Today is Wednesday, October 10, the 284th day of 2012. There are 82 days left in the year.
1865 ― John Hyatts patents the billiard ball
1868 ― Cuba revolts for independence against Spain
1886 ― First dinner jacket worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, N.Y. (the tuxedo)
1911 ― Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries overthrow Manchus (Taiwan National Day)
1933 ― First synthetic detergent for home use marketed
1935 ― George Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" opens on Broadway
1957 ― President Eisenhower apologizes to finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Del., restaurant
1963 ― Treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests signed by U.S., U.K., USSR
1975 ― Liz Taylor's sixth marriage (remarries Richard Burton)
1981 ― Anwar Sadat's funeral service is held in Cairo