October 26
On October 26, 1979, the President of South Korea, Park Chung Hee, pictured, centre, was "accidentally" shot dead by the chief of his intelligence service.
Government officials said Hee attempted to intervene when an argument broke out between Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) director Kim Jae Kyu and the president's chief bodyguard.
During the row Kyu pulled out a pistol and shot the president.
The incident was regarded as an attempted coup with intelligence agents admitting they shot four other presidential bodyguards.
Kim Jae Kyu, pictured, and four KCIA agents were tried and sentenced to death for the murder of the president and his bodyguards.
The iconic sci-fi thriller film Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released on October 26, 1984.
Directed by James Cameron, the movie about a cyborg assassin returning from a dystopic future became a cult classic.
On October 26, 1958, wreckage of the Australian airliner Southern Cloud was found in the NSW Blue Mountains - 27 years after the plane vanished.
The plane disappeared on March 21, 1931, while flying from Sydney to Melbourne.
Federation Square in Melbourne was officially opened on October 26, 2002.
Located close to the CBD, it has become a popular venue for arts, culture and public events.
After an absence from the boxing ring of more than years, legendary heavyweight Muhammad Ali made a victorious return on October 26, 1970.
His defeat of Jerry Quarry was Ali's first sanctioned bout after being banned from boxing for refusing to be drafted into the US military for the Vietnam War.
October 25
Superstar American golfer Payne Stewart died in a bizarre plane crash on October 25, 1999, over rural Virginia.
The 42-year-old three-time major winner was flying from Orlando to Dallas on the Lear jet when communication with the pilot was lost shortly after it departed that morning.
Military fighters were scrambled as the plane lost course and flew for 2400km before crashing.
Stewart, known for his flamboyant dress sense, and three other people died in the crash.
The fighter jet pilots who caught up with the business jet said its pilot appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive.
It was believed the plane flew on while everyone aboard was likely dead. A lack of oxygen aboard the plane was blamed by aviation experts for the tragedy.
On October 25, 1994, young mother Susan Smith reported to police in South Carolina her young children had been taken during a car jacking.
But investigations over the following days revealed she had in fact killed them.
Smith claimed a black man had carjacked her and driven off with the young children strapped in her car. Her claims inflamed inter-racial tensions in South Carolina.
But police found she had left her sons aged three and 14 months strapped in the car while she rolled it into a remote lake, drowning them.
In 1995 she was convicted of their murder and sentenced to life in prison.
On October 25, 1616, Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog accidentally bumped into land after becoming lost in a storm.
In doing so, he became the first European to set foot on the shores of Western Australia. He was the second European to land in Australia after Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula in 1606.
'The Charge of the Light Brigade', one of the most famous blunders in military history, took place on October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War between Britain and Russia.
Due to miscommunications, about 600 British cavalrymen charged head-on against powerful enemy artillery guns. The Russian response led to carnage, killing more than 100 of the brave, but badly led troops and their horses.
October 24
On October 24, 2002, police in Washington DC arrested two snipers after their months-long shooting spree left 10 people dead.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo - known as the Beltway Snipers - were arrested while they were sleeping inside their Chevy Caprice family sedan.
The FBI and police found a Bushmaster rifle used in the attacks inside the car, but that was not all.
The pair had also cut a hole in the trunk near the licence plate so that shots could be fired from within the vehicle. It was, in effect, a rolling sniper's nest.
Legendary British musician John Lennon sued the US government on October 24, 1973, over claims the FBI was tapping his phone.
Lennon claimed he had been placed under surveillance because of his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Global stock markets crashed on October 24, 2008, in what became known as "Bloody Friday".
Most indices, including the Dow Jones, collapsed by up 10 per cent, as the debt crisis impacting US financial institutions spread to world markets.
The Cuban Missile Crisis began to de-escalate on October 24, 1962, when Russian ships approached the communist-controlled island but halted ahead of the US blockade.
The discovery of Soviet missile installations in Cuba lead to the US enforcing a military blockade to prevent Moscow bringing in more warheads. The missiles were later dismantled and the US publicly promised to never invade Cuba again without direct provocation. (Getty)
Legendary escape artist Harry Houdini on October 24, 1926, made his final performance in Detroit.
Reports said he was suffering a high temperature and cold sweats as he performed his famous escape tricks.
Houdini died from peritonitis just a few days later in hospital.
October 23
The first-gen iPod was released by Apple on October 23, 2001. It was originally released as a 5GB model, and a 10GB model was released later.
It cost a bomb, compared to a number of the other MP3 and digital music players on the market at that time but it ended up blowing that competition out of the water.
Between the original iPod’s release date and the end of the year, Apple sold 125,000 units. It sold more than 600,000 before the end of 2002.
Superseded by the rise of smartphones and music apps, the iPod was discontinued last year.
October 23, 4004 BCE, was claimed as the date of the first dawn by Irish archbishop James Ussher in the 17th century.
Ussher had a lengthy and prolific career, which included a composition of annals of the Old Testament of the Bible, seeking to establish a chronology of the entire world.
He fixed the starting date of creation as 6pm on October 22, 4004 BCE.
Ussher's theory has, needless to say, fallen out of favour as science advanced, but still today forms the bedrock of Young Earth creationism, a movement that experienced a surge in the early 20th century.
Near these ancient ruins, Roman statesman and general Marcus Junius Brutus died on October 23, 42 BCE.
Brutus is best known to history as one of the leading conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar.
The dictator's death sparked a second civil war, with Brutus decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Caesar's heir Octavian at the Battle of Philippi (pictured) in Greece.
Brutus took his own life after the defeat, and his death brought about another war between erstwhile allies Octavian and Antony, which ended in Antony's death and Octavian's ascension as Augustus, the first Roman emperor.