Shimla Nov.1 Keekli Bureau
2006
American novelist William Styron—known for his treatment of tragic themes and his rich classical prose style, highlighted in such works as Sophie’s Choice (1979)—died at age 81.
1999
American professional gridiron football player Walter Payton, who was one of the game’s greatest running backs, died from bile duct cancer.
1997
James Cameron’s Titanic, a drama about the doomed ocean liner, had its first public screening at the Tokyo International Film Festival; the movie would become one of the highest grossing of all time, and it made Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet international stars.
1994
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched its Wind spacecraft on a mission that would include a “halo orbit” between the Sun and Earth to explore the space environment there.
1981
Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence from the United Kingdom, with Vere Bird serving as the first prime minister.
1967
The film classic Cool Hand Luke opened in American theatres, and it became especially known for Paul Newman’s performance in one of his iconic antihero roles.
1950
Puerto Rican nationalists, members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman.
1938
In a horse race that captured the imagination of Americans during the Great Depression, Seabiscuit defeated War Admiral by four lengths.
1922
The Grand National Assembly, at the behest of Kemal Atatürk, voted to abolish the sultanate of Turkey.
1871
American author Stephen Crane, whose works included The Red Badge of Courage (1895), was born.
1765
The Stamp Act went into effect, marking the first British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation of all American colonial commercial and legal papers.
1755
Lisbon was heavily damaged by an earthquake that demolished more than 9,000 buildings and killed as many as 30,000 people.
1611
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest was reportedly performed for the first time.
1512
For the first time, the general public was able to view Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace; the artwork is among the greatest achievements in Western painting.
996
Holy Roman Emperor Otto III granted the Bavarian bishopric of Freising 30 “royal hides,” or about 8 square km (2,000 acres), of land in a deed that contained the first recorded use of the name Ostarrîchi, from which the name Austria is derived.
