Welcome to Today In History for Saturday, October 11, 2008. On this day in history .. 0732 - Battle at Tours: France under Karel Martel beat Moors 1492 - Columbus' ships sites land on the horizon (Bahamas) 1521 - Pope Leo X titles King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith" 1531 - Battle at Kappel: Swiss RC kantons beat protestant 1540 - Emperor Karel names his son Philip, duke of Milan 1573 - Battle of South Seas - Dutch rebels beat Spanish navy 1643 - Battle at Wincebt: English New Model-army beats royalists 1674 - Pierre Corneille's "Surena," premieres in Paris 1687 - Hungary accepts Habsburgse sovereignty 1689 - Peter the Great becomes tsar of Russia 1698 - France, England & Netherlands signs 1st Extermination treaty 1726 - Benjamin Franklin returns to Philadelphia from England 1737 - Earthquake kills 300,000 & destroys � of Calcutta India 1746 - Battle at Rocourt: French drive out English/Austria/Neth armies 1776 - Brig Gen Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet defeated by British 1797 - Battle at Kamperduin: English fleet destroys Bataafse 1797 - British naval forces defeat Dutch off Camperdown, Netherlands 1811 - The Juliana, 1st steam-powered ferryboat, begins operation 1861 - Battle of Dumfries, VA (Quantico Creek) 1863 - Skirmish at Rheatown/Henderson's Mill, Tennessee 1864 - Slavery abolished in Maryland 1865 - Pres Johnson paroles CSA VP Alexander Stephens 1868 - Thomas Edison patents his 1st invention: electric voice machine 1871 - Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after 3 days, 300 killed 1873 - Toronto Argonaut Football Club 1st game losing to U of Toronto 1881 - David Houston patents roll film for cameras 1887 - A Miles patents elevator 1890 - 1st 100 yard dash under 10 seconds (John Owens 9-4/5 secs, Wash DC) 1890 - Daughters of American Revolution forms 1895 - Emperor Menelik II of Addis Ababa draws against Italians 1899 - South African Boers declare war on Great Britain 1902 - 8th US Golf Open: Laurie Auchterlonie shoots a 307 at Garden City NY 1902 - Commencement of 1st Test Cricket between South Africa & Australia 1902 - Lawrence Auchterlonie wins US Open golf tournament 1906 - SF begins school for "Asians" 1906 - White Sox Ed Walsh strikes out then record 12 in a World Series game 1911 - Ty Cobb (AL) & Frank Schulte (NL) are 1st MVPs, each gets an auto 1913 - Phila A's beat NY Giants, 4 games to 1 in 10th World Series 1914 - German troops occupy Gent 1915 - Bulgarian anti Serbian offensive begins 1919 - 1st transcontinental air race ends 1922 - 1st woman FBI "special investigator" appointed (Alaska Davidson) 1922 - Turkey & Greece sign cease fire 1923 - Babe Ruth hits 2 HRs in a World Series game 1923 - German mark falls to 10 billion per �, 4 billion per $ 1925 - Belgian episcopelian sspeaks against Flemish activism 1925 - NY Giants play 1st NFL game, lose to Providence 14-0 1927 - Lou Gehrig named AL MVP (Babe Ruth (former winner) not eligible) 1929 - Sean O'Casey's "Silver Tassle," premieres in London 1931 - 100,000 extreme-right Germans form "Harzburger Front" 1932 - 1st political telecast (Democratic National Committee) at CBS, NYC 1932 - Stalin forces Zinoviev & Kamenev out of Communist Party 1936 - "Professor Quiz," 1st radio quiz show premieres 1939 - Albert Einstein informs FDR of possibilities of atomic bomb 1939 - Bucky Harris signs to manage Washington again 1939 - Gertrude Lawrence's "Skylark," premieres in NYC 1939 - NAACP organized Legal Defense & Education Fund 1941 - 1st NSB-battalion departures to Eastern front 1942 - -Oct 12] Sea battle at Cape Esperance Guadalcanal 1943 - NY Yankees beat Cards 4 games to 1, in 40th World Series, to become 1st team to win 10 World Series 1944 - Allies bomb sea wall at Veere 1945 - Chinese civil war begins, Chiang Kai-Shek vs Mao Tse-Tung 1945 - JPL WAC Corporal Launch (1st Man-Made Object to escape Atmosphere) 1947 - Brazil & Chile break diplomatic relations with USSR 1948 - "Love Life" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 252 performances 1948 - "Where's Chartev?" opens at St James Theater NYC for 792 performances 1948 - Cleve Indians beat Boston Braves, 4 games to 2 in 45th World Series 1954 - "On Your Toes" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 64 performances 1954 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Ad caeli Reginam 1955 - All Peron feast days disposed of in Argentina 1955 - Persia signs Pact of Baghdad 1956 - 1st Pakistan v Australia Test 95 runs scored on 1st day 1956 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia 1956 - AL Pres Will Harridge bars Wash Senators move to West Coast, unless unanimously approved by the other AL owners 1958 - "Goldilocks" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 161 performances 1958 - 2nd US Moon probe, Pioneer 1, reaches 113,810 km, falls back 1959 - KTHI TV channel 11 in Fargo-Grand Forks, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting 1960 - Hurricane ravages East-Pakistan (6,000 die) 1960 - Radio-TV exec John Fetzer buys a controlling interest of Det Tigers 1961 - USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to 66,100m 1961 - USSR performs nuclear test 1962 - 1st appearance of a Gabor sister on Merv Griffin Show 1962 - 2nd Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII 1964 - Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Hillside House Ladies' Golf Open 1967 - World Series record 3 consecutive HRs (Carl Yastremski, Reggie Smith, & Rico Petrocelli) by Red Sox 1967 - Yoko Plus Me art exhibit opens in London (the me is John Lennon) 1968 - Apollo 7 (Schirra, Eisele & Cunningham) made 163 orbits in 260 hours 1968 - Billy Martin named manager of Twins 1968 - Panama revolts 1969 - -28] Rome: 2nd bishop synod 1969 - Blues artist Muddy Waters involved in a car crash that kills 3 1969 - Soyuz 6 launched; Soyuz 7 & 8 follow in next 2 days 1971 - 60th Davis Cup: USA beats Romania in Charlotte (3-2) 1971 - Brooks Robinson ties Series record, reaches base 5 straight times 1971 - Frank McGee becomes news anchor of Today Show 1971 - Switzerland recognizes North Vietnam 1972 - Panama adopts constitution 1972 - Prison uprising at Washington DC jail 1972 - Reads beat Pirates in NLCS 1973 - Oakland beats Baltimore 3 games to 2 to win AL pennant 1974 - A's Catfish Hunter charge owner Charlie Finley with breach of contract 1975 - "Saturday Night Live" premieres with guest host George Carlin 1975 - Bill Clinton weds Hillary Rodham 1975 - Islander's Bryan Trottier's 1st career hat trick 1975 - Saturday Night Live premieres with George Carlin as host 1976 - 10th Country Music Assn Award: Mel Tillis wins 1976 - Mao Tse-Tung's widow Jiang Qing & "Gang of Four," arrested & charged with plotting a coup 1977 - Soyuz 25 returns to Earth 1978 - Aristides Royo elected president of Panama 1978 - Belgium govt of Tindemans resigns 1978 - Dodgers Bob Welch dramatically strikes out Reggie Jackson in 9th 1979 - "Most Happy Fella" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 53 performances 1979 - German DR frees dissidents Rudolf Bahro & Nico H�bner 1979 - Allan McLeod Cormack & Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield win Nobel Prize for medicine for developing CAT scan 1980 - Cosmonauts Popov & Ryumin set space endurance record of 184 days 1980 - Dallas Mavericks 1st game at Reunion Arena beat San Antonio 103-92 1980 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR 1981 - Expos beat Phillies, 3 games to 2, in NLCS 1981 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Inamori Golf Classic 1981 - LeRoy Irvin sets yards gained on punt returns record (207 yds) 1981 - Unknown rocker Prince opens for Rolling Stones at LA Coliseum 1981 - Yanks beat Brewers 7-3 & win only Eastern Championship Series 1982 - 16th Country Music Assn Award: Willie Nelson & Ricky Skagg 1982 - English ship Mary Rose, which sank during an engagement with France in 1545, raised at Portsmouth, England 1982 - Riot in Amsterdam as tram catches fire 1983 - Last hand-cranked telephones US went out of service as 440 telephone customers in Bryant Pond, Maine, were switched over to direct-dial 1984 - 1st space walk by US woman (Dr Kathryn D Sullivan) 1984 - August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," premieres in NYC 1984 - NASA launches space vehicle S-208 1984 - VP candidate debate-Graldine Ferraro (D) & George Bush (R) 1985 - Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB 1985 - Pres Reagan bans importation of South African Krugerrands 1985 - US intercepts Egyptian Boeing with Achille Lauro terrorists 1986 - Reagan & Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland 1987 - 200,000 gays march for civil rights in Washington 1990 - "Miser" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 93 performances 1990 - Center for Urban archaeology opens in NYC South Street Seaport Museum 1990 - Octavio Paz wins Nobel Prize for literature 1990 - Oil hits a record $40.42 per barrel 1991 - Anita Hill testifies Clarence Thomas sexually harrased her 1991 - Chip Beck ties PGA lowest 18 hole score of 59 1991 - Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart seen soliciting a prostitute 1992 - 1st 3-way presidential debate (Bush-Clinton-Perot) 1992 - Deion Sanders, plays for Atlanta Falcons (NFL) & Braves (Baseball) 1992 - Toronto down 6-1 in 7th beats A's 7-6 in 11th in AL playoff 1993 - Norwegian Rushdie publisher William Nygaard injured in attack 1993 - US warship Harlan County anchors off Port-au-Prince Haiti 1994 - Russian ruble decreases to 3,926 rubles per dollar 1994 - Space shuttle STS-68 (Endeavour 7), lands 1995 - John Bobbitt has plastic surgery to increase his penis 3 inches 1995 - O J Simpson cancels a TV appearance on Dateline 1996 - Ford buys rights to named Detroit domed stadium for $40 million 1997 - Dennis Rodman returns from 2nd longest NBA suspension (11 games) 1998 - Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail LPGA Tournament