On This Day: The day the world lost billions

It was the day sharemarkets went into freefall, fortunes disappeared and investors feared another Great Depression. Thirty-nine years ago, a financial panic swept around the globe.

On October 19, 1987, Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day percentage fall in history.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, wiping 22.6 per cent off its value in a single trading session.

The date became known as Black Monday.

For investors who had enjoyed the booming sharemarkets of the 1980s, the sudden collapse was terrifying. Stockbrokers struggled to keep up with frantic selling, telephone lines were overwhelmed and television news bulletins carried extraordinary scenes from trading floors.

Australia was caught in the turmoil, too.

When trading resumed in Sydney on Tuesday, October 20, Australian shares suffered a devastating fall as the panic spread across international markets.

For Australians approaching retirement, or families who had put their savings into shares, it was a reminder of just how quickly financial security could be shaken.

The crash prompted major changes to sharemarket safeguards, including mechanisms designed to pause trading during extreme volatility.

The book that imagined a world without books

On October 19, 1953, American author Ray Bradbury published Fahrenheit 451, one of science fiction’s most influential novels.

It imagined a future society in which books were outlawed and firefighters were employed to burn them.

The title refers to the temperature at which book paper was said to ignite.

More than seven decades later, its warnings about censorship and the suppression of ideas continue to resonate.

The battle that helped end a revolution

On October 19, 1781, British forces under Lord Cornwallis formally surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, to American and French forces.

The surrender marked a decisive turning point in the American Revolutionary War, helping pave the way for American independence.

Born on this day

Television fans will remember Robert Reed, born on October 19, 1932, as Mike Brady, the patient father of six children in The Brady Bunch. He died in 1992.

Actor John Lithgow turns 81 today. His career includes 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Crown and the much-loved family film Harry and the Hendersons.

Country singer Jeannie C. Riley, whose 1968 hit Harper Valley PTA became an international sensation, was also born on this day in 1945. She turns 81.

And former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield celebrates his 64th birthday.

Do you remember?

Do you remember the sharemarket crash of 1987 and the frightening news reports that followed? Or were you more interested in what was happening on television than on Wall Street?