1885: $100,000 was finally raised in the US for the pedestal of Statue of Liberty. While France was to pay for the statue, after much reluctance Americans shelled out the money for the pedestal.
1909: SOS was first used. American ship SS Arapahoe radioed for help when it got lost near Diamond Shoals or the "Graveyard of the Atlantic". The call was heard by the United Wireless station at Hatteras.
1942: The earliest form of wireless telephones and WiFi - frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system - was patented by actress Hedy Lamarr & composer George Antheil.
1988: Al Qaeda, the global militant Islamist organisation behind the 9/11 attacks on the US, was formed at a meeting attended by Osama bin Laden along with several leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Peshawar, Pakistan.
1897: Enid Blyton was born. From Noddy to The Famous Five, the British writer wrote around 800 books over 40 years.