Table of Contents
Today is Tuesday, October 15, the 289th day of 2024. There are 77 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On October 15, 2017, actress and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status. Within hours, tens of thousands had adopted the hashtag #MeToo (using a phrase introduced a decade earlier by social activist Tarana Burke).
Also on this date:
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, the deposed French emperor, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5 1/2 years of his life in exile.
In 1945, the former Prime Minister of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, was executed for treason.
In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring (GEH’-reeng) fatally poisoned himself hours before he was to be executed.
In 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall on the Carolina coast as a Category 4 storm; Hazel was blamed for about 1,000 deaths in the Caribbean, 95 in the US and 81 in Canada.
In 1976, the first debate of its kind took place between the vice presidential candidates, Democrat Walter F. Mondale and Republican Bob Dole, who faced off in Houston.
In 1989, Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings broke Gordie Howe’s all-time NHL scoring record in a game against his former team, the Edmonton Oilers.
In 1991, despite allegations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirmed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.
In 1997, British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green drove a jet-powered car twice the speed of sound in the Nevada desert, officially breaking the world land speed record.
In 2003, 11 people were killed when a Staten Island ferry crashed into a maintenance pier. (The ferry pilot, who blacked out while operating the ferry, later pleaded guilty to eleven counts of manslaughter.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Linda Lavin is 87.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Palmer is 79.
- Musician Richard Carpenter is 78.
- Film director Mira Nair is 67.
- Britain’s Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, is 65.
- Chef Emeril Lagasse (EM’-ur-ul leh-GAH’-see) is 65.
- Actor Dominic West is 55.
- R&B singer Ginuwine (JIHN’-yoo-wyn) is 54.
- Singer-TV personality Keyshia Cole is 43.
- Actor Bailee Madison is 25.