TODAY IN HISTORY: Huge search for legendary monster makes 'contact'
October 11
A major sonar exploration of Loch Ness in Scotland to find a monster ended on October 11, 1987, with three "contacts", but no conclusive proof of any underwater creature.
Searchers spent a week on the loch using state-of-the-art equipment to scan the lake. The flotilla of 24 boats detected three sonar "contacts" shown on paper as crescent shaped marks.
While they indicated something large in the water, experts said it could have been a seal or a group of salmon.
Several photos of a monster in the lake have been published over the years. In 1994 the most famous of these, taken in April 1934, was revealed to be a hoax.
October 10
The hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro reached a dramatic conclusion on October 10, 1985, resulting in the capture of four gunmen.
The crisis began two days before when four hijackers from the Palestinian Liberation Front, demanding the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, hijacked the vessel off the coast of Egypt.
During the raid, the hijackers killed a disabled American Jew, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and dumped his body overboard. After two days of negotiations, the four hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities in exchange for a promise of safe passage.
But the US was determined to hit back and not let them get away.
As an Egyptian airliner was flying the four hijackers to Tunisia, US Navy fighter jets forced the plane to land at a NATO airbase in Sicily, where they were arrested. US and Italian troops surrounded the plane, and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody.
They included Youssef Magied al-Molqi, shown here, who was convicted of killing Klinghoffer.
US President Ronald Reagan said the American response showed terrorists "can run, but they can't hide".
On October 10, 2014, music superstar Taylor Swift became the first artist to twice be named Woman of the Year by the American entertainment magazine Billboard.
The singer-songwriter had first received the honour three years previously.
In 2019, she became the first person to receive Billboard's Woman of the Decade award.
Superman actor and spinal chord injury advocate Christopher Reeve died on October 10, 2004, in a New York hospital from cardiac arrest.
The US actor became a paraplegic in 1995 when he fell from a horse while competing in a cross-country competition.
He went on to establish the the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which funds research and advocates the wellbeing of people with spinal cord injuries.
On October 10, 2000, thousands of Londoners watched as a giant Ferris wheel was moved into position to become a new landmark on the city's skyline.
One of the tallest structures in London, the Millennium Wheel, better known now as the London Eye, stands 135 metres high on the South Bank.
Its ridden by millions of visitors every year who enjoy a bird's eye view of the British capital.
October 9
Captured Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was executed by Bolivian soldiers on October 9, 1967.
Guevara played a key role in the Cuban revolution, headed by Fidel Castro, and became an inspiration for South American movements opposing right-wing rulers who were backed by the US spy agency, the CIA.
After his killing, the hands of Guevera were cut off by for fingerprint samples to confirm his identity.
One of the most famous US landmarks opened to the public on October 9, 1888,
The Washington Monument - a marble-faced granite obelisk that honours the first US president, George Washington - was built between 1848 and 1884.
A teenage Pakistani girl became a global symbol of female rights when she was shot on her way to school by Taliban fighters on October 9, 2012.
Masked gunman got on a bus and shot Malala Yousafzai in the face as she was on her way home from school in northern Pakistan, in response to her public advocacy of girls' right to an education. She was 15.
She survived and later became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and established a foundation in her name to fundraise for girls' education.
October 8
On October 8, 2004, Australian woman Schapelle Corby, 27, was arrested by police on the Indonesian island of Bali over 4.1 kg of cannabis found in her boogie board bag, triggering a media frenzy.
Corby always insisted the drugs had been planted in her bag, and most Australians initially believed her story.
But Indonesians were baffled by Australia's response.
To them, the case was a clear-cut case of drug smuggling.
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