This day in history

[October 08, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2011. There are 84 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Oct. 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wis., and in several communities in Michigan.

On this date:

In 1869, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce (puhrs), died in Concord, N.H.

In 1918, U.S. Army Cpl. Alvin C. York led an attack that killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 others in the Argonne Forest in France.

In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was indicted by a grand jury in New Jersey for murder in the death of the son of Charles A. Lindbergh.

In 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada.

In 1956, Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

In 1957, the Brooklyn Baseball Club announced it was accepting an offer to move the Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles.

In 1967, former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee died in London at age 84.

In 1970, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

In 1981, at the White House, President Ronald Reagan greeted former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, who were preparing to travel to Egypt for the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, were banned.

Ten years ago: The United States pounded terrorist targets in Afghanistan from the air for a second night. An SAS airliner taking off from Milan, Italy, hit a private jet, careened into an airport building and exploded, killing 118 people. Seventeen Virginians were killed when a dive boat capsized during a hurricane in Belize. American Leland H. Hartwell and Britons R. Timothy Hunt and Paul M. Nurse won the Nobel Prize in medicine. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh told listeners he had become virtually deaf (Limbaugh later had an electronic device implanted in his skull that restored much of his hearing).

Five years ago: Word reached the United States of North Korea's claim that it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test (because of the time difference, it was Oct. 9 in North Korea).

One year ago: Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (lee-OO' show-BOH') won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, prompting a furious response from China. British aid worker Linda Norgrove, who'd been taken captive in Afghanistan, was killed during a U.S. special forces rescue attempt, apparently by a U.S. grenade. Gen. James Jones announced he was quitting as President Barack Obama's national security adviser. Albertina Walker, the Grammy-winning singer from Chicago known as the "Queen of Gospel," died at age 81.

Today's birthdays: Entertainment reporter Rona Barrett is 75. Actor Paul Hogan is 72. Rhythm-and-blues singer Fred Cash (The Impressions) is 71. Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson is 70. Comedian Chevy Chase is 68. Author R.L. Stine is 68. Actor Dale Dye is 67. Country singer Susan Raye is 67. TV personality Sarah Purcell is 63. Actress Sigourney Weaver is 62. Rhythm-and-blues singer Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool & the Gang) is 61. Producer-director Edward Zwick is 59. Country singer-musician Ricky Lee Phelps is 58. Actor Michael Dudikoff is 57. Comedian Darrell Hammond is 56. Actress Stephanie Zimbalist is 55. Rock musician Mitch Marine is 50. Actress Kim Wayans is 50. Rock singer Steve Perry (Cherry Poppin' Daddies) is 48. Actor Ian Hart is 47. Gospel/rhythm-and-blues singer CeCe Winans is 47. Rock musician C.J. Ramone (The Ramones) is 46. Actress-producer Karyn Parsons is 45. Singer-producer Teddy Riley is 45. Actress Emily Procter is 43. Actor Dylan Neal is 42. Actor-screenwriter Matt Damon is 41. Actress Kristanna Loken is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Byron Reeder (Mista) is 32. Actor Nick Cannon is 31. Actor Max Crumm is 26. Singer-songwriter-producer Bruno Mars is 26. Actor Angus T. Jones is 18. Actress Molly Quinn is 18.

Thought for today: "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." -- Will Rogers, American humorist (1879-1935)

[Associated Press]

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