Today in history

1789 : Ben Franklin writes 'Nothing in life is certain but death & taxes'

1849 : Peter Burnett elected as first governor of California

1851 : Telegraph connection between London-Paris linked

1875 : Harvard-Yale game is first college football contest with uniforms

1875 : National Bowling Association organized in New York

1895 : First shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii

1907 : French cyclist Paul Cornu flies first helicopter (twin rotor)

1913 : First modern elastic brassiere patented by Mary Phelps Jacob

1935 : Anti-British riots in Egypt

1952 : False fingernails first sold

1960 : Sammy Davis Jr. marries May Britt

1964 : Pope Paul VI gives tiara to the poor

1970 : Cyclone kills estimated 300.000 in Chittagong, Bangladesh

1970 : Lt General Hafez al-Assad becomes PM of Syria following military coup

1986 : US president Reagan confesses weapon sales to Iran

1990 : The first known web page is written

2001 : In the first such act since World War II US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States

2015 : Multiple terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France, resulting in 130 fatalities