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'Origin' by Dan Brown is published

Origin is a 2017 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fifth installment in his Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, and Inferno. The book was released in 2017 by Doubleday. The book is entirely set in Spain.

US airstrikes destroyed hospital in Kunduz, killing 42 people

A United States Air Force AC-130U gunship attacked the Kunduz Trauma Centre operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders in the city of Kunduz, in the province of the same name in northern Afghanistan. It has been reported that at least 42 people were killed and over 30 were injured.

Lampedusa boat tragedy

A boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana. An emergency response involving the Italian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors.

$700bn bailout for US banks is approved

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted subsequently to the subprime mortgage crisis authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks.

Hurricane Stan hits Mexico

Hurricane Stan was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that took place in the areas of Central America. Stan formed from a tropical wave. Its peak intensity was with winds of 80 miles per hour. Stan caused about 1668 deaths across six countries. The mostly affected country was Guatemala.

'Desperate Housewives' first airs on ABC

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama and mystery series. Set on Wisteria Lane, a street in the fictional town of Fairview in the fictional Eagle State, Desperate Housewives follows the lives of a group of women as seen through the eyes of their late friend and neighbor who committed suicide in the pilot episode.

The longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history

In October 2004 Golda's Balcony, the William Gibson play about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, achieved a very specific landmark. It became the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history. It opened in October 2003 at the Helen Hayes Theatre, where it ran for 14 previews and 493 performances.

Tom Jones goes to #1 on the UK album chart

Reload is an album by Tom Jones. It contains fifteen duets with a range of artists including Van Morrison, Cerys Matthews, Stereophonics, Robbie Williams and Portishead, recorded with their usual record producers and in their usual studios. Reload became the highest seller of Jones' career, reaching number one on the British charts.

1995

O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of the murder

O. J. Simpson is known for his trial for the murders of his former wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman as they were stabbed to death outside Nicole's condominium. At the day of the trial an estimated 100 million people tuned in to watch or listen to the verdict announcement.

1993

The final Indians home game at Cleveland Stadium

The final Indians home game at Cleveland Stadium was held in 1993, a 4–0 loss to the Chicago White Sox in front of 72,390 fans. During the game, fans, led by comedian Bob Hope, who grew up an Indians fan and was once a part-owner, sang a version of his signature song "Thanks for the Memory" with special lyrics for the occasion.

Battle of Mogadishu

The battle of Mogadishu was a two-day battle between the U.S. soldiers operating in Somalia supported by UNOSOM II and rebels led by self-proclaimed Somali president Mohamed Farrah Aidid. One of the Black Hawk helicopters got taken down by the rebels, leaving few survivors to be rescued later on. The Black Hawk Down movie was based on these events.

Sineád O'Connor tore up a picture of pope

O'Connor appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest. She presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while singing the word "evil", after which she tore the photo into pieces, said "Fight the real enemy", and threw the pieces towards the camera.

German Unity Day

The German Unity Day is the National Day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990 when the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were unified, so that for the first time since 1945 there existed a single German state. The German Unity Day on 3 October has been the German National Holiday since 1990, when the reunification was formally completed.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight

STS-51-J was the 21st NASA Space Shuttle mission and the first flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in 1985, carrying a payload for the U.S. Department of Defense, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

The Spaghetti House siege ends

An attempted robbery of the Spaghetti House restaurant in London went wrong and the police were quickly on the scene. The robbers took the staff down into a storeroom and barricaded themselves in. They released all the hostages unharmed after six days. Two of the gunmen gave themselves up; the ringleader, Franklin Davies, shot himself in the stomach.

Fastest flight

The X-15 experimental rocket-plane achieved speed of Mach 6.72 (7 274 km/h). It was a speed record for manned aircraft with wings and it remains unchallenged today. The aircraft was piloted by William J. Knight. NASA and USAF conducted 199 X-15 flights between 1959 and 1968. Many of the pilots received astronaut badge.

Broadway debut of 'Stop the World – I Want to Get Off'

After 1 preview, the Broadway production opened in October 1962 at the Shubert Theatre, eventually transferring to the Ambassador to complete its 555-performance run. Newley and Quayle reprised their London roles. Newley later was replaced by Kenneth Nelson, then Joel Grey, and Joan Eastman assumed the roles of Evie et al. A Broadway cast recording was released by Polydor.

'Mickey Mouse Club' premieres

The Mickey Mouse Club was an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996. The show created by Walt Disney was first broadcasted by ABC on weekday afternoons and featured cast of mostly teen performers. In 2017, the show returned to social media, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Britain successfully tests its first atomic bomb

Operation Hurricane was the test of the first UK atomic device in 1952. A plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon in the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation Hurricane, Britain became the third nuclear power after the United States and the Soviet Union.

1951

Shot Heard 'Round the World

"The shot heard round the world" is a phrase referring to several historical incidents, particularly the opening of the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.

Elvis Presley makes his first ever-public appearance

The contest, held at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, was his first public performance. The ten-year-old Presley was dressed as a cowboy; he stood on a chair to reach the microphone and sang "Old Shep". He recalled placing fifth.

The first major film noir premieres

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 film noir with screenplay by and directed by John Huston in his directorial debut, and based on Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel of the same name. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client.

Second Italo-Ethiopian War

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a colonial war from 1935 until 1939, despite the Italian claim to have defeated Ethiopia by 1936, the year of the capture of Addis Ababa. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the Ethiopian Empire. Ethiopia was defeated, annexed and subjected to military occupation.

Iraq wins independence

The kingdom of Iraq was granted full independence in 1932, after the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. The independent Iraqi Kingdom under the Hashemite rulers underwent a period of turbulence through its entire existence. Establishment of Sunni religious domination in Iraq was followed by Assyrian, Yazidi and Shi'a unrests, which were all brutally suppressed.

US Federal income tax is signed into law

The Revenue Act of 1913 re-imposed the federal income tax after the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment and lowered basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%. It was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson and sponsored by Alabama Representative Oscar Underwood.

Italy obtained Venice

According to the Treaty of Vienna signed in October 1866, the Austrian Empire ceded Venetia to the French Empire, which in turn would cede it to the Kingdom of Italy, under the reservation of the "consent of the people duly consulted". This represented the final division of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, as Lombardy had been ceded to the Kingdom of Sardinia by the Treaty of Zurich in 1859.

Abraham Lincoln announces official Thanksgiving holiday

Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a federal holiday every year since 1863, when, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens," to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

Anniversaries of the (in)famous