MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2013: Al-Shabaab militants launched a terrorist attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, which ended three days later and left more than 65 people dead, including Ghanian poet and novelist Kofi Awoonor .

2004: The American band Green Day released its iconic American Idiot, which later won a Grammy Award for best rock album and was adapted into a rock opera. [ Test your knowledge of rock and roll.]

2001: In stock market trading in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its largest weekly loss (14.3 percent) since the Great Depression. [ Take our economics quiz.]

1972: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law in the Philippines, beginning a period of harsh authoritarian rule. [ Sort fact from fiction in our Southeast Asia quiz.]

1981: Belize gained its independence from the United Kingdom. [Take our quiz about Latin American history.]

1957: The American TV series Perry Mason, which was based on a mystery series by Erle Stanley Gardner, debuted and became hugely popular, especially noted for Raymond Burr's portrayal of the title character. [Test your knowledge of pop culture.]