On This Day: Wednesday October 18, 2006

This is the 291st day of the year, with 74 days remaining in 2006.

Fact of the Day: cheetah

Cheetahs are long-legged, swift-running wild cats of Africa and southwest Asia, with solid black round or oval spots. The cheetah is the fastest animal on land and can reach a top speed of 71 mph, which it can maintain for about 10-20 seconds. Cheetahs are hunters and eat a variety of small- to medium-sized animals. The name "cheetah" comes from a Hindi word meaning "spotted one" or from the Sanskrit word chitraka. The cheetah is the second most social cat behind the lion. It cannot roar, but can purr like a cat.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Luke, St. Gwen of Cornwall, and St. Justus of Beauvais.
Azerbaijan: Independence Day.
Canada: Persons Day.

Events

1469 - Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile, making Spain a world power. They started the Spanish Inquisition in 1478.
1648 - The first American labor organization was founded by Boston's shoemakers, barrel makers, and tub makers.
1685 - The Edict of Nantes, granting religious freedom to the Huguenots, was revoked by King Louis XIV of France.
1767 - The Mason-Dixon line, the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, was agreed upon.
1867 - The U.S. took formal possession of Alaska from Russia. It had cost $7.2 million.
1892 - The first long-distance telephone line between Chicago and New York became operational.
1898 - American troops raised the U.S. flag over Puerto Rico, formalizing U.S. authority over the island. In December, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Spanish-American War and approving the ceding of Puerto Rico to the United States.
1922 - British Broadcasting Company (later British Broadcasting Corporation) was officially formed.
1944 - Soviet Union troops invaded Czechoslovakia during World War II.
1967 - Russian spacecraft made the first soft landing on Venus.
1969 - The U.S. federal government banned cyclamates, the artificial sweeteners, because it was shown that the substance caused cancer in laboratory rats.
1972 - Congress passed the Water Pollution Control Act.
1989 - Erich Honecker was ousted as leader of East Germany after 18 years; he was succeeded by Egon Krenz.
1989 - Hungary was proclaimed a free republic.

Births

1904 - A.J. Liebling, American journalist and author.
1926 - Chuck Berry, American singer.
1927 - George C. Scott, American actor.
1956 - Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakian-born tennis player.