Today is Sunday, Oct. 16, the 289th day of 2005. There are 76 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 16, 1978, the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church chose Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to be the new pope; he took the name John Paul II.
On this date:
In 1793, during the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded.
In 1846, dentist William T. Morton demonstrated the effectiveness of ether as an anesthetic by administering it to a patient undergoing jaw surgery before an audience of doctors in Boston.
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a group of about 20 men in a raid on Harper’s Ferry.
In 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic, in New York City.
In 1946, 10 Nazi war criminals condemned during the Nuremberg trials were hanged.
In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.
In 1964, Harold Wilson of the Labor Party assumed office as prime minister of Britain, succeeding Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
In 1970, Anwar Sadat was elected president of Egypt, succeeding the late Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1984, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of non-violent struggle for racial equality in South Africa.
In 1987, a 58-and-a-half-hour drama in Midland, Texas, ended happily as rescuers freed Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well.
Ten years ago: A vast throng of black men gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
Five years ago: President Clinton launched a fresh effort to try to cool Middle East tensions at an emergency summit in Egypt that included Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as the leaders of Egypt and Jordan and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son were killed in a plane crash south of St. Louis while en route to a rally for Carnahan’s U.S. Senate campaign. The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-0 to win the National League championship series, 4-1.
One year ago: The Soyuz spacecraft was forced to manually dock with the international space station after it closed in on the station at a dangerously high speed. Pierre Salinger, a journalist who served as press secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, died in Le Thon, France, at age 79.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Angela Lansbury is 80. Former presidential adviser Charles W. Colson is 74. Actor-producer Tony Anthony is 68. Actor Barry Corbin is 65. Rock musician C.F. Turner (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 62. Actress Suzanne Somers is 59. Rock singer-musician Bob Weir (The Dead) is 58. Producer-director David Zucker is 58. Record company executive Jim Ed Norman is 57. Actor Daniel Gerroll is 54. Actor-director Tim Robbins is 47. Actor-musician Gary Kemp is 46. Singer-musician Bob Mould is 45. Actor Randy Vasquez is 44. Rock musician Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 43. Jazz musician Roy Hargrove is 36. Actress Terri J. Vaughn is 36. Singer Wendy Wilson (Wilson Phillips) is 36. Rapper B-Rock (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 34. Actress Kellie Martin is 30. Singer John Mayer is 28. Actor Jeremy Jackson is 25.
Thought for Today: “Religion without joy — it is no religion.” — Theodore Parker, American religious leader (1810-1860).
