Previously on this day

The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds.

The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated new bulletins which suggested to many listeners that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the program ran without commercial breaks, thus adding to the dramatic effect. Thousands of listeners were frightened and the news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures.

Some six million people heard the CBS broadcast – a relatively small audience (in the same period, NBC’s audience was an estimated 30 million) – and within a month there were 12,500 newspaper articles about the broadcast or its impact. Some people called CBS, newspapers or the police in confusion over the realism of the news bulletin. Welles and the Mercury Theatre escaped punishment but not censure. The episode launched Welles to fame.

Share this page

Winona Ryder is an American actress that started her career in 1986. Although, she made her screen debut in Lucas, her first significant role came in 1988 with Beetlejuice in a performance that gained her critical and commercial recognition.

After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder continued her career with the cult film Heathers in a prominent and critically acclaimed performance. Her subsequent roles have won her not only critical praise but several awards. In 1983, when Ryder was 12, she enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco where she took her first acting lessons.

In Edward Scissorhands, she played the leading female role alongside then-boyfriend Johnny Depp and it was a significant box office success and received much critical devotion. Ryder also starred in The Age of Innocence with Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis and helmed by director Martin Scorsese. Her role in this film won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as an Academy Award nomination in the same category. In 1999, she performed in and served as an executive producer for Girl, Interrupted based on the 1993 autobiography of Susanna Kaysen.

Share this page

The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627-1628. In the Edict of Nantes, Henry IV of France had given the Huguenots extensive rights. La Rochelle had become the stronghold of the French Huguenot.

Following a Huguenot revolt by Duke Henri de Rohan from 1625, Henry IV’s successor, Louis XIII, declared war against the Huguenots. The Roman Catholic government of France rented ships from the Protestant city of La Rochelle. The Dutch ships transported the French soldiers to La Rochelle. In September 1627, Royal forces besieged La Rochelle, which was the greatest stronghold among the Huguenot cities of France.

Cardinal Richelieu acted as the commander of the besieging troops. French engineers further isolated the city with entrenchments 12 km long, fortified by 11 forts and 18 redoubts. French artillery was used against English ships that tried to supply the city. In September 1628, another English fleet tried to relieve the city. After bombarding French positions, the English fleet had to withdraw. The city surrendered on October 28, 1628.

Share this page

Frances Ann “Fran” Lebowitz is an American author born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey. She is best known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern day Dorothy Parker.

After being expelled from high school and receiving a GED, Lebowitz worked many odd jobs before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview magazine. This was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book was a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, released in 1978, and followed by Social Studies in 1981. Both books are collected, with a new introductory essay, in The Fran Lebowitz Reader. For more than 20 years she has been famous in part not writing Exterior Signs of Wealth, a long-overdue novel purportedly about rich people who want to be artists, and artists who want to be rich.

Lebowitz also made several appearances on Late Night with David Letterman during the early part of its run. Recently, she has made recurring appearances as Judge Jane Goldberg on the television drama Law and Order. She is also the author or a children’s book, Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas, which has been listed on the Publisher’s Weeks juvenile bestseller list.

Share this page

The Battle of Caporetto took place near the present day town of Kobarid, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves.

The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier. Italian losses were massive: 11,000 were killed, 20,000 wounded and 275,000 were taken prisoner. Also, 2,500 guns were captured by the Austrians. Austro-Hungarian and German forces advanced more than 100 km in the direction of Venice, but they were not able to cross the Piave River, where the Italians established a new defensive line.

This line was held during the subsequent Battle of the Piave River and later served as a springboard for the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. The battle led to the conference at Rapallo and the creation of the Supreme War Council, with the aim of improving Allied military co-operation and developing a unified strategy. The commander in charge of the Italian forces was forced to resign after the defeat.

Share this page

Bobby Knight was born in Massillon, Ohio and is an American former college basketball head coach. He was most recently the head men’s basketball coach at Texas Tech before announcing his retirement on February 4, 2008. he was previously the head coach at Indiana University and at the United States Military Academy.

Knight has won more NCAA Division I men’s basketball games than any other head coach. On January 1, 2007, he achieved his 880^th victory, which broke the record previously held by Dean Smith. His 900^th victory came just over a year later, on January 16, 2008. From 1971-2000, Knight coached at Indiana, where he led his teams to three NCAA championships, one National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and 11 Big Ten Conference championships. He received the National Coach of the Year honor four times, and the Big Ten Coach of the Year honor six times.

In 1984, he coached the Michael Jordan-led U.S. Olympic basketball team to win a gold medal, becoming only one of three coaches to win the “triple crown” with an NCAA title, NIT title, and an Olympic gold medal. Due to his in-game behavior, Knight is one of the NCAA Division I college basketball’s most controversial coaches. He has thrown a chair across the court during a game and been arrested for physical assault.

Share this page

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and longevity of its fallout. Three phrases – Black Thursday, Black Monday, and Black Tuesday – are used to describe this collapse of stock values because the crash was not a one-day affair.

The initial crash occurred on October 24, 1929, but it was the catastrophic downturn of Black Monday and Tuesday that resulted in widespread panic and the onset of unprecedented and long-lasting consequences for the United States. The collapse continued for a month. Economists and historians disagree as to what role the crash played in subsequent economic, social, and political events.

The crash in America came near the beginning of the Great Depression, a period of economic decline in the industrialized nations, and led to the institution of landmark financial reforms and new trading regulations. The euphoria and financial gains of the great bull market were shattered on Black Thursday, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did not return to pre-1929 levels until late 1954.

Share this page

The October Revolution, also known as the Soviet Revolution, refers to a revolution that began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd – regarded as a coup d’état by the worker and soldier masses. It was the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution of 1917 and it overthrew the Russian Provisional Government, giving power to the Bolshevik-dominated Soviets.

Initially, the event was referred to as the October uprising, but, with time, the term October Revolution came into use. The revolution was influenced by the mounting frustration of workers and soldiers that erupted in July 1917 with several days of rioting on the streets. After suppressing the riots, the government blamed the Bolsheviks for encouraging the rebellion. Radical anti-war social democrats merged with the Bolsheviks in August.

On October 10, 1917, the Bolsheviks’ Central Committee voted for a resolution that said that an armed uprising was inevitable. On October 23, Bolshevik leader Jaan Anvelt led his revolutionaries in an uprising in Tallinn. On October 25, Bolsheviks led their forces in the uprising in Saint Petersburg, the capital of Russia. For the most part, the revolt was bloodless.

Share this page

The Battle of Aachen took place in Aachen, Germany during World War II. At the time of this battle, there were only 20,000 civilians living there. The remainder of the 160,000 inhabitants had been evacuated to protect them from Allied attacks.

When Germany commander Gerhard von Schwerin contemplated surrender to protect the city’s artifacts from air raids, Adolf Hitler had him removed. Hitler then sent approximately 5,000 Volkssturm to bolster the city’s defenses. The American commanders decided to besiege the city and cut it off from supply and other essentials. The city was important in German history and was the first major one to face invasion.

Hitler ordered that Aachen be held at all costs. Realizing that the city’s garrison was a potential threat, the American commanders decided to take the city directly. Once within the city, they faced murderous urban warfare, advantageous to the Germans who were on their own ground and knew the city well. The American forces took on more than 2,000 casualties in a matter of days and the city was eventually taken at a cost of 5,000 casualties on both sides.

Share this page

Carrie Fisher is an American actress, screenwriter and novelist. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. She was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. When Fisher was two, her parents divorced.

Fisher began appearing with her mother in Las Vegas at age 12. She made her film debut in the Columbia comedy Shampoo starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. In 1977, she starred as Princess Leia in George Lucas’ sci-fi film Star Wars opposite Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford. The huge success of the film made her internationally famous and her character became a merchandising triumph.

Fisher later appeared in The Blues Brothers in a cameo role as a vengeful ex-lover. She appeared on Broadway and went on to portray Leia in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Fisher also appeared in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters. In 1987, she published the semi-autobiographical novel, Postcards from the Edge, and it became a bestseller. It was also made into a film in 1990 starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.

Share this page