October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, is shot dead

October 30, 1991, George Bush opens Middle East historic peace conference

October 29, 1975, Franco's 36 year reign ends

October 28, 1962, the World breathes a sigh of relief as the Cuban missile crisis ends

October 27, 1977, UK Liberal politician, Jeremy Thorpe claims he was not involved in plot to kill former male model Norman Scott

October 26, 1994, Jordan and Israel sign a peace agreement ending 46 years of war

October 25, 1854, a British attack into the Russian guns at Balaclava is immortalised as the 'Charge of the Light Brigade'

October 24, 1986, the UK government breaks off diplomatic relations with Syria following revelations of official complicity in Nezar Hindawi's plot to blow up an El Al airliner

October 23, 1956, thousands of people take to the streets of Hungary to demand an end to Soviet rule

October 22, 1983, CND, Ban the Bomb, march in London attracts biggest crowd ever

On this day October 21, 1966, 144 people died in the Aberfan tragedy

October, 20, 2011, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is captured by rebels and summarily executed

October 19, 1989 Guildford Four, having served 15 years, are released after the Court of Appeal quashes their convictions

October 18,1989, The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker ousted on health grounds  October 17, 1968, two black athletes made a silent protest at the Mexico Olympics
October 16, 1967, Joan Baez was arrested during a Vietnam War protest

October 15, 1917, exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad outside of Paris, for espionage

October 14, 1994, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Israelis , Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, are the winners of the Nobel peace prize

October 13, 1992, thousands of UK miners lose their jobs

October 12, 1942, a bomb attack on the British Government at the Conservative party conference in Brighton rocked the nation

October 11, 1982, The Mary Rose, flagship of King Henry VIII, rises to the surface after 437 years at the bottom of the Solent

October 10, 1975, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor remarry 16 months after divorcing

October 9, 1967, Cuban revolutionary "Che" Guevara was shot dead

October 8 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California

October 7, 1985 Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard

October 6, 1966, in the US the hallucinogenic drug LSD is declared illegal

October 5, 1947, Truman makes the first televised Presidential address in the US

October 4, 1993, the Battle of Mogadishu, triggered by a US raid, ends with 18 US soldiers and up to 1,000 Somalis dead.

October 3, 1932, Iraq gained full independence from Great Britain and became a sovereign state

October 2, 1944, the remaining Polish Warsaw rebels surrendered to the Germans

October 1, 2011, Britain basks in hottest October day ever