On Oct. 13, A.D. 54, Roman Emperor Claudius I died after being poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.
In 1775 the Continental Congress ordered construction of a naval fleet, thereby launching the Navy.
In 1792 the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.
In 1843 the Jewish organization B’nai B’rith was founded in New York.
In 1925 Margaret Thatcher, who would become Britain’s prime minister, was born in Grantham, England.
In 1962 “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” by Edward Albee opened on Broadway.
In 1974 longtime television host Ed Sullivan died in New York; he was 72.
In 1981 voters in Egypt participated in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
In 2002 historian Stephen Ambrose died in Bay St. Louis, Miss.; he was 66.
