Today in History

Today is, the 287th day of 2014. There are 78 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On Oct. 14, 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev was toppled from power; he was succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev as first secretary and by Alexei Kosygin as premier. Inventor Robert Moog (mohg) presented his prototype electronic music synthesizer to a meeting of the Audio Engineering Society in New York.

On this date:

In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England, accused of committing treason against Queen Elizabeth I. (Mary was beheaded in February 1587.)

In 1890, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, was born in Denison, Texas.

In 1908, the E.M. Forster novel "A Room With a View" was first published by Edward Arnold of London.

In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt, campaigning for the White House as the Progressive ("Bull Moose") candidate, went ahead with a speech in Milwaukee after being shot in the chest by New York saloonkeeper John Schrank, declaring, "It takes more than one bullet to kill a bull moose."

In 1939, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the HMS Royal Oak, a British battleship anchored at Scapa Flow in Scotland's Orkney Islands; 833 of the more than 1,200 men aboard were killed.

In 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face trial and certain execution for allegedly conspiring against Adolf Hitler.

In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager broke the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell XS-1 (later X-1) rocket plane over Muroc Dry Lake in California.

In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy suggested the idea of a Peace Corps while addressing an audience of students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

In 1977, singer Bing Crosby died outside Madrid, Spain, at age 74.

In 1987, a 58-hour drama began in Midland, Texas, as 18-month-old Jessica McClure slid 22 feet down an abandoned well at a private day care center; she was rescued on Oct. 16.

In 1994, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Kidnapped Israeli soldier Nachshon Waxman was killed when Israeli commandos raided the West Bank hideout of Islamic militants. Nobel Prize-winning writer Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed several times on a Cairo street; Muslim militants were blamed in the attack.

Ten years ago: The Treasury Department announced that the federal deficit had surged to a then-record $413 billion in fiscal 2004. A suicide bomber killed six people, including four Americans, in the U.S.-guarded "Green Zone" of Baghdad.

Five years ago: The Unification Church held the largest mass wedding in a decade, with some 40,000 people participating in dozens of cities around the world. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. headlined the five inductees into the first Hall of Fame class; Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Jr. and Junior Johnson were the others. Actress Collin Wilcox-Paxton, who'd played Mayella Ewell in the movie classic "To Kill a Mockingbird," died in Highlands, North Carolina, at age 74. Pro wrestler Lou Albano, 76, died in Westchester County, New York.

One year ago: Americans Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen of the University of Chicago and Robert Shiller of Yale University were named recipients of the Nobel prize in economics. The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first game of the NL championship series, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Game 3.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Roger Moore is 87. Classical pianist Gary Graffman is 86. Movie director Carroll Ballard is 77. Former White House counsel John W. Dean III is 76. Country singer Melba Montgomery is 77. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is 75. Singer Sir Cliff Richard is 74. Actor Udo Kier is 70. Singer-musician Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues) is 68. Actor Harry Anderson is 62. Actor Greg Evigan is 61. TV personality Arleen Sorkin is 59. World Golf Hall of Famer Beth Daniel is 58. Singer-musician Thomas Dolby is 56. Actress Lori Petty is 51. MLB manager Joe Girardi is 50. Actor Steve Coogan is 49. Singer Karyn White is 49. Actor Edward Kerr is 48. Actor Jon Seda is 44. Country musician Doug Virden is 44. Country singer Natalie Maines (The Dixie Chicks) is 40. Actress-singer Shaznay Lewis (All Saints) is 39. Singer Usher is 36. TV personality Stacy Keibler is 35. Actor Ben Whishaw is 34. Actor Jordan Brower is 33. Director Benh Zeitlin is 32. Actress Skyler Shaye is 28. Actor-comedian Jay Pharoah (TV: "Saturday Night Live") is 27.

Thought for Today: "Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel." -- E.E. Cummings, American poet (born this date in 1894, died 1962).

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