Calendar for October 12th, 2012

2001: Columbus Day

2001: International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction

2001: Thanksgiving (Canada)

Born 1537: King Edward VI of England

1810: Bavarian Crown Price Ludwig married Princess Therese of Hildburghausen in Munich. Their wedding celebration lasted for days, and became a yearly tradition known today as “Oktoberfest.”

Born 1860: Elmer Sperry (inventor)

Died 1870: Robert E. Lee (American Confederate general)

Born 1896: Eugenio Montale (poet)

1928: An iron lung respirator used for the first time in Boston, MA

Born 1935: Luciano Pavarotti (opera singer)

Born 1947: Chris Wallace (broadcast journalist)

1950: The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made its television debut. Burns and Allen had been on the radio since 1935

1957: Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson won Nobel Peace Prize

1965: The U.S. Navy concluded its Sealab II program, in which teams of aquanauts lived and worked in a capsule submerged off the California coast

1968: 19th Summer Olympic games began, Mexico City, Mexico

Born 1968: Hugh Jackman (actor)

Born 1969: Martie Maguire (musician, member of Dixie Chicks)

Born 1970: Kirk Cameron (actor)

1971: Jesus Christ Superstar, the Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, premieres in New York

Born 1975: Marion Jones (athlete)

Died 1997: John Denver (musician)

Died 1999: Wilt Chamberlain (basketball player)

Died 2002: Ray Conniff (bandleader)

Died 2003: Bill Shoemaker (jockey)

2007: Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize