Today is Saturday, October 31, the 304th day of 2009. There are 61 days left in the year.
1517 _ Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church-Protestant Reformation
1793 _ Execution of the Girondins at Paris, during the Reign of Terror
1815 _ Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp
1908 _ Fourth Olympic games end in London
1922 _ Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy
1952 _ First thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands
1954 _ Algerian Revolution against French begins
1968 _ President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
1969 _ George Harrison's ``Something" is released in U.K.
1988 _ Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia