📜 This Day in History

October 5

• 869The Fourth Council of Constantinople, the eighth Catholic Ecumenical Council, was convened to discuss the patriarchate of Photios I of Constantinople.
• 1869During construction of the Eastman tunnel in St. Anthony, Minnesota (now Minneapolis), the Mississippi River broke through the tunnel's limestone ceiling, nearly destroying Saint Anthony Falls.
• 1937Six days after retiring from the Queen's College, Oxford, Robert Howard Hodgkin was elected its provost due to the sudden death of B. H. Streeter.
• 1986Eugene Hasenfus's plane was shot down by Nicaraguan forces while carrying weapons to the Contra rebels on behalf of the U.S. government; he was subsequently captured, leading to an international controversy.
• 1999Two trains collided head-on in Ladbroke Grove, London, killing 31 people, injuring 417, and severely damaging public confidence in the management and regulation of safety of Britain's privatised railway system.
• 2014Formula One racing driver Jules Bianchi crashed at the Japanese Grand Prix, sustaining fatal head injuries that would kill him the following year.

Born on this day

• 1713Denis Diderot, French philosopher and critic (died 1784)
• 1829Chester A. Arthur, American general, lawyer, and politician, 21st President of the United States (died 1886)
• 1936Václav Havel, Czech poet, playwright, and politician, 1st President of the Czech Republic (died 2011)
• 1975Kate Winslet, English actress