It happened today – this day in history – October 28
- Two arrested after incident in Chelmsford - 02/07/2022
- Hockley set to stage Wild Woods Week - 02/07/2022
- Appeal for witnesses to stabbing in Leytonstone - 02/07/2022
969: Byzantine troops occupy Antioch.
1420: Beijing is declared the capital of the Ming dynasty.
1492: Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name “Juana”.
1726: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is published.
1746: The cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake in Peru, killing 18,000.
1903: Author Evelyn Waugh is born in London.
1904: St Louis police try a new investigation method – fingerprints.
1918: Czechoslovakia gains independence as Austria-Hungary breaks up.
1940: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet in Florence.
1948: The flag of Israel is adopted.
1951: Alfa Romeo driver Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina wins the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
1954: Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1958: Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli is elected Pope, taking the name John XXIII.
1961: Raymond Jones goes into Liverpool’s NEMS Record store trying to buy My Bonnie, a song that had been released in Germany by a band called The Beatles. Shop manager Brian Epstein promises to investigate further.
1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis ends as US President John F Kennedy welcomes Russia’s announcement that it will dismantle its missiles based on the island.
1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono record Happy Xmas (War Is Over) in New York.
1974: Sports Minister Denis Howell’s wife and young son survive an IRA bomb attack on their car.
1979: Chairman Hua Kuo-Feng becomes the first Chinese leader to visit Britain.
1986: 24-year old Essex man Jeremy Bamber is sentenced to life in prison for killing five members of his family.
1997: REM drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years to become a farmer – albeit a multi millionaire one.
1998: Poet Ted Hughes dies aged 68.
2007: Country musician Porter Wagoner dies in Nashville aged 80 from lung cancer.
Singles chart:
- Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
- Rule The World – Take That
- The Heart Never Lies – McFly
- About You Know – Sugarbabes
- Valerie – Mark Ronson ft Amy Winehouse
- Gimme More – Britney Spears
- Apologize – Timbaland ft One Republic
- Uninvited – Freemasons ft Bailey Tzuke
- Goodbye Mr A – The Hoosiers
- Lord Don’t Slow Me Down – Oasis

Album chart:
- The Trick To Life – The Hoosiers
- Still On Top – Van Morrison
- Version – Mark Ronson
- Change – Sugarbabes
- Back To Black – Amy Winehouse
- Pull The Pin – Stereophonics
- Complete – Eric Clapton
- Hits – Phil Collins
- Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace – Foo Fighters
- Pictures – Katie Melua
2017: Spain’s central government imposes direct rule on Catalonia, dismisses its government and calls for new elections in December.
2019: The EU agrees to another Brexit extension to January 31, 2020. On the same day, musician Stephen Morris appealed for the return of his £250,000 antique violin after leaving it on a train.
BIRTHDAYS: Dame Cleo Laine, jazz singer, 93; Bernie Ecclestone, motorsport impressario, 90; David Dimbleby, political commentator, 82; Hank Marvin (Brian Rankin), guitarist (The Shadows) 79; Caitlyn Jenner, former Olympic decathlete, 71; Annie Potts, actress, 68; Desmond Child, songwriter, 67; Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, 65; Stephen Morris, drummer (Joy Division/New Order) 63; William Reid, guitarist/songwriter (The Jesus and Mary Chain) 62; Lauren Holly, actress, 57; Julia Roberts, actress, 53; Joaquin Phoenix, actor, 46; Gwendoline Christie, actress, 42; Matt Smith, actor, 38; Frank Ocean (Christopher Breaux), singer-songwriter, 33.