TODAY IN HISTORY – 31st Oct, 2026 – ORBITS NEWS

TODAY IN HISTORY – 31st Oct, 2026 – ORBITS NEWS

By Valentine Uchechukwu Ndukwu.

If history is not a burden on the memory, then it is an illumination of the soul.

The editorial team of Today in History believes that this helps us to understand that history is not just a collection of facts to remember, but rather a source of insight and understanding that can enlighten and transform us.

On that account alone and also for your viewing pleasure, behold some interesting events that took place on this day in time’s past.

On this day in 1941, after 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore was completed.

Still on this day in 1956, there was the Suez Crisis, where the United Kingdom and France began bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

According to Today in History, on this day in 1999, Yachtsman Jesse Martin returned to Melbourne after 11 months of circumnavigating the world, solo, non-stop and unassisted.

Sadly, on this day in 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket, killing all 217 people on board.

Most amazingly, Today in History reveals that it was on this day in 2011, the global population of humans reached seven billion. This day is now recognized by the United Nations as the Day of Seven Billion.

Regrettably on this day in 2017, a truck drives into a crowd in Lower Manhattan, New York City, killing eight people.

For the records and for weird reasons, the highest-scoring professional football match ever recorded in global history took place on October 31, 2002, in Madagascar’s THB Champions League. AS Adema defeated SO l’Emyrne by an astonishing scoreline of 149–0. In an unbelievable act of protest against poor refereeing decisions in a previous match, the SO l’Emyrne players deliberately and repeatedly kicked the ball into their own net 149 times while the AS Adema players watched in complete bewilderment.

On the home soil, it was on this day in 1959 that the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) began broadcasting from Ibadan, making history as the first television service in tropical Africa. Commissioned by Premier Chief Obafemi Awolowo with the famous slogan “First in Africa,” the station beat many European and African nations (including South Africa by nearly 20 years) to the television age. It launched the historic careers of broadcasting pioneers like Anike Agbaje-Williams, the continent’s first female announcer.

Regrettably again, on this day in 1995, a military tribunal set up by General Sani Abacha handed down a death sentence to playwright and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists (the “Ogoni Nine”). Convicted on heavily disputed charges of inciting the murder of four Ogoni chiefs, the judgment sparked severe global outrage, ultimately leading to Nigeria being treated as a pariah state and suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations.

However, it was on this day in 1978 that Emmanuel Izonritei, the Nigerian boxer was born. For the records, he was at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games India where he earned for himself a Gold Medal.

Where you’re going should look nothing like where you’ve been… You’re the point man 👉🏻 Keep pointing in the right direction!

Today in history!