Today in History - History - October 11th

1976Mao Zedong's widow Jiang Qing & "Gang of Four" arrested & charged with plotting a coup

1521Pope Leo X titles King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith"

1868Thomas Edison patents his 1st invention: electric voice machine

2012Mo Yan, a hallucinatory realist writer, wins the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature

19622nd Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII

1969Blues artist Muddy Waters involved in a car crash that kills 3

1945Chinese civil war begins, Chiang Kai-Shek vs Mao Zedong

1978Dodgers Bob Welch dramatically strikes out Reggie Jackson in 9th

1932Stalin forces Zinoviev & Kamenev out of Communist Party

1975Islander's Bryan Trottier's 1st career hat trick

1844Henry John Heinz, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded prepared-foods company (Heinz-57 varieties), (d. 1919)

1884Eleanor Roosevelt, [Anna], New York, 1st lady (1933-1945)/crusader (Nobel 1931), (d. 1962)

1948Fellow students Fidel Castro and Mirta Diaz-Balart marry (divorced 1955)

1938Jazz musician Louis Armstrong (37) weds longtime girlfriend Alpha Smith

1987Rock and blues singer Joe Cocker (43) weds Pam Baker

1954Philippine president Corazon Aquino (21) weds Tarlac governor Benigno Aquino Jr (22) in Pasay City, Philippines

1963Edith Piaf, French singer (No, I don't regret anything), dies at 47

1809Meriwether Lewis, (Lewis & Clark Expedition), commits suicide at 35