singing competition “American Idol” since 2018 with Katy Perry and Luke Bryan.

1998

25 years ago

On Oct. 29, 1998, astronaut John Glenn made another trip into space at the age of 77 on the Space Shuttle Discovery. In 1962, Glenn was the third American in space during the Project Mercury missions and the first American to orbit the earth. Before joining NASA, Glenn served as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War. He also served from 1974 to 1999 as a U.S. Senator from Ohio. Glenn’s return to space in 1998 made him the oldest person to do so. However, his record was broken by another man known for adventures in space, William Shatner — Captain Kirk himself — who made it to the “final frontier” in real life aboard Blue Origin’s commercial spacecraft “New Shepherd” at the age of 90.