Today in History

Today is Thursday, Oct. 9, the 282nd day of 2014. There are 83 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 9, 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.

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 1813, composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in the Italian village of Le Roncole. (Some sources say Verdi was actually born on Oct. 10.)

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 1940, rock and roll legend John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England.

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 1974, businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, died in Frankfurt, West Germany. (At his request, he was buried in Jerusalem.)

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.)

Ten years ago: A tour bus from the Chicago area flipped in Arkansas, killing 15 people headed to a Mississippi casino. Afghanistan's first direct presidential election began (interim president Hamid Karzai emerged the winner). Australian Prime Minister John Howard won a historic fourth term in national elections. World-renowned French philosopher Jacques Derrida died in Paris at age 74.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." A suicide car bomb in a busy market area in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed 53. A surveillance plane assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti crashed into a mountain, killing all 11 peacekeepers on board. Jacques Rogge won re-election as president of the International Olympic Committee for a final four-year term.

One year ago: The United States announced it was cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response to the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the crackdown by the military-backed government on his supporters. Critic, author and editor Stanley Kauffmann, 97, died in New York.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Fyvush Finkel is 92. Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 74. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nona Hendryx is 70. Singer Jackson Browne is 66. Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams is 64. Actor Gary Frank is 64. Actor Richard Chaves is 63. Actor Robert Wuhl is 63. Actress-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 62. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 61. Actor Scott Bakula is 60. Musician James Fearnley (The Pogues) is 60. Actor John O'Hurley is 60. Writer-producer-director-actor Linwood Boomer is 59. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 56. Actor Michael Pare is 56. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 54. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 53. Country singer Gary Bennett is 50. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 50. British Prime Minister David Cameron is 48. Singer P.J. Harvey is 45. Movie director Steve McQueen (Film: "12 Years a Slave") is 45. World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 44. Actress Cocoa Brown is 42. Country singer Tommy Shane Steiner is 41. Actor Steve Burns is 41. Rock singer Sean Lennon is 39. Actor Randy Spelling is 36. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is 35. Actor Brandon Routh is 35. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is 33. Actress Spencer Grammer is 31. Actor Tyler James Williams is 22. Country singer Scotty McCreery (TV: "American Idol" winner) is 21.

Thought for Today: "It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest." -- Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American author and essayist (1879-1958).

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