Today:
1399 – Henry IV is proclaimed King of England after Richard II’s abdication.
1452 – Johann Gutenberg’s Bible, the first major book printed using movable type, is completed.
1791 – The National Constituent Assembly of France is dissolved and replaced by the Legislative Assembly.
1846 – Anesthesia is used for the first time during an operation by American dentist Dr. William Morton.
1888 – Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, in London.
1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.
1938 – The Munich Agreement is signed, allowing Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
1947 – The World Series is broadcast on television for the first time, with the New York Yankees playing the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1960 – The first televised presidential debate takes place between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
1966 – Botswana, formerly known as Bechuanaland, gains independence from the United Kingdom.