On This Day:
Saturday October 19, 2013 This is the 292nd day of the year, with 73 days remaining in 2013. Fact of the Day: Antarctica Antarctica is home to the coldest place on earth. In 1983, scientists recorded the coldest temperature ever, -128.6° F, in Vostok, which has an average temperature of -72° F. Antarctica has no permanent human habitation, but does have an average summer population of 4,000 people and an average winter population of 1,000 people. No single nation controls any part of the continent, although seven countries have made territorial claims to parts of it. No such claim has been made by the U.S. The Antarctic Treaty was established to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica; forty-four countries, comprising about two-thirds of the world's population, have acceded to it. Its main objectives are to demilitarize Antarctica so it remains peaceful and to promote international scientific cooperation on the continent. Under the Antarctic Treaty, no territorial claims are to be recognized, disputed, or established.
Holidays Feast day of St. Paul of the Cross, St. Philip Howard, St. Ethbin, St. Aquilinus of Evreux, St. Cleopatra, St. Frideswide, St. Peter of Alcántara, St. John de Brébeuf, St. René Goupil, St. Varus, and Saints Ptolemy and Lucius.
Events 1216 - King John of England died and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
1765 - The Stamp Act Congress drew up a declaration of rights and liberties at its meeting in New York.
1781 - British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. It was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.
1812 - Napoleon's French troops began their retreat from Moscow.
1813 - Napoleon was defeated at Leipzig by the Allies at the Battle of the Nations. Around 500,000 troops were involved.
1864 - In the U.S. Civil War, General Philip Sheridan was victorious over the Confederates at the Battle of Cedar Creek.
1873 - Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and Rutgers University drafted the first code of football rules.
1935 - The League of Nations imposed sanctions on Italy, following her invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
1944 - The U.S. Navy announced that black women could join the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).
1950 - The North Korean capital of Pyongyang was captured by United Nations troops.
1954 - Egypt and Britain signed a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military occupation. Britain agreed to withdraw its force within 20 months and Egypt agreed to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
1960 - The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
1977 - The supersonic Concorde jet landed in New York City for the first time.
1987 - Black Monday: the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6 percent.
1989 - After serving 14 years in prison for the IRA Guildford and Woolwich bombings in England, the "Guildford Four" had their convictions quashed.
2001 - More than 370 people died when their ferry sank off Indonesia while en route to Australia.
2003 - During a ceremony in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa, known as the "Saint of the Gutters," for her work with the poor.
Births 1605 - Sir Thomas Browne, British physician and writer of famous quotations.
1862 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor, and among the earliest filmmakers.
1931 - John le Carré (David Cornwell), British author.
1945 - John Lithgow, American Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning actor.
1967 - Amy Carter, the only daughter and youngest child of U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter.
Deaths 1745 - Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish author.
1897 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist.
1937 - New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Lord Rutherford, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.
1994 - Martha Raye, American comic actress and singer.
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