[As badly damaged as it was, Brighton's Grand Hotel
was nowhere near as bombed as it is possible to
get in this seemingly genteel seaside town.]
1216 - England's King John lost his royal treasure - including the Anglo-Saxon Crown Jewels, a fortune in coins, and many faithful retainers but thankfully not the Great Seal of England - in The Wash, possibly near Fosdyke or else while crossing Sutton Bridge; so distraught was he by the terrible turn of events, he died within a week during a visit to Newark Castle.
1654 - The Delft Explosion devastated that Dutch city, killing more than 100.
1792 - The first Columbus Day was celebrated in New York City.
1793 - The cornerstone of Old East - the oldest state university building in the United States - was laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
1810 - The citizens of MΓΌnchen joined in the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen at what was to become the first Oktoberfest.
1822 - Pedro I was declared Emperor of Brazil.
1892 - By an Executive Order of US President Benjamin Harrison the Pledge of Allegiance - written by Francis Bellamy - was first recited in unison by schoolchildren in honour of the 400th anniversary of the 'discovery' of America by Christopher Columbus.
1915 - Edith Cavell was executed for allegedly helping hundreds of soldiers to escape from German-occupied Belgium.
1918 - A massive forest fire killed 453 people in northern Minnesota; hardest hit was the town of Cloquet.
1933 - The US Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island was acquired by the US Department of Justice for possible use as a prison.
1953 - Herman Wouk's play The Caine Mutiny Court Martial - itself based on his 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny - opened in Santa Barbara; following a national tour it made its Broadway debut at New York City's Plymouth Theatre in January 1954 where it ran for 415 performances, while it was being made into a film.
1960 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe on a desk at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly while protesting an assertion by the Filipino delegate Lorenzo Sumulong that the Soviets were then attempting colonialism in Eastern Europe.
1968 - Equatorial Guinea gained its independence from Spain.
1978 - Sex Pistols lead singer Sid Vicious was arrested on murder charges arising from the sudden, unexplained death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in Room 100 of Manhattan's notorious Hotel Chelsea earlier that morning.
1984 - IRA bombs damaged the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party were attending a conference; although the bombs narrowly missed killing the Prime Minister, 5 people died, several were permanently disabled, and 34 others hospitalized.
1986 - When Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the People's Republic of China it was the first-ever visit there by a British Head of State.
1988 - Constable Steven Tynan, 22, and Probationary Constable Damian Eyre, 20 - two officers of the Victoria Police - were gunned down execution-style in Australia's Walsh Street police shootings.
1999 - The Earth's population was said to have topped 6 billion.
2000 - The USS Cole was badly damaged by suicide bombers.
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