On this day 18th October

Some notable facts about this date, for more, visit http://www.onthisday.com

Facts

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock

1685 French King Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes cancelling rights of French Protestants

1867 US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia having paid $7.2 million

1922 British Broadcasting Company (BBC) founded, later called British Broadcasting Corporation

1931 American gangster Al Capone convicted of tax evasion

1962 James Watson (US), Francis Crick (UK) and Maurice Wilkins (UK) win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in determining the structure of DNA

Deaths

707 John VII, Catholic Pope (705-07), of Greek ancestry, dies

1541 Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland (b. 1489)

1865 Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, British Prime Minister (1855-58 and 1859-65), dies of fever at 80

1931 Thomas Edison, American inventor (lightbulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), dies at 84

1978 Jacques Mornard, [Ramon Mercader], murderer of Trotsky, dies at 64

2005 Johnny Haynes, English footballer (b. 1934)

2008 Dee Dee Warwick, American soul singer (b. 1945)

2013 Tom Foley, American politician (Rep-D, 1965-1995) and speaker of the house (1989-95), dies from complications from a stroke at 84

Born on this day

1987 Zac Efron, American actor (High School Musical, 17 Again), born in San Luis Obispo, California,