On this day in 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy children's novel The Hobbit, which later served as a predecessor to The Lord of the Rings, was first published.
On this day in 1999, a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale rock Taiwan at 1:47 a.m., killing more than 2,400 people and injuring 11,000 others.
On this day in 2013, Al-Shabaab Islamic militants began a three-day attack on the upmarket Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people.