GMT

October 1

331BC Alexander the Great decisively shatters King Darius III's Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a tactical masterstroke that leaves him master of the Persian Empire.

1864 The Condor, a British blockade-runner, is grounded near Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

1908 The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hits the market. Over 15 million Model Ts are eventually sold, all of them black.

1942 The German Army grinds to a complete halt within the city of Stalingrad.

1946 Eleven Nazi war criminals are sentenced to be hanged at Nuremberg trials---Hermann Goring, Alfred Jodl, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachin von Ribbentrop, Fritz Saukel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, and Alfred Rosenberg.

1957 "In God We Trust" appears on US paper currency as an act to distinguish the US from the officially atheist USSR; the motto had appeared on coins at various times since 1864.

1962 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson debuts; Carson will remain The Tonight Show host until 1992.

1974 Five Nixon aides--Kenneth Parkinson, Robert Mardian, Nixon's Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell--go on trial for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation.

1975 Legendary boxing match: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the "Thrilla in Manila."

1979 US returns sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Born on October 1

1935 Julie Andrews (Julia Elizabeth Wells), actress and singer whose films include Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.