Like today, October 13, 2021

54: Nero ascends the Roman throne.

1307: By order of the French king, Philip the Beautiful, the Grand Master, Jacques de Mola, as well as thousands of members of the Order of the Templars are arrested. They are tortured and “confess” that they are heretics, while a few months later they will be burned at the stake. It is Friday the 13th and since then this day is considered to bring rudeness.

1773: Charles Messier discovers the Milky Way Galaxy.

1792: George Washington lays the foundation stone for the construction of the White House, which will become the official residence of all US presidents.

1884: Greenwich Mean Time is established as the basis for calculating world time.

1892: Edward Emerson Barnard discovers comet “D / 1892 T1”, the first to be located by photographic means.

1904: The Macedonian warrior Pavlos Melas (Mikis Zezas) is surrounded by a Turkish detachment in the village of Statista (Melas) and is mortally wounded.

1905: The first Soviet of workers is established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in which Leon Trotsky is elected president. Then the workers’ councils will multiply, demanding eight hours and democratic freedoms.

1917: The Miracle of the Sun is recorded in Fatima, Portugal, when 70,000 people claim to have seen the sun “dancing”, changing colors that flooded the sky. The miracle is attributed to the Virgin Mary.

1921: The Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia sign the Treaty of Kars, defining the modern borders between Turkey and the countries of the South Caucasus.

1923: Ankara is declared the capital of the Turkish secular state by the Turkish National Assembly. The relocation of the capital from Istanbul to Ankara was decided by Kemal Ataturk.

1930: Aliki Diplarakou comes second in the Miss Universe beauty contest, which is held in Rio de Janeiro.

1934: The landscaping works of Pedio tou Areos begin with the demolition of the cavalry barracks and the transfer of the refugee settlements.

1943: Italy, having changed “camp”, declares war on its former ally on the Axis, Germany.

1944: The capital of Latvia, Riga, is liberated by the Red Army.

1944: The Hellenic People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) defeats the Germans in the battle of Elektriki, rescuing the power plant in Keratsini.

1946: France adopts the Constitution of the Fourth French Republic.

1951Marlene Dietrich is awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor by the French for her work in North Africa during World War II.

1955: Terrible storms hit Attica and Thessaly and cause the death of 30 people, while leaving hundreds homeless.

1972: A plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashes in the Andes. Several of the passengers were found alive 72 days later, but they confessed to resorting to cannibalism in order to survive. Their incredible story will be transferred to the big screen twice.

1977: During the flight from Mallorca to Frankfurt, two men and two women occupy a Lufthansa plane with 86 passengers. They demand the release of eleven Germans and two Turkish prisoners. The pilot was killed, but all crew members and passengers were evacuated safely after an operation in Somalia on October 17. A hijacker survives.

1980: Cuba announces general amnesty for all Americans in the country’s prisons.

1992: An Air France plane travels around the world in a record time of 33 hours and 1 minute for a passenger flight.

1993: The PASOK government, which has 43 members, is sworn in with Andreas Papandreou as prime minister.

1995: Greece’s embargo on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia lifted.

1999: According to the UN, the world’s population reaches 6 billion. Kofi Annan randomly selects a newborn in Sarajevo to celebrate the event.

2010: The first of the 33 trapped workers in a mine in Chile are released. The operation to rescue all the workers who are on the ground for 69 days, at a depth of 622 meters, in a mine in the Atacama Desert, will last about 48 hours.

2016: The Swedish Academy announces that the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded to Bob Dylan, “for creating new poetic expressions in the context of the great tradition of American song”. Thus, he will become the first songwriter to be honored with the award in the history of the institution.

Births

1161 – Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile

1453 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales

1499 – Claudia, Queen of France

1613 – Louise of Guzman, Queen of Portugal

1821 – Rudolf Virchow, German scientist and politician

1873 – George Kafantaris, Greek politician

1895 – Kurt Schumacher, German politician

1921 – Yves Montand, Italian-French actor and singer

1925 – Gustaf Winkler, Danish singer

1925 – Margaret Thatcher, English politician

1926 – Killer Kowalski, Canadian wrestler

1926 – Paul Soulikias, Greek painter

1927 – Turgut Ozal, Turkish politician

1930 – Safik Handal, Salvadorian politician

1934 – Nana Mouskouri, Greek singer

[1945-DesiButersPresidentofSuriname

1951 – Antonis Kafetzopoulos, Greek actor

1960 – Vassilis Lekkas, Greek singer

1960 – Joey Belladonna, American singer

1964 – Pavlos Pavlidis, Greek songwriter

1965 – Michalis Koumbios, Greek composer

1967 – Javier Sotomayor, Cuban athlete

1969 – Nikolaos Grammatikos, Greek handball player

1971 – Pyrros Dimas, Greek weightlifter

1977 – Paul Pierce, American basketball player

1981 – Dimitris Mougios, Greek rower

1982 – Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer

1984 – Lionel Jorge Nunies, Argentine footballer

Deaths

54 – Claudius, Roman emperor

1093 – Robert I, Earl of Flanders

1131 – Philip of France, King of the Franks

1382 – Peter II, King of Cyprus

1605 – Akbar the Great, Emperor of the Mongols

1715 – Nicolas Malbrans, French philosopher

1815 – Joachim Mira, French soldier

1882 – Arthur de Gobineau, French philosopher

1904 – Pavlos Melas, Greek soldier

1925 – Emmanuel Lykoudis, Greek writer

1961 – Louis Rougasore, Prime Minister of Burundi

1962 – Dimitrios Tsalopoulos, Greek politician

1968 – Pausanias Lykourezos, Greek politician

1976 – Dimitrios Papadimitriou, Greek politician

1985 – Spyros Vassileiou, Greek painter

1985 – Anastasios Alevizos (known as Tassos), Greek engraver

1987 – Walter Hauser Bratain, American physicist

1997 – Adil Tsarcani, Albanian politician

2007 – Bob Denard, French mercenary

2008 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor

2008 – Socrates Dimitriadis, Greek politician

2010 – Costas Kafassis, Greek singer

2013 – Filippos Syrigos, Greek journalist

2016 – Pumipon Antuniadet, King of Thailand

2016 – Dario Fo, Italian writer

2017 – Albert Zafi, President of Madagascar

2018 – Nikolai Pankin, Russian swimmer

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