Important Events From This day in History – 3rd October

Today in History

• 1995 – OJ Simpson acquitted in the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman

  The former football player had been accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend on June 13, 1994. The high-profile case and the subsequent trial of Simpson captured widespread media and public attention in the United States and worldwide.

• 1952 – UK tests its first atomic bomb

  The test was conducted near the Montebello Islands in Western Australia, called Operation Hurricane. The operation made the UK the third country to have nuclear weapons, the United States and the Soviet Union were the first two.

• 1932 – Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom

  The West Asian country came under British control in 1920, after the end of the First World War. After taking control of the country, the British installed the deposed Syrian King Faisal I as the King of Iraq.

• 1863 – National Thanksgiving Day proclamation

  American president Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been celebrated annually since that year.

• 1849 – Edgar Allen Poe seen in public for the last time

  The Baltimore, Maryland-based American poet and author, best known for his poem The Raven was found sick and delirious on the streets and taken to Washington College Hospital, where he died a few days later. He was 40 years old at the time of his death.