2001: The United Nations and Kofi Annan win the centennial Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee split the 100th anniversary prize between the world body and its secretary-general, a Ghanaian diplomat who had led the UN since 1997. The award came just a month after the September 11 attacks.
2000: Suicide bombers attack the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen. The U.S. Navy ship was refueling in the harbor at Aden when a small boat packed with explosives blew a hole in its side. The blast, carried out by attackers linked to al-Qaeda, killed 17 American sailors and wounded 39.
1999: Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain dies at 63. The 7 foot 1 center once scored 100 points in a single NBA game in 1962 and averaged more than 50 points a game that season. He won championships with Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers.
1998: College student Matthew Shepard dies after a brutal beating in Wyoming. The 21-year-old died in a Fort Collins, Colorado, hospital days after he was attacked near Laramie in an assault believed to be motivated by his sexual orientation. His death led to an expanded federal hate crimes law, signed in 2009 and named partly for him.
1968: Equatorial Guinea gains independence from Spain. The small Central African nation, made up of a mainland territory and several islands, had been a Spanish colony. Francisco Macías Nguema became its first president.
1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reportedly bangs his shoe at the United Nations. The outburst came during a General Assembly session as a Philippine delegate accused the Soviet Union of hypocrisy for condemning colonialism while dominating Eastern Europe. Witnesses still disagree over whether he actually pounded the desk with the shoe or only waved it.
1915: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad. During World War I she helped Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. Her execution in Brussels caused international outrage and made her a symbol of the Allied cause.
1898: A deadly riot breaks out at a coal mine in Virden, Illinois. Striking union miners clashed with armed guards when the mine owners brought in strikebreakers by train, and miners and guards were killed in the gunfire. The battle became a landmark in American labor history, and labor organizer Mother Jones later chose to be buried near the fallen miners.
1810: Munich holds the very first Oktoberfest. The celebration, centered on a horse race, honored the wedding of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig, later King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The festival grounds are still called the Theresienwiese in her honor.
1492: Christopher Columbus's expedition sights land in the Americas. A lookout aboard the Pinta, one of Columbus's three ships, spotted an island in the Bahamas in the early morning hours. Columbus went ashore later that day and named the island San Salvador.
Born on This Day
2004: Darci Lynne, American ventriloquist and singer Turns 22. Won America's Got Talent in 2017 at age 12.
1992: Josh Hutcherson, American actor Turns 34. Played Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games films.
1988: Calum Scott, English singer Turns 38. Known for his hit cover of “Dancing On My Own” and the song “You Are the Reason.”
1977: Bode Miller, American alpine skier Turns 49. Won six Olympic medals, the most of any American man in alpine skiing.
1975: Marion Jones, American sprinter Turns 51. Track star who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, later stripped after she admitted to doping.
1970: Kirk Cameron, American actor Turns 56. Played Mike Seaver on the sitcom Growing Pains.
1970: Charlie Ward, American football and basketball player Turns 56. Won the 1993 Heisman Trophy at Florida State, then played point guard for the New York Knicks.
1969: Martie Maguire, American country musician Turns 57. Fiddler and founding member of The Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks.
1968: Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer Turns 58. Played Wolverine in the X-Men films and starred in The Greatest Showman.
1968: Adam Rich, American actor Played young Nicholas Bradford on the TV family drama Eight Is Enough.
1962: Chris Botti, American jazz trumpeter Turns 64. Grammy-winning trumpeter and one of the best-selling instrumental artists in jazz.
1947: Chris Wallace, American TV journalist Turns 79. Longtime host of Fox News Sunday who moderated presidential debates in 2016 and 2020.
1945: Dusty Rhodes, American pro wrestler “The American Dream,” one of the most popular wrestlers of the 1970s and 1980s.
1943: Lin Shaye, American actress Turns 83. Known for the Insidious horror films and There's Something About Mary.
1942: Melvin Franklin, American soul singer The deep bass voice of The Temptations.
1935: Luciano Pavarotti, Italian opera tenor One of the Three Tenors, famous for his performances of “Nessun dorma.”
1935: Sam Moore, American soul singer Half of the duo Sam & Dave, known for “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I'm Comin'.”
1935: Tony Kubek, American baseball player and broadcaster New York Yankees shortstop who later called games for years on NBC's Game of the Week.
1932: Dick Gregory, American comedian and activist Groundbreaking stand-up comic who became a leading voice in the civil rights movement.
1932: Ned Jarrett, American race car driver and broadcaster Two-time NASCAR champion, later a TV commentator and father of driver Dale Jarrett.
