On Sept. 29, 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church. [More proof of Gawd's love. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1758, English Adm. Horatio Nelson was born in Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk. [Was he an admiral at birth? — Ed.]
In 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
In 1829, London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.
In 1901, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi was born in Rome.
In 1918, Allied forces began their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line.
In 1923, Britain began to govern Palestine under a League of Nations mandate.
In 1936, in the presidential race between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon, both parties used radio for the first time.
In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
In 1941, the Babi Yar massacre of nearly 34,000 Jewish men, women and children began on the outskirts of Kiev in the Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard the British ship Nelson [Coincidence? — Ed.] off Malta.
In 1954, New York Giants centerfielder Willie Mays made a running catch with his back to home plate on a 450-foot blast by Cleveland Indians batter Vic Wertz in Game 1 of the World Series. It is widely considered to be the greatest catch ever made.
In 1957, baseball's New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds before moving to San Francisco for the next season.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, proclaimed his country's new constitution.
In 1963, the second session of the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Pope John Paul II began the first papal visit to Ireland as he arrived for a three-day tour.
In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)
In 1988, the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.
In 1992, Brazil's President Fernando Collor de Mello became the first Latin American leader to be impeached. Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced he was returning to the Los Angeles Lakers less than a year after he retired because he had the AIDS virus.
Ten years ago: Vice President Al Gore abruptly moved his presidential campaign headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tenn., to get "out of the Beltway and into the heartland." The Associated Press reported on the killing of South Korean refugees by U.S. soldiers in the early days of the Korean War, beneath a bridge at a hamlet called No Gun Ri; The Associated Press quoted ex-GIs as saying "hundreds" were shot dead in late July 1950. (In 2001, after its own investigation, the U.S. Army affirmed that killings had occurred, but said they were not deliberate.)
In 2000, Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.
Five years ago: A video surfaced showing Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage held by Iraqi militants, pleading for help between the bars of a makeshift cage. (Bigley was later killed.) The privately built SpaceShipOne rocket plane hurtled past the edge of earth's atmosphere, completing the first stage of a quest to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
In 2005, John Roberts was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation. New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from 85 days of federal detention after agreeing to testify in a criminal probe into the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity.
In 2006, Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he'd sent to former House pages. [Punishment: He's found himself a radio gig. — Ed.]
One year ago: On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777 points after the House defeated, 228-205, a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation's financial system, leaving both parties and the Bush administration scrambling to pick up the pieces.
Today's Birthdays: Actress Lizabeth Scott is 87. Actor Steve Forrest is 85. Musical conductor Richard Bonynge is 79. Actress Anita Ekberg is 78. Actor Eddie Barth is 78. Writer-director Robert Benton is 77. Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 74. [See "Entertainment History" below. — Ed.] Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is 73. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is 67. Actor Ian McShane is 67. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 67. Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland, is 66. Television-film composer Mike Post is 65. Actress Patricia Hodge is 63. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 61. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 61. Rock singer-musician Mike Pinera is 61. Country singer Alvin Crow is 59. Actor Drake Hogestyn is 56. Broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill is 54. Former child actor Ken Weatherwax (TV: "The Addams Family") is 54. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 53. Singer Suzzy Roche (The Roches) is 53. Comedian-actor Andrew "Dice" Clay is 52. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 51. Actor Roger Bart is 47. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 46. Actress Jill Whelan is 43. Actor Luke Goss is 41. Rock musician Brad Smith (Blind Melon) is 41. Actress Erika Eleniak is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Devante Swing (Jodeci) is 40. Country singer Brad Cotter ("Nashville Star") is 39. Actress Emily Lloyd is 39. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 39. Actress Rachel Cronin is 38. Country musician Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive) is 36. Actor Alexis Cruz is 35.
Today In Entertainment History September 29
In 1902, Broadway impresario David Belasco reopened the Republic Theatre under his own name.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" made its premiere on CBS.
In 1976, Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shot his bass player, Norman "Butch" Owens, while trying to shoot at a soda bottle with a .357 Magnum. Lewis was charged with shooting a firearm within city limits. [Nice birthday party there, Jer! — Ed.]
In 1977, James Brown's band walked out on him in Hallendale, Fla., complaining that he underpaid them.
In 1985, "MacGyver" made its debut on ABC.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of slapping a police officer during a stop in Beverly Hills.
Thought for Today: "If you want work well done, select a busy man — the other kind has not time." — Elbert Hubbard, American author and publisher (1856-1915). [Fuck you six ways to hell, corn-pone American ninny. — Ed.]
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