The world was more interesting before you

TODAY

30 B.C. - Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Gaius Octavius, the future first emperor of Rome.

1918 - After speaking at a factory in Moscow, Soviet leader Vladmir Lenin is shot twice by Fanya Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary party.

1945 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur lands in Japan to oversee the formal surrender ceremony and to organize the postwar Japanese government.

TOMORROW

1888 - Mary Ann Nichols, the first victim of London serial killer "Jack the Ripper" is found murdered and mutilated in Whitechapel's Buck's Row.

1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in Paris' Pitie-Saletiere Hospital after suffering massive chest injuries in an early morning car accident.

WEDNESDAY

1939 - At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland, drawing other major powers into World War II.

1969 - Muammar al-Qaddafi, a 27-year-old Libyan army captain, leads a successful military coup against King Idris I of Libya.

THURSDAY

1666 - In the early morning hours, the Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. Miraculously, only 16 people are known to have died, but more than four-fifths of the whole of London was destroyed.

1945 - Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.

FRIDAY

1783 - The American Revolution formally comes to an end when representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France sign the Treaty of Paris.

1935 - Sir Malcolm Campbell of Britain sets a new land-speed record on his 2,500-hp motor car Bluebird, becoming the first to break the 300-mph barrier with 301.129 mph.

1937 - Orson Welles produces, directs and stars in "Les Miserables," the first radio play to be produced by the fledgling Mercury Theater group. In 1938, the groups began broadcasting its dramatic anthology show, Mercury Theater on the Air.