• 1957: A fire at the Windscale nuclear plant in Cumbria, UK becomes the world's first major nuclear accident.
• 1995: Most Dutch telephone numbers increase to 10 digits
• 2002: SA President Thabo Mbeki is publicly opposed to the provision of AIDS drugs in South Africa, arguing that they are dangerously toxic and questioning whether HIV or poverty is the true cause of AIDS.
• 2005: Milton Obote (81), Uganda's former dictator, dies in a South African hospital.
• 2013: Scott Carpenter, American pilot and astronaut, dies from complications from a stroke at 88.
• 1932: Mandlenkosi Zondi, S.A sculptor, is born in Mtulwa, Greytown District.
• 1960: "Laughs & Other Events" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 8 perfs.
• 1971: Fenholt & Webber's musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" premieres in NYC
• 1983: Magdalena Gertruide (Magda) Sauer, first woman in SA to practise as a qualified architect and art critic of Die Burger, dies in Claremont, Cape Town.
• 2013: Alice Munro is awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for literature.
• 1975: A memorial tablet for Johannes van der Walt, SA wrestler and national hero of an Afrikaner section, is unveiled at the Rand Afrikaans University.
• 1976: Greece's 98 year-old Dimitrion Yordanidis, is oldest man to compete in a marathon; he finishes in 7:33.
• 1957: Craig Marseilles, Toronto, Canadian Tour golfer (1995 Gold Coast) is born.
• 1992: The Bafana Bafana, SA soccer team, loses 0-4 against Nigeria in an away game.
• 2006: Kaizer Chiefs are handed a R250 000 fine suspended for a year and a one match lock out for their next home PSL match at a disciplinary hearing in Johannesburg, after their supporters went on the rampage after their PSL 1-2 loss against Wits University on September 20 followed by more acts of hooliganism in their Supa8 semi-final encounter against Moroka Swallows on September 24, which Chiefs won in Durban.
Compiled by: Thandi Xaba