Today in History - History - October 15th

1764Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

1966LBJ signs a bill creating US Dept of Transportation

1944The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes over the power in Hungary.

1815Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on island of St Helena to begin his exile

1928Walter Johnson signs a 3-year contract to manage the Senators

1905Claude Debussy's "La Mer" premieres

1917World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.

2000Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" debuts on HBO

19693rd Country Music Association Award: Johnny Cash & Tammy Wynette wins

1951"I Love Lucy", starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, debuts on CBS

1955Victor Pecci, Asuncion Paraguay, tennis star

70 BCVirgil, (Publius Vergilius Maro) Andes, Cisalpine Gaul, Roman Republican poet (Aeneid), (d. 19 BC)

1908John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (Affluent Society-58 Hillman Award)

1951Roscoe Tanner, Kiawah Island South Carolina, tennis player (Wimbledon Finals 1979)

1542Djalalud-Din Mohammed Akbar, Mughal Emperor in India (1556-1605)

1844Friedrich Nietzsche, Röcken bei Lützen, Prussia, German philosopher (Beyond Good and Evil), (d. 1900)

1927Writer Graham Greene (23) weds Vivien Dayrell-Browning at St. Mary's Church in Hampstead, North London

1980Actor Rod Taylor (50) weds Carol Kikumura

1913Author Beatrix Potter (47) weds solicitor William Heelis at St Mary Abbots in Kensington, London

2011"Charmed" TV actress Shannen Doherty (40) weds photographer Kurt Iswarienko (37) in Malibu

1963Folk singer Mary Travers (26) weds photographer Barry Feinstein

194838th US President Gerald Ford (35) weds department store fashion consultant Elizabeth (Betty) Bloomer Warren (30) at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Ford

2002Comedian Tom Green (30) divorces actress Drew Barrymore (26) due to irreconcilable differences after less than a year of marriage

1993Baseball player Darryl Strawberry (31) divorces Lisa Andrews after more than 8 years of marriage

1917Mata Hari, Dutch dancer/German spy, executed by firing squad in Paris

1946Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichmarshal, poisons himself in prison at 53

2012Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, dies from a heart attack at 89

1976Carlo Gambino, Italian-American gangster, dies of a heart attack at 74