Today in history, October 15: Nelson Mandela awarded Nobel Peace Prize

African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on this day in 1993, an honour he shared with South African President FW de Klerk. 

Highlights in history on this date:

1581: Commissioned by Catherine de’ Medici, the Ballet Comique de la Reine is staged in Paris. This is often considered to be the first major ballet.
1582: The Gregorian calendar goes into effect in the Papal States by decree of Pope Gregory XIII. It is soon adopted in other countries. The day’s date was October 5 in the Julian calendar.
1815: Napoleon Bonaparte lands on the Island of St Helena, where he is sent into exile by the British after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
1917: Germany’s famed woman spy, Mata Hari, is executed in Paris during World War I.
1945: French statesman Pierre Laval is executed for betraying his country to Nazis in World War II.
1946: Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering commits suicide by poison one day before his scheduled execution.

1964: Death aged 73 of US composer and lyricist Cole Porter, who wrote more than 20 Broadway musicals including Kiss Me Kate and songs such as Let’s Do It and Anything Goes.
1969: Somalia’s President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke is assassinated.
1970: Collapse of Westgate Bridge in Melbourne kills 35 and injures 17.
1990: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1991: Clarence Thomas narrowly wins confirmation to US Supreme Court, overcoming accusations of sexual harassment.
1993: African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela and South African President FW de Klerk share Nobel Peace Prize.
1995: Russian commandos swarm a tour bus near the Kremlin, freeing four South Koreans and a Russian driver held hostage and killing a rifle-wielding assailant.
1997: British Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green twice drives a jet-powered car in the Nevada desert faster than the speed of sound, beating the world’s land-speed record.

1998: The Yugoslav military signs an accord allowing NATO air surveillance over rebellious Kosovo province.
2000: Rival militias in the Solomon Islands sign an accord to end two years of fighting over access to land and jobs in the Pacific archipelago.
2003: The UN Security Council votes 15-0 to pass a US-proposed resolution setting out guidelines and goals for the rebuilding of post-war Iraq.
2005: China announces completion of the world’s highest railway, the pan-Himalayan line located 5072 metres above sea level.
2006: Thousands of people are evacuated from their homes in the central German city of Hanover as experts dispose of three freshly unearthed World War II bombs.
2008: Former AFL star Wayne Carey is sentenced in the US to 50 hours of community service and alcohol and anger management counselling after pleading guilty to assaulting two Miami police officers in 2007; Queensland resident Lance Atkinson faces criminal action in the US after being named one of the alleged kingpins in the world’s biggest spamming network.
2010: A huge drill breaks through the last stretch of rock deep in the Swiss Alps, creating the world’s longest tunnel.
2011: Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismisses US accusations that Tehran was involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, saying the claims had no “legal logic”.
2015: US President Barack Obama says the US will keep its troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016.
2016: Three Australian citizens are among 19 employees of James Packer’s Crown Resorts group detained in China and later charged with illegal promotion of gambling.
2018: Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first child, Kensington Palace announces, hours after the royal couple arrive in Australia for their first official tour.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States (1858-1919).