Today In History

[historylover]

October 9

Events

768 – Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks.
1238 – James I of Aragon conquers Valencia and founds the Kingdom of Valencia.
1264– The Kingdom of Castile conquers the city of Jerez that was under muslim occupation since 711.
1446 – The hangul alphabet is published in Korea.
1514 – Marriage of Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor.
1558 – Mérida is founded in Venezuela.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1595 – The Spanish army captures Cambrai.
1604 – Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
1635 – Founder of Rhode Island Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a religious dissident after he speaks out against punishments for religious offenses and giving away Native American land.
1701 – The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) is chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
1760 – Seven Year's War: Russian forces occupy Berlin.
1771 – The Dutch merchant ship Vrouw Maria sinks near the coast of Finland.
1776 – Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
1799 – Sinking of HMS Lutine, with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
1804 – Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded.
1806 – Prussia declares war on France.
1812 – War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
1820 – Guayaquil declares independence from Spain.
1824 – Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
1831 – Capo d'Istria is assassinated.
1835 – The Royal College, Colombo in Sri Lanka is established with the name Hillstreet Academy.
1837 – A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
1845 – The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
1854 – Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Santa Rosa Island – Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Tom's Brook – Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
1874 – General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
1888 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
1907 – Las Cruces, New Mexico is incorporated.
1911 – An accidental bomb explosion in Hankou, Wuhan, China leads to the ultimate fall of the Qing Empire
1913 – Steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
1914 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp – Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
1919 – Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series.
1934 – Regicide at Marseille: The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France.
1936 – Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles, California.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Britain – During a night-time air raid by the German Luftwaffe, St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, England is hit by a bomb.
1941 – A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
1942 – Statute of Westminster 1931 formalises Australian autonomy.
1942 – The last day of the October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces withdraw back across the Matanikau River after destroying most of the Imperial Japanese Army's 4th Infantry Regiment.
1945 – Parade in NYC for Fleet Admiral Nimitz and 13 USN/USMC Medal of Honor recipients
1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
1963 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
1967 – A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
1969 – In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the "Chicago Eight" that began on September 24.
1970 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
1981 – Abolition of capital punishment in France.
1983 – Rangoon bombing: attempted assassination of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during an official visit to Rangoon, Burma. Chun survives but the blast kills 17 of his entourage, including four cabinet ministers, and injures 17 others. Four Burmese officials also die in the blast.
1986 – The musical The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
1989 – An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
1989 – In Leipzig, East Germany, 70,000 protesters demand the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
1991 – Ecuador becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1992 – A 13 kilogram (est.) fragment of the Peekskill meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu
1995 – An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
1999 – The last flight of the SR-71.
2001 – Second mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attack.
2006 – North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
2009 – Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Births

1201 – Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and founder of the Sorbonne (d. 1274)
1221 – Salimbene di Adam, Italian chronicler (d. c. 1290)
1261 – King Dinis of Portugal (d. 1325)
1328 – King Peter I of Cyprus (d. 1369)
1581 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (d. 1638)
1585 – Heinrich Schütz, German composer (d. 1672)
1586 – Archduke Leopold V of Austria (d. 1632)
1704 – Ján Andrej Segner, Slovak and German mathematician, physicist, and physician (d. 1777)
1757 – King Charles X of France (d. 1836)
1796 – Joseph Bonomi the Younger, English Egyptologist (d. 1878)
1835 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (d. 1921)
1840 – Simeon Solomon, British artist (d. 1905)
1852 – Hermann Emil Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
1859 – Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer (d. 1935)
1871 – George Gauthier, Bishop of Montreal and rector of the Université de Montréal (d. 1940)
1871 – Didak Buntić, Croatian monk and scholar. (d. 1922)
1873 – Karl Schwarzschild, German physicist and astronomer (d. 1916)
1873 – Charles Walgreen, American entrepreneur (d. 1939)
1873 – Carl Flesch, Hungarian violinist (d. 1944)
1874 – Nicholas Roerich, Russian painter (d. 1947)
1879 – Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
1886 – Rube Marquard, American baseball player (d. 1980)
1888 – Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician (d. 1938)
1890 – Aimee Semple McPherson, American evangelist (d. 1944)
1892 – Ivo Andrić, Serbian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (d. 1941)
1893 – Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer and photographer (d. 1945)
1900 – Joseph Friedman, American inventor (d. 1982)
1900 – Alastair Sim, Scottish actor (d. 1976)
1902 – Freddie Young, British cinematographer (d. 1998)
1903 – Walter O'Malley, American baseball executive (d. 1979)
1906 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician (d. 2001)
1907 – Quintin Hogg, British politician (d. 2001)
1907 – Jacques Tati, French filmmaker (d. 1982)
1908 – Harry Hooton, Australian poet (d. 1961)
1908 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (d. 1975)
1909 – Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
1911 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (d. 2006)
1915 – Clifford M. Hardin, United States Secretary of Agriculture
1918 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate figure (d. 2007)
1918 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-born actress (d. 2000)
1919 – Jason Wingreen, American actor
1920 – Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
1921 – Michel Boisrond, French film director (d. 2002)
1922 – Léon Dion, Quebec political scientist (d. 1997)
1922 – Fyvush Finkel, American actor
1925 – Johnny Stompanato, American organized crime figure (d. 1958)
1926 – Danièle Delorme, French actress
1928 – Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finnish composer
1931 – Tony Booth, British actor and father of Cherie Blair
1933 – Peter Mansfield, British physicist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
1933 – Judy Tyler, American actress (d. 1957)
1934 – Jill Ker Conway, Australian-American author
1935 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, member of the British Royal Family
1937 – Brian Blessed, English actor
1938 – Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician
1940 – John Lennon, British musician and songwriter (The Beatles) (d. 1980)
1940 – Joe Pepitone, American baseball player
1941 – Trent Lott, American politician
1941 – Brian Lamb, Founder of C-SPAN
1941 – Chucho Valdés, Cuban musician
1941 – Karam ud Din, Pakistani Navy officer (d. 2008)
1943 – Mike Peters, American cartoonist
1943 – Douglas Kirby, Research scientist
1944 – John Entwistle, British musician (The Who) (d. 2002)
1944 – Nona Hendryx, American singer (Labelle)
1945 – Taiguara, Brazilian musician (d. 1996)
1946 – Tansu Çiller, Prime Minister of Turkey
1947 – France Gall, French singer
1947 – William E. McAnulty, Jr., American lawyer (d. 2007)
1947 – Tony Zappone, American broadcaster, journalist, author, photographer
1948 – Jackson Browne, American musician
1950 – Jody Williams, American teacher and aid worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1950 – Brian Downing, former baseball player
1950 – Reichi Nakaido, Japanese rock guitarist
1952 – Sharon Osbourne, English music manager and wife of Ozzy Osbourne
1953 – Tony Shalhoub, American actor
1954 – Scott Bakula, American actor
1954 – James Fearnley, English musician (The Pogues)
1954 – Anne-Marie Goumba, African politician
1954 – John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host
1955 – Linwood Boomer, Canadian writer
1957 – Don Garber, American sports commissioner
1958 – Michael Pare, American actor
1958 – Al Jourgensen, American musician (Ministry)
1958 – Mike Singletary, former American football player
1960 – Kenny Garrett, American jazz saxophonist
1961 – Julian Bailey, British racing driver
1962 – Jorge Burruchaga, Argentinian footballer
1964 – Guillermo del Toro, Mexican film director
1964 – John Ralston, Canadian actor
1965 – Jimbo Fisher, Offensive Coordinator for Florida State
1966 – Christopher Östlund, Swedish publisher and entrepreneur
1966 – David Cameron, British politician
1967 – Carling Bassett-Seguso, Canadian professional tennis player
1967 – Eddie Guerrero, American professional wrestler (d. 2005)
1969 – P.J. Harvey, English musician
1970 – Kenny Anderson, American basketball player
1970 – Park Sang-min, South Korean actor
1970 – Savannah, American pornographic actress (d. 1994)
1970 – Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
1970 – Jason Butler Harner, American actor
1971 – Simon Atlee, British photographer (d. 2004)
1971 – Jason Jones, American filmmaker and humanitarian
1971 – Michael Manna, American professional wrestler
1972 – Sarah Vandenbergh, Australian actor
1973 – Terry Balsamo, American guitarist (Evanescence)
1973 – Steve Burns, American actor and musician
1973 – Erin Daniels, American actress
1973 – Fabio Lione, Italian musician (Rhapsody)
1973 – Carlos Pavón, Honduran footballer
1974 – Kieren Hutchison, New Zealand actor
1975 – Sean Lennon, American musician & son of ex-Beatle John Lennon
1975 – Rale Micic, Serbian musician
1975 – Mark Viduka, Australian footballer
1976 – Nick Swardson, American actor
1977 – Brian Roberts, American baseball player
1978 – Nicky Byrne, Irish musician (Westlife)
1978 – Juan Dixon, American basketball player
1979 – Gonzalo Sorondo, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Brandon Routh, American actor
1979 – Alex Greenwald, American musician(Phantom Planet), actor, model
1979 – Todd Kelly, Australian racing driver
1980 – Ibrahim Fazeel, Maldivian footballer
1980 – Henrik Zetterberg, Swedish ice hockey player
1981 – Zachery Ty Bryan, American actor
1981 – Darius Miles, American basketball player
1982 – António Mendonça, Angolan footballer
1982 – Shi Jun, Chinese footballer
1983 – Jang Mi-Ran, South Korean weightlifter
1983 – Andreas Zuber, Austrian racing driver
1983 – Stephen Gionta, American ice hockey player
1984 – Ghetto, British musician
1986 – Laure Manaudou, French swimmer
1987 – Bill Walker, American basketball player
1992 – Tyler James Williams, American actor
1994 – Jodelle Ferland, Canadian actress


Deaths

1047 – Pope Clement II (b. 1005)
1253 – Robert Grosseteste, English statesman and bishop
1273 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Germany
1390 – King John I of Castile (b. 1358)
1555 – Justus Jonas, German Protestant reformer (b. 1493)
1562 – Gabriele Falloppio, Italian anatomist and early advocate for the use of condoms. (b. 1523)
1569 – Vladimir of Staritsa, Russian prince (b. 1533)
1581 – Saint Louis Bertrand, Spanish Dominican and missionary (b. 1526)
1597 – Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Japanese shogun (b. 1537)
1691 – William Sacheverell, English statesman (b. 1638)
1709 – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, English mistress of Charles II of England (b. 1640)
1729 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and writer (b. 1654)
1793 – Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French missionary (b. 1718)
1797 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi (b. 1720)
1806 – Benjamin Banneker, American astronomer (b. 1731)
1808 – John Claiborne, U.S. politician (b. 1777)
1831 – John Capodistria, Governor of Greece (b. 1776)
1873 – George Ormerod, English historian and antiquarian (b. 1785)
1897 – Jan Heemskerk, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1818)
1900 – Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1843)
1924 – Valery Bryusov, Russian writer and critic (b. 1873)
1934 – King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (assassinated) (b. 1888)
1934 – Louis Barthou, Prime Minister of France (assassinated) (b. 1862)
1937 – Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1868)
1940 – Wilfred Grenfell, English medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (b. 1865).
1941 – Helen Morgan, American singer and actress (b. 1900)
1943 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1950 – George Hainsworth, National Hockey League goaltender (b. 1895)
1953 – Jimmy Finlayson, Scottish-American actor (b. 1887)
1955 – Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1875)
1956 – Marie Doro, American actress (b. 1882)
1958 – Pope Pius XII Eugenio Pacelli, (b. 1876)
1962 – Milan Vidmar, Slovenian electrical engineer and chess player (b. 1885)
1967 – Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and guerrilla leader (executed) (b. 1928)
1967 – Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1967 – André Maurois, French author (b. 1885)
1968 – Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary (b. 1929)
1972 – Miriam Hopkins, American actress (b. 1902)
1974 – Oskar Schindler, German businessman (b. 1908)
1976 – Walter Warlimont, German General WWII (b. 1894)
1978 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer and actor (b. 1929)
1985 – Emílio Garrastazu Médici, president of Brazil (b. 1905)
1987 – Guru Gopinath, Indian classical dancer (b. 1908)
1987 – Clare Boothe Luce, American diplomat (b. 1903)
1987 – William Parry Murphy, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1892)
1988 – Felix Wankel German inventor of the Wankel engine (b. 1902)
1989 – Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (b. 1940)
1995 – Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1903)
1996 – Walter Kerr, American theater critic (b. 1913)
1999 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist (b. 1923)
1999 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, pioneer of Microcredit in developing countries (b. 1914)
2000 – David Dukes, American actor (b. 1945)
2000 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1918)
2001 – Dagmar, American television personality (b. 1921)
2001 – Herbert Ross, American film director and producer (b. 1927)
2002 – Sopubek Begaliev, Soviet-era economist and politician (b. 1931)
2002 – Charles Guggenheim, American film director/producer (b. 1924)
2002 – Aileen Wournos, American serial killer sentenced to death (b. 1956)
2005 – Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (b. 1913)
2006 – Paul Hunter, English professional snooker player (b. 1978)
2006 – Raymond Noorda, American co-founder and long time CEO of Novell (b. 1924)
2007 – Enrico Banducci, American nightclub owner (b. 1922)
2008 – Gidget Gein, American musician (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances

RC Saints – Saint Denis, Saint Ghislain, Saint John Leonardi and Saint Louis Bertrand, patron saint of Colombia.
South Korea – Hangul Day: celebrating the invention of hangul, the native Korean phonetic alphabet.
Uganda – Independence Day (from Britain, 1962)
Leif Erikson Day – in United States, Iceland and Norway: celebrating the first European landing in North America
Ecuador – Guayaquil's Independence Day (from Spain 1820) (Dia de la independencia de Guayaquil)
Romania – Romanian Holocaust Remembrance Day
French Republican Calendar – Sarrasin (Buckwheat) Day, eighteenth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

 

[historylover]

October 10

Events

680 – Battle of Karbala: Hussain bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Muslims as Aashurah.
732 – Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, the leader of the Franks, Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, is killed during the battle.
1471 – Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with the help of farmers and miners, repels an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.
1575 – Battle of Dormans: Roman Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeat the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
1580 – After a three-day siege, the English Army behead over 600 Irish and Papal soldiers and civilians at Dún an Óir, Ireland.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1631 – A Saxon army takes over Prague.
1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000-30,000 in the Caribbean.
1845 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.
1860 – The original cornerstone of the University of the South is laid in Sewanee, Tennessee.
1868 – Carlos Céspedes issues the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence.
1910 – The Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity is established at Columbia University.
1911 – Wuchang Uprising leads to the demise of Qing Dynasty, the last Imperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.
1911 – The KCR East Rail commences service between Kowloon and Canton.
1913 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
1920 – The Carinthian Plebiscite determines that the larger part of Carinthia should remain part of Austria.
1933 – United Airlines Chesterton Crash: A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
1935 – A tornado destroys the 160 metre tall wooden radio tower in Langenberg. As a result of this catastrophe, few wooden towers are constructed after this date.
1935 – A coup d'état by the royalist leadership of the Greek Armed Forces takes place in Athens. It overthrows the government of Panagis Tsaldaris and establishes a regency under military strongman Georgios Kondylis, effectively ending the Second Hellenic Republic.
1938 – The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.
1942 – The Soviet Union establishes diplomatic relations with Australia.
1943 – Double Tenth Incident in Japanese controlled Singapore
1944 – Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at Auschwitz death camp.
1945 – The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang signed a principle agreement in Chongqing about the future of post-war China. Later, the pact is commonly referred to as the Double-Ten Agreement.
1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
1957 – The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident.
1963 – France cedes control of the Bizerte naval base to Tunisia.
1964 – The opening ceremony at The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite.
1967 – The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force.
1970 – Fiji becomes independent.
1970 – In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
1971 – Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
1973 – Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion.
1985 – United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
1986 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
1997 – An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
2006 – The Greek city of Volos floods in one of the prefecture's worst recorded floods.

Births

1344 – Mary Plantagenet, English princess (d. 1362)
1567 – Infanta Caterina Micaela of Spain (d. 1597)
1678 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (d. 1743)
1684 – Antoine Watteau, French painter (d. 1721)
1700 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (d. 1759)
1731 – Henry Cavendish, British scientist (d. 1810)
1780 – John Abercrombie, Scottish physician (d. 1844)
1794 – William Whiting Boardman, American politician (d. 1871)
1813 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
1819 – Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger, German theologian (d. 1883)
1825 – Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal Republic (d. 1904)
1828 – Samuel J. Randall, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1890)
1830 – Queen Isabella II of Spain (d. 1904)
1834 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (d. 1872)
1837 – Robert Gould Shaw, American Army officer (d. 1863)
1861 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, Nobel laureate (d. 1930)
1863 – Louis Cyr, French Canadian strongman (d. 1912)
1863 – Helen Dunbar, American actress (d. 1933)
1864 – T. Frank Appleby, United States Congressman from New Jersey (d. 1924)
1870 – Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1953)
1870 – Louise Mack, Australian writer (d. 1935)
1885 – Walter Anderson, German folklorist (d. 1962)
1889 – Han van Meegeren, Dutch painter, portraitist and art forgers (d. 1947)
1895 – Fridolf Rhudin Swedish actor and comedian (d. 1935)
1895 – Wolfram von Richthofen, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1898 – Lilly Daché, French-born milliner (d. 1989)
1900 – Helen Hayes, American actress (d. 1993)
1901 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
1903 – Vernon Duke, American composer and songwriter (d. 1969)
1903 – Prince Charles of Belgium, Prince Regent of Belgium (d. 1983)
1903 – Bei Shizhang, Chinese biologist and educator
1906 – Paul Creston, American composer (d. 1985)
1906 – R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (d. 2001)
1908 – Johnny Green, American songwriter, arranger and conductor (d. 1989)
1908 – Mercè Rodoreda, Catalan novelist (d. 1983)
1909 – Robert F. Boyle, American production designer and art director
1910 – Julius Shulman, American architectural photographer (d. 2009)
1913 – Claude Simon, French writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2005)
1914 – Tommy Fine, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1914 – Ivory Joe Hunter, American R&B singer (d. 1974)
1917 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
1923 – Nicholas Parsons, English actor
1924 – James Clavell, Australian author (d. 1994)
1924 – Ludmilla Tchérina, French ballet dancer and actress (d. 2004)
1924 – Ed Wood, American filmmaker (d. 1978)
1925 – Great Antonio, Croatian-Canadian strongman (d. 2001)
1926 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (d. 1997)
1927 – Dana Elcar, American actor (d. 2005)
1930 – Eugenio Castellotti, Italian race car driver (d. 1957)
1930 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist, Nobel laureate
1930 – Harold Pinter, English playwright, Nobel laureate (d. 2008)
1930 – Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani poet (d. 1970)
1932 – Harry Smith, English footballer
1933 – Jay Sebring, American hair stylist and Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
1935 – André Bureau, French Canadian communications executive
1935 – Abu Jihad, Founder of the Palestinian group Fatah (d. 1988)
1936 – Gerhard Ertl, German surface chemist, Nobel laureate, 2007.
1938 – Moriyama Daido, Japanese photographer
1939 – Joseph Pitts, American politician
1941 – Peter Coyote, American actor
1942 – Radu Vasile, Romanian Prime Minister
1943 – Frederick Barthelme, American author
1946 – Charles Dance, English actor
1946 – Mildred Grieveson (aka: Anne Mather, Caroline Fleming, Cardine Fleming), English writer
1946 – Naoto Kan, Japanese politician
1946 – Peter Mahovlich, Canadian ice hockey player
1946 – John Prine, American singer
1946 – Chris Tarrant, English TV presenter
1946 – Ben Vereen, American actor
1947 – Martin Ruane, English professional wrestler (d. 1998)
1948 – Séverine, French singer
1948 – Ed Volker, American musician
1950 – Nora Roberts, American novelist
1951 – Epeli Ganilau, Fijian statesman
1953 – Midge Ure, Scottish musician
1953 – Gus Williams, American basketball player
1954 – Patric Zimmerman, American voice actor
1954 – Rekha, Bollywood actress
1954 – Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
1955 – David Lee Roth, American singer (Van Halen)
1956 – Amanda Burton, Northern Irish actress
1956 – Mark Gordon, American film producer
1957 – Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese artist
1958 – Tanya Tucker, American singer
1959 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer (d. 2000)
1959 – Bradley Whitford, American actor
1960 – Eric Martin, American singer (Mr. Big)
1960 – Ron Flockhart, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Simon Townshend, British rock guitarist
1961 – Jodi Benson, American voice actress
1961 – Henrik Jørgensen, Danish marathon runner
1961 – Martin Kemp, British musician (Spandau Ballet) and actor
1961 – Julia Sweeney, American actress and comedian
1963 – Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (d. 2003)
1963 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
1963 – Jolanda de Rover, Dutch swimmer
1963 – Vegard Ulvang, Norwegian cross-country skier.
1964 – Sarah Lancashire, English actress
1964 – Quinton Flynn, American voice actor
1965 – Clive Jones, British engineer
1965 – Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
1965 – Rebecca Pidgeon, American actress
1965 – Toshi, Japanese singer (X Japan)
1965 – Steve Scalise, American politician
1966 – Tony Adams, English footballer
1967 – Jonathan Littell, French-American writer
1967 – Mike Malinin, American drummer (Goo Goo Dolls)
1967 – Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco
1968 – Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountain biker
1969 – Shawn "Thunderbird" Jamison, Pro basketball coach and ex Harlem Globetrotter
1969 – Wendi McLendon-Covey, American actress
1969 – Brett Favre, American football player
1970 – Dean Kiely, Irish footballer
1970 – Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, German luger
1970 – Bai Ling, Chinese American actress
1970 – Corinna May, German singer
1970 – Mohammed Mourhit, Belgian athlete
1970 – Sir Matthew Pinsent, English rower
1971 – Ian Bennett, English footballer
1971 – Evgeny Kissin, Russian pianist
1972 – Jun Lana, Filipino playwright and screenwriter
1972 – Dean Roland, American guitarist (Collective Soul)
1972 – Alexei Zhitnik, Russian ice hockey player
1973 – Mario López, American actor
1973 – Semmy Schilt, Dutch kickboxer
1973 – Zach Thornton, American soccer player
1974 – Assi Cohen, Israeli comedian and actor
1974 – Julio Ricardo Cruz, Argentinian footballer
1974 – Dale Earnhardt Jr, American NASCAR Sprint Cup series driver
1974 – Chris Pronger, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Ramón Morales, Mexican footballer
1975 – Plácido Polanco, Dominican baseball player
1976 – Bob Burnquist, Brazilian-born skateboarder
1976 – Pat Burrell, American baseball player
1978 – Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, American actress
1979 – Mya Harrison, American singer
1979 – Nicolás Massú, Chilean tennis player
1979 – Wu Chun, Brunei born Taiwanese actor (Fahrenheit/Fei Lun Hai)
1979 – Ahn Chil Hyun (Kangta), lead singer of the former South Korean group H.O.T.
1979 – Joel Przybilla, American basketball player
1980 – Elvis Hammond, Ghanaian footballer
1980 – Casey FitzSimmons, American football player
1980 – Tim Maurer, American singer (Suburban Legends)
1980 – Sherine, Egyptian singer
1981 – Michael Oliver, American actor
1981 – Una Healy, Irish singer (The Saturdays)
1982 – Amon Buchanan, Australian rules footballer
1982 – Hideki Mutoh, Japanese racing driver
1983 – Vusimuzi Sibanda, Zimbabwean cricketer
1983 – Tolga Zengin, Turkish football player
1984 – Stephanie Cheng, Hong Kong singer
1984 – Chiaki Kuriyama, Japanese actress
1984 – Paul Posluszny, American football player
1984 – Troy Tulowitzki, American baseball player
1985 – Dominique Cornu, Belgian professional cyclist
1985 – Dizzee Rascal, British rapper/grime artist
1986 – Nathan Jawai, Australian basketball player
1989 – Aimee Teegarden, American actress
1991 – Gabriella Cilmi, Australian singer
1991 – Mariana Espósito, Argentine actress, singer and model

Deaths

19 – Germanicus, Roman general (b. 15 BC)
680 – 10 Muharram 61 AH – Husayn ibn Ali (AS) , Shi'a Imam, Muhammad's grandson (b. 626)
732 – Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Moorish Governor of Andalusia
833 – al-Ma'mun, Abbasid caliph of Baghdad (b. 786)
1359 – King Hugh IV of Cyprus (b. 1295)
1459 – Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist and classicist (b. 1380)
1531 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss reformer (b. 1484)
1659 – Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
1674 – Thomas Traherne, English poet
1691 – Isaac de Benserade, French poet (b. 1613)
1708 – David Gregory, Scottish mathematician (b. 1659)
1714 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (b. 1646)
1720 – Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (b. 1640)
1723 – William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1665)
1725 – Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France (b. 1643)
1747 – John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1674)
1759 – Granville Elliott, British military officer (b. 1713)
1765 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1688)
1795 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (b. 1714)
1806 – Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, German prince (b. 1772)
1827 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian writer (b. 1778)
1837 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (b. 1772)
1872 – William H. Seward, United States Secretary of State (b. 1801)
1875 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian novelist, poet and dramatist (b. 1817)
1876 – Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (b. 1814)
1893 – Lip Pike, American baseball player (b. 1845)
1901 – Lorenzo Snow, fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
1911 – Jack Daniel, American Distiller and the founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery (b. 1846 or 1850)
1913 – Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1848)
1913 – Adolphus Busch, American brewer (Anheuser-Busch) (b. 1839)
1914 – King Carol I of Romania (b. 1839)
1927 – Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (b. 1874)
1930 – Adolf Engler, German botanist (b. 1844)
1939 – Eleanor Rigby, a real person whose name may have suggested the title to The Beatles song (b. 1895)
1940 – Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
1948 – Ted Horn, American race car driver (b. 1910)
1953 – Erima Harvey Northcroft, New Zealand judge (b. 1884)
1957 – Karl Genzken, Nazi physician (b. 1885)
1963 – Édith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
1963 – Roy Cazaly, Australian rules footballer (b. 1893)
1964 – Eddie Cantor, American singer and vaudeville performer (b. 1892)
1964 – Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet pianist (b. 1888)
1970 – Édouard Daladier, French politician (b. 1884)
1971 – John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian (b. 1901)
1976 – Silvana Armenulic, Yugoslavian folk singer (b. 1939)
1977 – Angelo Muscat, Maltese actor (b. 1930)
1978 – Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (b. 1910)
1978 – Ralph Marterie, American big band leader (b. 1914)
1979 – Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist (b. 1931)
1979 – Paul Paray, French conductor (b. 1886)
1982 – Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (b. 1908)
1983 – Ralph Richardson, English actor (b. 1902)
1985 – Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (b. 1920)
1985 – Orson Welles, American director and actor (b. 1915)
1986 – Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist (b. 1899)
1990 – Tom Murton, American penologist (b. 1928)
1998 – Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1906)
1998 – Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)
2000 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1916)
2001 – Eddie Futch, American boxing trainer (b. 1911)
2001 – Vasily Mishin, Soviet rocket designer (b. 1917)
2002 – Teresa Graves, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
2003 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
2004 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (b. 1963)
2004 – Christopher Reeve, American actor (b. 1952)
2004 – Arthur H. Robinson, American cartographer (b. 1915)
2004 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (b. 1932)
2005 – Wayne Booth, American literary critic (b. 1921)
2005 – Milton Obote, President of Uganda (b. 1925)
2006 – Michael John Rogers, English ornithologist (b. 1932)
2006 – Ian Scott, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
2007 – Mehmed Uzun, contemporary Kurdish writer and novelist (b. 1953)
2008 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (b. 1947)
2009 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer Boyzone (b. 1976)

Holidays and observances

Roman Catholic Saints – Saint Thomas of Villanueva? ; Saint Paulinus of York (in England); Viktor of Xanten; Saint Cerbonius
Republic of China (Taiwan) – National Day (Double Ten Day 雙十國慶)
Fiji – Fiji Day (National Day)
Japan – National Health-Sports Day until 2000; since made a moveable feast on the second Monday in October.
World Mental Health Day
Old Michelmas – Celtic holiday
French Republican Calendar – Tournesol (Sunflower) Day, nineteenth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
North Korea – Party Foundation Party (celebration of the founding of the Workers Party of Korea)
Finland – The Day of Finnish literature
America – G-Spot Day [1]

 

[historylover]

October 11

Events

1138 – A massive earthquake struck Aleppo, Syria.
1531 – Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1614 – Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
1634 – The Burchardi flood — "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1649 – Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians.
1727 – George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain.
1776 – American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island – On Lake Champlain 15 American gunboats are defeated but give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
1809 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
1811 – Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
1862 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
1864 – Campina Grande, Brazil is established as a city.
1865 – Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.
1890 – In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
1899 – Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
1899 – The Western League is renamed the American League.
1906 – San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
1910 – Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.
1929 – JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.
1941 – Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance – On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
1944 – Tuvinian People's Republic or formerly Tannu Tuva is annexed by the U.S.S.R
1950 – Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
1954 – First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
1957 – Space Race: M.I.T. scientists calculate Sputnik I's booster rocket's orbit.
1958 – Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
1962 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.
1976 – George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor gunship which sank on July 18 1545, is raised from the sea bed in the Solent Channel, near Portsmouth.
1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
1986 – Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
1987 – Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed few thousand ethnic Tamil civilians, several hundred Tamil Tigers and few hundred Indian Army soldiers.
1996 – Pala accident: a wood lorry and school bus collide in Jõgeva county, Estonia, killing eight children.
1998 – A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.
2000 – The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown.
2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
2002 – A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
2007 – The record high of the Dow Jones Industrial Average occurs at 14,198.10 points.

Births

1335 – Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1408)
1616 – Andreas Gryphius, German writer (d. 1664)
1661 – Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (d. 1742)
1671 – Frederick IV of Denmark (d. 1730)
1671 – Richard Moungler (d. 1730)
1672 – Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian Zaporozhian Cossack starshina, diplomat (d. 1742)
1675 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (d. 1729)
1738 – Arthur Phillip, Governor of New South Wales (d. 1814)
1758 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers, German astronomer (d. 1840)
1786 – Stevenson Archer, American Congressman (d. 1848)
1788 – Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
1809 – Orson Squire Fowler, American phrenologist (d. 1887)
1814 – Jean Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1888)
1815 – Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian-born adventurer (d. 1881)
1821 – George Williams, English founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
1844 – Henry Heinz, American food manufacturer (d. 1916)
1865 – Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian author and philologist (d. 1926)
1871 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norweigian religious leader (d. 1943)
1872 – Harlan Fiske Stone, 12th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
1879 – Ernst Mally, Austrian philosopher (d. 1944)
1881 – Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist (d. 1973)
1884 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1949)
1884 – Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States and humanitarian (d. 1962)
1884 – Sig Ruman, German-American actor (d. 1967)
1885 – François Mauriac, French author, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1895 – Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)
1897 – Nathan Twining, USAF general (d. 1982)
1899 – Eddie Dyer, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1902 – Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter and political leader (d. 1979)
1905 – Fred Trump, American real estate developer, father of Donald Trump (d. 1999)
1913 – Dorothy Woolfolk, American comic book editor (d. 2000)
1915 – T. Llew Jones, Welsh author (d. 2009)
1918 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer (d. 1998)
1919 – Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d. 1990)
1919 – Jean Vander Pyl, American voice actress (d. 1999)
1924 – Mal Whitfield, American athlete
1925 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist
1926 – Neville Wran, Premier of New South Wales
1926 – Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk
1927 – Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium (d. 2005)
1928 – Alfonso de Portago, Spanish race car driver (d. 1957)
1929 – Liselotte Pulver, Swiss actress
1930 – Sam Johnson, American politician
1930 – LaVell Edwards, American football coach
1932 – Dottie West, American singer (d. 1991)
1936 – Billy Higgins, American jazz drummer (d. 2001)
1937 – Sir Bobby Charlton, English footballer
1937 – R. H. W. Dillard, American poet
1939 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player
1939 – Austin Currie, Northern Irish politician
1941 – Lester Bowie, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1999)
1941 – Charles Shyer, American film director
1942 – Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
1943 – John Nettles, English actor
1944 – Mike Fiore, American baseball player
1944 – Rodney Marsh, English Footballer
1946 – Sawao Kato, Japanese gymnast
1946 – Oba Chandler, American convicted murderer
1946 – Daryl Hall, American musician
1946 – Gary Mallaber, American musician (The Steve Miller Band)
1947 – Al Atkins, English musician
1947 – Lucas Papademos, Greek economist
1947 – Thomas Boswell, American sports columnist
1948 – Cecilia, Spanish singer-songwriter
1950 – Patty Murray, American politician, senior senator from Washington
1951 – Jean-Jacques Goldman, French singer/songwriter
1953 – David Morse, American actor
1954 – Vojislav Seselj, Serbian politician
1955 – Norm Nixon, American basketball player
1956 – Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
1957 – Paul Bown, English actor
1957 – Dawn French, Welsh comedian,actress and screenwriter
1957 – Paul Sereno, American paleontologist
1958 – Gregory Dudek, Canadian roboticist and computer scientist
1959 – Wayne Gardner, Australian racing driver
1960 – Curt Ford, American baseball player
1960 – Randy Breuer, American basketball player
1961 – Neil Buchanan, English television presenter
1961 – Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
1961 – Steve Young, American football player
1962 – Nicola Bryant, English actress
1962 – Joan Cusack, American actress
1963 – Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein of Jordan
1963 – Ronny Rosenthal, Israeli footballer
1964 – Michael J. Nelson, American actor
1965 – Alexander Hacke, German musician (Einstürzende Neubauten)
1965 – Sean Patrick Flanery, American actor
1966 – Solofa Fatu, aka Rikishi, American professional wrestler
1966 – Luke Perry, American actor
1967 – Daniel Razon, Vice Presiding Minister, Church of God International
1967 – Tony Chimel, American professional wrestling announcer
1967 – Artie Lange, American actor and comedian
1967 – David Starr, American race car driver
1967 – Tazz, American professional wrestler and commentator
1968 – Claude Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 – Jane Krakowski, American actress
1969 – Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
1970 – Chidi Ahanotu, American football player
1970 – Andy Marriott, English footballer
1970 – U-God, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan)
1970 – Constance Zimmer, American actress
1971 – MC Lyte, American rapper
1971 – Petra Haden, American musician (The Rentals)
1971 – Jason Ellis, Australian professional skateboarder
1972 – Claudia Black, Australian actress
1972 – Cherokee Parks, American basketball player
1973 – Takeshi Kaneshiro, actor/model
1973 – Steven Pressley, Scottish footballer
1973 – Mike Smith, American guitarist (Snot, Limp Bizkit)
1973 – Dmitri Young, American baseball player
1973 – Niki Xanthou, Greek long jumper
1974 – Jason Arnott, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Terje Haakonsen, Norwegian snowboarder
1974 – Jamie Thomas, American skateboarder
1976 – Dominic Aitchison, Scottish musician (Mogwai)
1976 – Brent Bennett, American mercenary
1976 – Emily Deschanel, American actress
1977 – Matthew Bomer, American actor
1977 – Desmond Mason, American basketball player
1977 – Claudia Palacios, Colombian television journalist
1977 – Ty Wigginton, American baseball player
1978 – Kali, Angolan footballer
1979 – Bae Doona, South Korean model and actress
1979 – Andy Douglas, American professional wrestler
1979 – Gabe Saporta, Uruguayan-born American musician (Cobra Starship, Midtown)
1980 – Nyron Nosworthy, English footballer
1981 – Beau Brady, Australian Actor
1982 – Kristy Wu, American Actress
1983 – William Sledd, American internet personality
1983 – Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukrainian chess player
1984 – Sergio Hellings, Dutch footballer
1984 – Martha MacIsaac, Canadian actress
1984 – Bradley James, British actor
1985 – Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress
1987 – Mike Conley, Jr., American basketball player
1989 – Henry Lau, member of Korean Boy Band Super Junior M
1989 – Michelle Wie, American golfer
1991 – Chauncey Matthews, American Juniors singer

Deaths

1188 – Robert I of Dreux, son of Louis VI of France
1303 – Pope Boniface VIII
1347 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1282)
1424 – Jan Žižka, leader of the Hussites (b. 1360)
1531 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (b. 1484)
1705 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (b. 1663)
1708 – Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (b. 1651)
1721 – Edward Colston, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1636)
1725 – Hans Herr, Swiss-born Mennonite bishop (b. 1639)
1779 – Kazimierz Pułaski, Polish fighter for American independence (b. 1745)
1809 – Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (b. 1774)
1811 – Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (b. 1724)
1821 – John Ross Key, American judge and lawyer (b. 1754)
1852 – Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1889 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
1896 – Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
1896 – Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
1897 – Léon Boëllmann, French composer (b. 1862)
1935 – Steele Rudd, Australian author (b. 1868)
1940 – Lluís Companys, President of Generalitat of Catalonia (shot) (b. 1882)
1940 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1860)
1961 – Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
1963 – Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
1965 – Dorothea Lange, American photographer (b. 1895)
1965 – Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1884)
1971 – Chesty Puller, the most decorated american Marine in history (b. 1898)
1976 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
1977 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author (b. 1904)
1986 – Norm Cash, American baseball player (b. 1934)
1988 – Bonita Granville, American actress (b. 1923)
1989 – M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1904)
1991 – Steven Jesse Bernstein, American underground poet (suicide) (b. 1950)
1991 – Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (b. 1922)
1993 – Jess Thomas, American tenor (b. 1927)
1996 – Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)
1996 – Joe Morris, C.C., LL.D., Canadian trade unionist (b. 1913)
1996 – Renato Russo, Brazilian rock singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
1998 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
2000 – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (b. 1937)
2002 – Dina Pathak, Indian Actress (b. 1922)
2004 – Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)
2005 – Edward Szczepanik, Polish economist and Prime Minister in exile (b. 1915)
2005 – Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Linguist, and writer of Pakistan (b. 1917)
2006 – Cory Lidle, American baseball pitcher (b. 1972)
2006 – Howard Kerzner, Chief Executive Officer of Kerzner International (b. 1964)
2007 – Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (b. 1915)
2007 – David Lee "Tex" Hill, World War II fighter pilot, flying ace, 1st American Volunteer Group (b. 1915)
2007 – Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose founder of the Sri Chinmoy meditation centres (b. 1931)
2008 – Jörg Haider, Austrian politician (b. 1950)
2009 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer and member of Boyzone (b. 1976)

Holidays and observances

Roman Empire – Meditrinalia is held in honor of Meditrina
RC Saints – memorial of the blessed Pope John XXIII; Saints Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus; Alexander Sauli; Damien of Molokai
United States – National Coming Out Day
Republic of Macedonia – Revolution Day
National Coming Out Day

 

[historylover]

October 12

Events

539 BC – The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.
1216 – King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge
1279 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon
1398 – The Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.
1492 – Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached South Asia
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1654 – The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
1692 – The Salem Witch Trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
1773 – America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
1792 – First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York
1793 – The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina
1810 – First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
1822 – Peter I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor of the Brazil
1823 – Charles Macintosh, of Scotland, sells the first raincoat.
1871 – Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) enacted by British rule in India, which named over 160 local communities 'Criminal Tribes', i.e. hereditary criminals. Repealed in 1949, after Independence of India.
1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.
1901 – President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
1915 – World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
1917 – World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history.
1918 – A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
1928 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston
1933 – The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
1942 – World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.
1945 – World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
1953 – "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York
1959 – At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
1960 – Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe
1960 – Inejiro Asanuma, Chair of the Japanese Socialist Party, is assassinated in Japan by Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year-old. The cameras were rolling at the time, so the moment was caught on film.
1962 – Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
1964 – The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
1967 – Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives are futile because of North Vietnam's opposition
1968 – Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain
1970 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
1972 – En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk
1976 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Zedong as chairman of Communist Party of China.
1979 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
1979 – The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
1983 – Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
1984 – Brighton hotel bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Thatcher escapes but the bomb kills five people and wounds 31.
1986 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China
1988 – Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap.
1988 – Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
1991 – Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
1994 – NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
1997 – Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
1999 – Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
1999 – The Day of Six Billion: The proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born.
2000 – The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
2002 – Terrorists detonate bombs in Paddy's Pub and the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
2005 – The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.

Births

1008 – Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (d. 1036)
1350 – Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscovy (d. 1389)
1490 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (d. 1548)
1537 – King Edward VI of England (d. 1553)
1558 – Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d. 1618)
1558 – Jacques Sirmond, French scholar and Jesuit (d. 1651)
1576 – Thomas Dudley, English-born American colonial magistrate (d. 1653)
1602 – William Chillingworth, English religious leader (d. 1644)
1710 – Jonathan Trumbull, American politician and statesman (d. 1785)
1712 – William Shippen, American physician and statesman (d. 1801)
1725 – Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (d. 1810)
1792 – Christian Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1860)
1798 – Pedro I of Brazil (d. 1834)
1801 – Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Swiss statesman (d. 1873)
1840 – Helena Modjeska, Polish actress (d. 1909)
1855 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (d. 1922)
1860 – Elmer Sperry, American inventor (d. 1930)
1865 – Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1866 – Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1937)
1872 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
1874 – Jimmy Burke, American baseball player (d. 1942)
1875 – Aleister Crowley, English occultist and author (d. 1947)
1880 – Louis Hémon, French novelist (d. 1913)
1887 – Paula von Preradović, Croatian-Austrian poet (d. 1951)
1891 – Edith Stein, Carmelite Catholic nun (d. 1942)
1892 – Gilda dalla Rizza, Italian soprano (d. 1975)
1893 – Velvalee Dickinson, American spy (d. 1980)
1894 – Elisabeth of Romania (d. 1956)
1896 – Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1904 – Ding Ling, Chinese writer (d. 1986)
1904 – Lester Dent, American writer (d. 1959)
1906 – Joe Cronin, American baseball player and executive (d. 1984)
1908 – Paul Engle, American writer (d. 1991)
1908 – Ann Petry, American novelist (d. 1997)
1910 – Robert Fitzgerald, American poet and translator (d. 1985)
1910 – Bob Sheppard, American baseball announcer
1913 – Alice Chetwynd Ley, British romance writer (d. 2004)
1916 – Alice Childress, American actress and playwright (d. 1994)
1917 – Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (d. 2004)
1919 – Gilles Beaudoin, Quebec politician (d. 2007)
1920 – Christy Ring, Irish hurler (d. 1979)
1923 – Goody Petronelli, American boxing trainer and manager
1924 – Doris Grau, American actress (d. 1995)
1925 – Denis Lazure, Quebec politician (d. 2008)
1929 – Robert Coles, American psychologist and author
1929 – Magnús Magnússon, Icelandic television presenter (d. 2007)
1930 – Milica Kacin Wohinz, Slovenian historian
1931 – Ole-Johan Dahl, Norwegian computer scientist (d. 2002)
1932 – Dick Gregory, American comedian and activist
1932 – Ned Jarrett, American race car driver
1933 – Guido Molinari, Canadian painter (d. 2004)
1934 – Richard Meier, American architect
1934 – Albert Shiryaev, Russian mathematician
1935 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (d. 2007)
1935 – Sam Moore, American R&B singer (Sam & Dave)
1935 – Don Howe, English football player and manager
1937 – Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (d. 1969)
1937 – Robert Mangold, American artist
1938 – Bob Miller, American NHL broadcaster
1941 – Michael Mansfield, English barrister
1942 – Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1995)
1944 – Angela Rippon, British television personality
1945 – Aurore Clément, French actress
1945 – Dusty Rhodes, American professional wrestler
1947 – Chris Wallace, American journalist
1947 – George Lam, Hong Kong singer
1948 – Rick Parfitt, British musician (Status Quo)
1949 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, Venezuelan international terrorist
1949 – Stan Hansen, American professional wrestler
1950 – Susan Anton, American actress
1950 – Robin Askwith, English actor
1950 – Caroline Ellis, English actress
1950 – Dave Freudenthal, American politician
1950 – Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor
1951 – Ed Royce, American politician
1952 – Danielle Proulx, Quebec actress
1953 – Les Dennis, British comedian and presenter
1953 – Serge Lepeltier, French politician
1955 – Ante Gotovina, Croatian general
1955 – Jane Siberry, Canadian musician
1956 – David Vanian, British singer, (The Damned)
1957 – Kristen Bjorn, British film director
1958 – Bryn Merrick, British musician, (The Damned)
1959 – Anna Escobedo Cabral, 42nd Treasurer of the United States
1960 – Hiroyuki Sanada, Japanese actor
1962 – Carlos Bernard, American actor
1962 – Chris Botti, American jazz musician
1962 – Branko Crvenkovski, Macedonian politician
1962 – Deborah Foreman, American actress
1963 – Lane Frost, American professional bull rider (d. 1989)
1963 – Satoshi Kon, Japanese anime director
1963 – Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer
1963 – Luis Polonia, Dominican baseball player
1965 – Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Canadian hockey player
1965 – Scott O'Grady, American military officer
1966 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor
1966 – Wim Jonk, Dutch football player
1966 – Brian Kennedy, Northern Irish musician and author
1967 – Paul Laine Canadian singer composer
1968 – Bill Auberlen, American race car driver
1968 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer
1968 – Adam Rich, American actor
1969 – Martie Maguire, American musician (Dixie Chicks)
1969 – Dwayne Roloson, Canadian hockey player
1969 – José Valentín, American baseball player
1970 – Kirk Cameron, American actor
1970 – Tanyon Sturtze, American baseball player
1970 – Charlie Ward, American pro basketball player
1970 – Julian, American pornographic actor
1971 – Ahn Jae Wook, South Korean actor and composer
1971 – Tony Fiore, American baseball player
1972 – Irina Pantaeva, Russian supermodel and actress
1972 – Juan Manuel Silva, Argentine racing driver
1972 – Tom Van Mol, Belgian football player
1972 – Mechele Linehan, American convicted murderess
1973 – Lesli Brea, Dominican baseball player
1973 – Martin Corry, English rugby player
1974 – Stephen Lee, English snooker player
1974 – Marie Wilson, Canadian actress
1975 – Marion Jones, American track and field athlete
1976 – Sarah Lane, American television personality
1977 – Jessica Barker, Canadian actress
1977 – Bode Miller, American alpine ski-racer
1977 – Javier Toyo, Venezuelan footballer
1978 – Baden Cooke, Australian cyclist
1978 – Marko Jaric, Serbian basketball player
1979 – Jordan Pundik, American singer (New Found Glory)
1980 – Ledley King, English footballer
1981 – Shola Ameobi, English footballer
1981 – Tom Guiry, American actor
1981 – Brian Kerr, Scottish footballer
1981 – Sneha, Indian actress
1983 – Alex Brosque, Australian footballer
1985 – Mike Green, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Sergio Peter, German footballer
1986 – Emmanuel Nwachi, Nigerian footballer
1990 – Henri Lansbury, English footballer
1992 – Josh Hutcherson, American actor

Deaths

632 – Edwin of Deira, King of Northumbria and Bretwalda
638 – Pope Honorius I
642 – Pope John IV
1095 – Margrave Leopold II of Austria (b. 1050)
1176 – William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, English politician
1320 – Michael IX Palaeologus, co-ruling Eastern Roman Emperor (b. 1277)
1491 – Fritz Herlen, German artist
1492 – Piero della Francesca, Italian painter
1565 – Jean Ribault, French explorer and colonizer (b. 1520)
1576 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
1590 – Kano Eitoku, Japanese painter (b. 1543)
1600 – Luis Molina, Spanish Jesuit (b. 1535)
1632 – Kutsuki Mototsuna, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1549)
1646 – François de Bassompierre, Marshal of France (b. 1579)
1678 – Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate (b. 1621)
1679 – William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617)
1685 – Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian jurist (b. 1628)
1730 – King Frederick IV of Denmark (b. 1671)
1758 – Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, British field marshal (b. 1680)
1845 – Elizabeth Fry, British social reformer and philanthropist (b. 1780)
1870 – Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
1875 – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
1896 – Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish nobleman and politician (b. 1817)
1898 – Calvin Fairbank, American abolitionist minister (b. 1816)
1915 – Edith Cavell, English nurse (b. 1865)
1920 – Yu Gwan-sun, Korean independence fighter (b. 1904)
1924 – Anatole France, French author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
1940 – Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
1946 – Joseph Stilwell, U.S. general (b. 1883)
1948 – Susan Sutherland Isaacs, educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1885).
1954 – George Welch, American pilot (b. 1918)
1956 – Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
1958 – Gordon Griffith, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
1960 – Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese politician (b. 1898)
1965 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
1967 – Ram Manohar Lohia, Indian Socialist politician leader (b. 1910)
1969 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (b. 1912)
1970 – Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani poet (b. 1930)
1971 – Dean Acheson, U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1893)
1971 – Gene Vincent, pioneering American rock'n'roll musician (b. 1935)
1973 – Peter Aufschnaiter, Austrian mountaineer, known from Seven Years in Tibet (b. 1899)
1978 – Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (b. 1958)
1983 – The Grand Wizard of Wrestling, Wrestling manager (b. 1929)
1984 – Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (bombing victim) (b. 1925)
1985 – Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (b. 1910)
1985 – Ricky Wilson, American musician; member of The B-52's (b. 1953)
1987 – Alf Landon, Governor of Kansas (b. 1887)
1988 – Ruth Manning-Sanders, author of children's books (b. 1895)
1989 – Jay Ward, American animator (Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc.) (b. 1920)
1991 – Sheila Florance, Australian film and television actress (b. 1916)
1991 – Arkady Strugatsky, Russian novelist (b. 1925)
1993 – Leon Ames, American actor (b. 1902)
1993 – Tofik Bakhramov, Azerbaijani linesman (b. 1926)
1994 – Gérald Godin, Québécois poet and politician (b. 1938)
1996 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (b. 1911)
1996 – René Lacoste, French tennis player (b. 1904)
1997 – John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)
1998 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
1998 – Mario Beaulieu, French Canadian politician (b. 1930)
1999 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
1999 – Robert Marsden Hope, Australian Justice and Royal Commissioner (b. 1919)
2001 – Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, British politician (b. 1907)
2002 – Ray Conniff, American bandleader and musician (b. 1916)
2002 – Audrey Mestre, French diver (b. 1974)
2003 – Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
2003 – Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (b. 1928)
2003 – Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
2005 – C. Delores Tucker, American politician and civil rights activist (b. 1927)
2006 – Gillo Pontecorvo, Italian film director (b. 1919)
2007 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (b. 1934)
2007 – Noel Coleman, British Actor (b. 1919)
2008 – Karl Chircop, Maltese politician (b. 1965)

Holidays and observances

October 12 is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
St. Heribert
Saint Wilfrid
China's "worship the Dragon Day" Oct. 12th
October 12 is also a holiday in the following countries:
Equatorial Guinea – Independence Day (from Spain, 1968)
Malawi – Mother's Day
Spain – National Day
Columbus Day (traditionally) – United States.
El Dia de la Raza – Latin America.
French Republican Calendar – Chanvre (Hemp) Day, twenty-first day in the Month of Vendémiaire
Brazil – Children's Day and the day of Our Lady of Aparecida (National Religious holiday).
United States – Freethought Day
Canada – Thanksgiving Monday
United Kingdom – National Coming Out Day (one day later than other countries)

 

[historylover]

October 13

Events

54 – Nero ascends to the Roman throne
409 – Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania.
1307 – Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy.
1332 - Rinchinbal Khan, Emperor Ningzong of Yuan became the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, reigning for only 53 days.
1362 On 13 October 1362 the Chancellor of England for the first time opened Parliament with a speech in English.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1773 – The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier
1775 – The United States Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later renamed the United States Navy).
1777 – After his defeat on October 7, 1777, British General John Burgoyne's Army at The Battles of Saratoga become surrounded by superior numbers, setting the stage for its surrender — which feat of arms inspires the Kingdom of France to enter the American Revolutionary War against the British.
1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
1812 – War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights – As part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, Canada, United States forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.
1843 – In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
1845 – A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.
1881 – Revival of the Hebrew language as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends agree to use Hebrew exclusively in their conversations.
1884 – Greenwich, in London, England, is established as Universal Time meridian of longitude.
1885 – The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13-14.
1915 – The Battle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt marks the end of the Battle of Loos in northern France, World War I.
1917 – The "Miracle of the Sun" is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.
1918 – Mehmed Talat Pasha and the Young Turk (C.U.P.) ministry resign and sign an armistice, ending Ottoman participation in World War I.
1923 – Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.
1943 – World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
1944 – World War II: Riga, the capital of Latvia is seized by the Red Army.
1946 – France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
1962 – The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane. Winds measured above 150mph at several locations; 46 people died.
1967 – The first game in the history of the American Basketball Association is played as the Anaheim Amigos lose to the Oakland Oaks 134-129 in Oakland, California.
1972 – An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashed outside Moscow killing 176.
1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, near the border between Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972, only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued.
1976 – A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing 100 (97, mostly children, killed on the ground).
1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle was obtained by Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C.
1977 – Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.
1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T) launched the first US cellular network in Chicago, Illinois.
1990 – End of the Lebanese war. Syrian forces launch an attack on the free areas of Lebanon removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
1992 – An Antonov An-124 operated by Antonov Airlines registered SSSR-82002, crashed near Kiev, Ukraine.
1999 – The United States Senate rejects ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Births

1162 – Leonora of England, Queen of Castile (d. 1214)
1244 – Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar (d. 1314)
1453 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (d. 1471)
1474 – Mariotto Albertinelli, Italian painter (d. 1515)
1566 – Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, Irish politician (d. 1643)
1613 – Luisa of Medina-Sidonia, queen of Portugal (d. 1666)
1696 – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English statesman and writer (d. 1743)
1713 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter (d. 1784)
1714 – Pieter Burmann the Younger, Dutch philologist (d. 1778)
1768 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French explorer (d. 1839)
1820 – John William Dawson, Canadian geologist (d. 1899)
1821 – Rudolf Virchow, German physician, pathologist, biologist, and politician (d. 1902)
1844 – Ernest Myers, English poet, Classicist and author (d. 1921)
1853 – Lillie Langtry, British actress (d. 1929)
1862 – Mary Kingsley, English writer and explorer (d. 1900)
1874 – József Klekl, Slovene politician in Hungary (d. 1948)
1876 – Rube Waddell, American baseball player (d. 1914)
1878 – Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1952)
1880 – Sasha Cherny, Russian poet (d. 1932)
1887 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak politician (d. 1947)
1890 – Conrad Richter, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1968)
1895 – Mike Gazella, American baseball player (d. 1978)
1896 – E. Beatrice Riley, Australian supercentenarian (d. 2009)
1900 – Gerald Marks, American songwriter (d. 1997)
1902 – Arna Wendell Bontemps, American writer (d. 1973)
1904 – Wilfred Pickles, English actor and broadcaster (d. 1978)
1905 – Coloman Braun-Bogdan, Romanian football player and manager (d. 1983)
1907 – Yves Allégret, French film director (d. 1987)
1909 – Art Tatum, American jazz pianist (d. 1956)
1909 – Herbert Block, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
1911 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (d. 2001)
1913 – Igor Torkar, Slovenian writer (d. 2004)
1915 – Terry Frost, English artist (d. 2003)
1915 – Cornel Wilde, American actor (d. 1989)
1917 – George Osmond, patriarch (d. 2007)
1917 – Burr Tillstrom, American puppeteer (d. 1985)
1918 – Robert Hudson Walker, American actor (d. 1951)
1920 – Laraine Day, American actress (d. 2007)
1921 – Yves Montand, Italian singer and actor (d. 1991)
1923 – Cyril Shaps, English actor (d. 2003)
1923 – Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer (d. 2006)
1924 – Moturu Udayam, Indian woman's activist (d. 2002)
1925 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian (d. 1966)
1925 – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1925 – Gustav Winckler, Danish singer (d. 1979)
1926 – Ray Brown, American jazz bassist (d. 2002)
1926 – Walter "Killer" Kowalski (wrestler) Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2008)
1927 – Lee Konitz, American jazz saxophonist
1931 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (d. 2001)
1931 – Raymond Kopa, French footballer
1932 – Jack Colvin, American actor (d. 2005)
1933 – Raynald Frechette, Canadian politician and judge (d. 2007)
1933 – Queen Narriman, Egyptian royalty (d. 2005)
1933 – Baron Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
1934 – Nana Mouskouri, Greek singer and politician
1937 – Sami Frey, French actor
1938 – Hugo Young, English journalist (d. 2003)
1939 – T. J. Cloutier, American poker player
1939 – Melinda Dillon, American actress
1940 – Pharoah Sanders, American saxophonist
1941 – Paul Simon, American singer and musician (Simon & Garfunkel)
1942 – Jerry Jones, American football team owner
1942 – Pamela Tiffin, American film actress
1942 – Bob Bailey, American baseball player
1943 – Mike Barnicle, American newspaper columnist
1944 – Robert Lamm, American musician (Chicago)
1945 – Christophe, French singer
1945 – Dési Bouterse, Surinamese politician
1946 – Edwina Currie, British politician
1947 – Sammy Hagar, American singer (Van Halen)
1947 – Jerry Trupiano, American sports broadcaster
1947 – Alan Wakeman, English saxophonist (Soft Machine)
1948 – John Ford Coley, American musician
1948 – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician and singer (d. 1997)
1948 – Ted Poe, American politician
1949 – Tom Mees, American sports broadcaster (d. 1996)
1949 – Patrick Nève, Belgian racing driver
1949 – Marisol Malaret, beauty pageant contestant
1952 – Beverly Johnson, American supermodel
1952 – John Lone, Hong Kong actor
1953 – Pat Day, American jockey
1954 – George Frazier, American baseball player
1954 – Claude Ribbe, French historian
1954 – Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician
1956 – Frank Dunn, American artist
1956 – Chris Carter, American television producer
1956 – Joseph Anthony Toal, Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, Scotland
1957 – Reggie Theus, American basketball player and head coach
1958 – Maria Cantwell, American politician, junior senator from Washington
1958 – Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, American musician and composer
1959 – Marie Osmond, American entertainer
1960 – Joey Belladonna, American musician (Anthrax)
1960 – Tim Brewster, American football coach
1960 – Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary
1960 – Peter Keisler, acting United States attorney general
1961 – Derek Harper, American basketball player
1961 – Doc Rivers, American basketball player and coach
1962 – T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh, American actress
1962 – Kelly Preston, American actress
1962 – Jerry Rice, American football player
1963 – Colin Channer, Jamaican writer
1963 – Chip Foose, automotive designer and fabricator
1964 – Allen Covert, American actor
1964 – Niè Hǎishèng, Chinese astronaut
1964 – Christopher Judge, American actor
1964 – Marco Travaglio, Italian journalist
1965 – Johan Museeuw, Belgian cyclist
1967 – Scott Cooper, American baseball player
1967 – Trevor Hoffman, American baseball player
1967 – Steve Vickers, English footballer
1967 – Kate Walsh, American actress
1968 – Tisha Campbell-Martin, American actress and singer
1968 – Carlos Marin, Spanish baritone (Il Divo)
1969 – Rhett Akins, American country singer
1969 – Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater
1969 – Cady McClain, American actress
1970 – Serena Altschul, American reporter
1970 – Mel Jackson, American actor and R&B musician
1970 – Rob Howley, Welsh rugby player
1970 – Paul Potts, British opera singer
1971 – Hitesh Modi,Kenyan cricketer
1971 – Sacha Baron Cohen, English comedian
1971 – Billy Bush, American TV host
1971 – Pyrros Dimas, Greek weightlifter
1971 – Luis Tosar, Spanish actor
1972 – Summer Sanders, American swimmer and sports broadcaster
1973 – Brian Dawkins, American football player
1973 – Peter Dumbreck, Scottish racing driver
1973 – Matt Hughes, American mixed martial artist
1973 – Nanako Matsushima, Japanese actress
1974 – Hawick Lau, Chinese actor and singer
1977 – Gareth Batty, English cricketer
1977 – Paul Pierce, American basketball player
1977 – Kiele Sanchez, American actress
1979 – Wes Brown, English footballer
1980 – Ashanti, American singer
1980 – David Haye, English boxer
1980 – Magne Hoseth, Norwegian footballer
1980 – Scott Parker, English footballer
1981 – Ryan Ashford, English footballer
1981 – Kele Okereke, English singer (Bloc Party)
1982 – Ian Thorpe, Australian swimmer
1984 – Misono, Japanese singer (Day After Tomorrow)
1984 – Frank Simek, American footballer
1986 – Gabriel Agbonlahor , English footballer
1987 – Ashley Newbrough, American actress
1988 – Scott Jamieson, Australian footballer
1992 – Aaron Dismuke, American voice actor

Deaths

54 – Claudius, Roman Emperor (b. 10 BC)
1093 – Robert I, Count of Flanders
1282 – Nichiren Japanese founder of Nichiren Buddhism (b. 1222)
1415 – Thomas FitzAlan, 12th Earl of Arundel, English military leader (b. 1381)
1508 – Edmund de Ros, 11th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1446)
1605 – Theodore Beza, French theologian (b. 1519)
1673 – Kristoffer Gabel, Danish statesman (b. 1617)
1687 – Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer (b. 1633)
1694 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German jurist (b. 1632)
1706 – Iyasus the Great, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1682)
1715 – Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (b. 1638)
1759 – John Henley, English minister (b. 1692)
1788 – Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, Irish politician and poet (b. 1702)
1812 – Sir Isaac Brock, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1769)
1815 – Joachim Murat, French marshal and King of Naples (executed) (b. 1767)
1825 – Maximilian I of Bavaria (b. 1756)
1869 – Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (b. 1804)
1882 – Arthur de Gobineau, French philosopher (b. 1816)
1890 – Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1816)
1904 – Pavlos Melas, Greek officer who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia (b. 1870)
1905 – Sir Henry Irving, the first British actor to be knighted (b. 1838)
1909 – Francisco Ferrer Guardia, Spanish free-thinker (b. 1849)
1917 – Florence La Badie, American actress
1919 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1857)
1926 – Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian author and philologist (b. 1865)
1931 – Ernst Didring, Swedish author (b. 1868)
1938 – E.C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye) (b. 1894)
1945 – Milton S. Hershey, American chocolate tycoon (b. 1857)
1950 – Ernest Haycox, American writer (b. 1899)
1955 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, President of Mexico (b. 1897)
1966 – Clifton Webb, American actor (b. 1889)
1968 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)
1971 – Stafford Smythe, Canadian NHL executive (b. 1921)
1974 – Ed Sullivan, American television personality (b. 1901)
1979 – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, English composer and violist (b. 1886)
1987 – Walter Brattain, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
1987 – Kishore Kumar, Indian Singer (b. 1929)
1988 – Mike Venezia, jockey (b. 1945)
1990 – Lê Ðức Thọ, Vietnamese general and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
1992 – Dantrell Davis, victim of gang crossfire in Cabrini-Green (b. 1985)
1993 – Wade Flemons, American soul singer (b. 1940)
1995 – Ali Faik Zaghloul, Egyptian radio presenter (b. 1924)
2000 – Jean Peters, American actress (b. 1926)
2001 – Peter Doyle, Australian folk singer (The New Seekers) (b. 1949)
2002 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
2003 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
2004 – Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court (b. 1915)
2005 – Vivian Malone Jones, American civil rights activist (b. 1942)
2006 – Wang Guangmei, Chinese first lady (b. 1921)
2007 – Bob Denard, French mercenary (b. 1929)
2008 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1989)

Holidays and observances

Roman festivals – Fontanalia: festival dedicated to Fontus
Roman Catholic Saints – translation (1163) of Saint Edward the Confessor; memorial of Saint Gerald of Aurillac optional feast of Our Lady of Fatima
French Republican Calendar – Pêche (Peach) Day, twenty-second day in the Month of Vendémiaire

 

[historylover]

October 14

Events

1066 – Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings – In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England.
1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1586 – Mary I of Scotland goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England.
1656 – Massachusetts enacts the first punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The marriage of church-and-state in Puritanism makes them regard the Quakers as spiritually apostate and politically subversive.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Austria defeats Prussia at the Battle of Hochkirk
1773 – The first recorded Ministry of Education, the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for Commission of National Education), is formed in Poland.
1773 – American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom's East India Company tea ships' cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland.
1789 – George Washington proclaims the first Thanksgiving Day.
1805 – Battle of Elchingen, France defeats Austria
1806 – Battle of Jena-Auerstädt France defeats Prussia
1808 – The Republic of Ragusa is annexed by France.
1812 – Work on London's Regent's Canal starts.
1834 – In Philadelphia, Whigs and Democrats stage a gun, stone and brick battle for control of a Moyamensing Township election, resulting in one death, several injuries, and the burning down of a block of buildings.
1840 – Maronite leader Bashir II surrenders to the British forces and goes into exile in Malta.
1843 – The British arrest Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell for conspiracy.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Bristoe Station – Confederate General Robert E. Lee forces fail to drive the Union Army out of Virginia.
1867 – The 15th and last Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate resigns in Japan.
1882 – University of the Punjab is founded in present day Pakistan.
1884 – George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.
1888 – Louis Le Prince films first motion picture: Roundhay Garden Scene.
1910 – English aviator Claude Grahame-White lands his Farman biplane on Executive Avenue near the White House.
1912 – While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper John Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt still delivers his scheduled speech.
1913 – Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, the United Kingdom's worst coal mining accident, which claimed 439 lives.
1916 – Sophomore tackle and guard Paul Robeson is excluded from the Rutgers football team when Washington and Lee University refused to play against a black person.
1916 – The Perm State University is founded in Russia.
1920 – Part of Petsamo province is ceded by Soviet Union to Finland.
1925 – Anti-French uprising in Damascus (French inhabitants flee)
1926 – The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is first published.
1933 – Nazi Germany withdraws from The League of Nations.
1939 – German U-Boat U-47 sinks British battleship HMS Royal Oak.
1940 – Balham tube disaster during the Blitz.
1942 – A German U-boat sinks the ferry SS Caribou, killing 137.
1943 – Prisoners at the Sobibor death camp in Poland revolt, resulting in the death of 11 SS. About half of the camp's 600 prisoners escape; about 50 survive the war.
1943 – U.S. 8th Air Force loses 60 B-17 Flying Fortresses during an assault on Schweinfurt.
1944 – Allied troops land in Corfu.
1944 – Athens is liberated by British troops entering the city and the Greek government-in-exile returns, with George Papandreou at its head
1947 – Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
1949 – Eleven leaders of the U.S. Communist Party are convicted, after a nine-month trial, of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.
1949 – Chinese Red Army occupies Canton (Guangzhou).
1956 – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers (see Neo-Buddhism).
1957 – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first Canadian monarch to open the Parliament of Canada with the Speech from the Throne.
1958 – The U.S. conducts an underground nuclear weapon test at the Nevada Test Site.
1958 – The District of Columbia Bar Association votes to accept black Americans as members.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed.
1964 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes General Secretary of the CPSU and leader of the Soviet Union, ousting Nikita Khrushchev.
1966 – The city of Montreal inaugurates the Montreal Metro.
1967 – Vietnam War: Folk singer Joan Baez is arrested in a blockade of the military induction center in Oakland, California.
1968 – Vietnam War: 27 soldiers are arrested at the Presidio in San Francisco for their peaceful protest of stockade conditions and the Vietnam War.
1968 – Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
1968 – First live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft Apollo 7.
1968 – A 6.8 earthquake destroys the Australian town of Meckering, and also ruptures all major roads and railways nearby.
1968 – Jim Hines of the USA becomes the first man ever to break the ten second barrier in the 100 metres Olympic final at Mexico City with a time of 9.95 sec. He would be the only man to do so until 1983.
1968 – The rebuilt Euston railway station in London is opened.
1969 – The United Kingdom introduces the 50p (fifty-pence) coin, replacing the ten-shilling note, in anticipation of the decimalisation of the currency in 1971.
1973 – Thammasat student uprising over 100,000 people, protested in Thailand against the Thanom military government; 77 are killed and 857 are injured by soldiers.
1979 – The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people," draws 200,000 people.
1981 – Citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial, Amnesty International charges the U.S. government with holding Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner.
1981 – Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat is assassinated.
1982 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaims a War on Drugs.
1994 – Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1998 – Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with 6 bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Births

1257 – King Przemysl II of Poland (d. 1296)
1404 – Marie of Anjou, queen of France (d. 1463)
1493 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (d. 1568)
1499 – Claude of France, wife of Louis XII of France (d. 1524)
1630 – Sophia of Hanover, Princess Palatine and Electress of Saxony (d. 1714)
1633 – James II of England and VII of Scotland (d. 1701)
1643 – Bahadur Shah I, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1712)
1644 – William Penn, English founder of Pennsylvania (d. 1718)
1687 – Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (d. 1768)
1712 – George Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1770)
1726 – Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, English sailor and politician (d. 1813)
1733 – François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (d. 1798)
1784 – King Ferdinand VII of Spain (d. 1833)
1790 – Thursday October Christian (d. 1831)
1801 – Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist (d. 1883)
1806 – Preston King, U.S. Senator from New York (d. 1865)
1840 – Dimitri Pisarev, Russian writer and social critic (d. 1868)
1842 – Joe Start, American baseball player (d. 1927)
1853 – Ciprian Porumbescu, Romanian composer (d. 1883)
1861 – Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (d. 1944)
1869 – Joseph Duveen, British art dealer (d. 1939)
1873 – Ray Ewry, American athlete (d. 1937)
1873 – Jules Rimet, president of FIFA (d. 1954)
1882 – Eamon de Valera, Irish politician and patriot (d. 1975)
1882 – Charlie Parker, English cricketer (d. 1959)
1888 – Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer (d. 1923)
1890 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th President of the United States (d. 1969)
1892 – Sumner Welles, American diplomat (d. 1961)
1893 – Lillian Gish, American actress (d. 1993)
1894 – E. E. Cummings, American poet (d. 1962)
1900 – Agustín Lara, Mexican composer (d. 1970)
1902 – Learco Guerra, Italian cyclist (d. 1963)
1904 – Christian Pineau, French World War II resistance fighter (d. 1995)
1906 – Hannah Arendt, German political theorist and writer (d. 1975)
1906 – Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (d. 1949)
1907 – Allan Jones, American actor and singer (d. 1992)
1908 – Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (d. 2003)
1909 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German racecar driver (d. 1938)
1909 – Dorothy Kingsley, American screenwriter (d. 1996)
1910 – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach
1911 – Lê Ðức Thọ, Vietnamese general and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1990)
1914 – Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)
1914 – Dick Durrance, American skier (d. 2004)
1914 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1916 – C. Everett Koop, United States Surgeon General
1918 – Marcel Chaput, French Canadian politician (d. 1991)
1926 – Bill Justis, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
1927 – Roger Moore, English actor
1928 – Frank E. Resnik, American business executive (d. 1995)
1929 – Yvon Durelle, Canadian boxer (d. 2007)
1930 – Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire (d. 1997)
1931 – Nikhil Banerjee, Indian classical musician (d. 1986)
1932 – Anatoly Larkin, Russian-American physicist (d. 2005)
1932 – Enrico di Giuseppe, American tenor (d. 2005)
1932 – Dyanne Thorne, American actress
1935 – La Monte Young, American composer
1938 – John W. Dean III, Watergate figure
1938 – Empress Farah Diba of Iran
1938 – Ron Lancaster, American-born Canadian football player and coach (d. 2008)
1939 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
1939 – Rocky Thompson, American golfer
1940 – Perrie Mans, South African snooker player
1940 – Cliff Richard, English singer
1940 – Christopher Timothy, British actor
1941 – Art Shamsky, American baseball player
1941 – Jerry Glanville, American football coach
1942 – Evelio Javier, Filipino politician, lawyer, and civil servant (d. 1986)
1943 – Mohammad Khatami, Fifth president of Iran
1944 – Udo Kier, German actor
1945 – Colin Hodgkinson, English musician (Whitesnake)
1946 – Justin Hayward, English musician (Moody Blues)
1946 – James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, American football coach
1946 – Craig Venter, American biologist
1946 – Al Oliver, American baseball player
1946 – Dan McCafferty, Scottish musician (Nazareth)
1947 – Lukas Resetarits, Austrian cabaret artist
1947 – Norman Harris, American musician (The Trammps)
1948 – David Ruprecht, American game show host
1948 – Engin Arık, Turkish nuclear physicist (d. 2007)
1949 – Katy Manning, English/Australian actress
1949 – Katha Pollitt, American writer
1952 – Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast
1952 – Harry Anderson, American actor
1953 – Shelley Ackerman, American astrologer, writer, singer
1954 – Carole Malone, English newspaper columnist
1957 – Michel Després, Quebec politician
1958 – Thomas Dolby, English musician
1959 – A.J. Pero, American drummer (Twisted Sister)
1960 – Steve Cram, English athlete
1961 – Isaac Mizrahi American fashion designer
1962 – Jaan Ehlvest, Estonian chess player
1963 – Yim Jae-beom, South Korean singer
1963 – Lori Petty, American actress
1964 – Olu Oguibe, American artist
1964 – Joe Girardi, American baseball player and manager
1964 – Jim Rome, American sport talk show host
1964 – David Kaye, Canadian actor
1965 – Jüri Jaanson, Estonian rower
1965 – Constantine Koukias, Australian composer
1965 – Steve Coogan, English actor
1965 – Karyn White, American singer
1967 – Pat Kelly, American baseball player
1967 – Sylvain Lefebvre, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Stephen A. Smith, American sports journalist
1968 – Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer
1968 – Johnny Goudie, American musician
1969 – Christophe Agou, French photographer
1969 – David Strickland, American actor (d. 1999)
1969 – P. J. Brown, American basketball player
1970 – Jim Jackson, American basketball player
1970 – Daniela Peštová, Czech supermodel
1970 – Jon Seda, Puerto Rican actor
1970 – Pär Zetterberg, Swedish football player
1971 – Jorge Costa, Portuguese footballer
1973 – Lasha Zhvania, Georgian politician
1974 – Natalie Maines, American musician (Dixie Chicks)
1974 – Jessica Drake, American porn star
1974 – Joseph Utsler, American musician
1974 – Viktor Röthlin, Swiss marathoner
1975 – Floyd Landis, American cyclist
1975 – Shaznay Lewis, English singer (All Saints)
1976 – Nataša Kejžar, Slovenian swimmer
1976 – Henry Mateo, Dominican baseball player
1976 – Ben Pridmore, World Memory Champion
1977 – Kelly Schumacher, Canadian basketball player
1977 – Bianca Beauchamp, adult model
1977 – Jonathan Kerrigan, English actor
1977 – Tina Dico, Danish singer-songwriter
1978 – Justin Brannan, American musician, writer
1978 – Ryan Church, American baseball player
1978 – Paul Hunter, English snooker player (d. 2006)
1978 – Steven Thompson, Scottish footballer
1978 – Usher, American singer and actor
1978 – Javon Walker, American football player
1979 – Stacy Keibler, American actress and professional wrestler
1980 – Terrence McGee, American football player
1980 – Paul Ambrosi, Ecuadorian footballer
1980 – Niels Lodberg, Danish footballer
1980 – Ben Whishaw, English actor
1982 – Cosmin Curiman, Romanian football player
1983 – Vanessa Lane, American porn star
1983 – Lin Dan, Chinese badminton player
1984 – LaRon Landry, American football player
1985 – Daniel Clark, American actor
1985 – Digão, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Alexandre Sarnes Negrão, Brazilian racing driver
1985 – Sherlyn, Mexican actress
1986 – Tom Craddock, English footballer
1986 – Skyler Shaye, American actress
1988 – MacKenzie Mauzy, American actress
1988 – Max Thieriot, American actor
1988 – Will Atkinson, English footballer (Hull City)
1990 – Alexandra Krosney, American actress (Lost)
1990 – Michael Craig,American Badass/Lax Bro
1991 – Shona McGarty, English actress
1992 – Savannah Outen, American singer
[edit]Deaths

1066 – Harold Godwinson, King of England (b. 1022)
1092 – Nizam al-Mulk, Seljuk vizier (b. 1018)
1256 – Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese shogun (b. 1239)
1318 – Edward Bruce, High King of Ireland (b. 1280)
1552 – Oswald Myconius, Swiss Protestant reformer (b. 1488)
1565 – Thomas Chaloner, English statesman and poet (b. 1521)
1568 – Jacques Arcadelt, Flemish composer
1610 – Amago Yoshihisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1540)
1619 – Samuel Daniel, English poet (b. 1562)
1637 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet (b. 1552)
1660 – Thomas Harrison, English Puritan soldier (b. 1606)
1669 – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer (b. 1623)
1703 – Thomas Hansen Kingo, Danish poet (b. 1634)
1711 – Tewoflos, Emperor of Ethiopia
1758 – Francis Edward James Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (b. 1696)
1831 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (b. 1761)
1911 – John Marshall Harlan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1833)
1929 – Henri Berger, German composer and royal bandmaster (b. 1844)
1944 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshall (b. 1891)
1958 – Douglas Mawson, Australian Antarctic explorer (b. 1882)
1959 – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
1960 – Abram Ioffe, Russian physicist (b. 1880)
1961 – Paul Ramadier, French politician (b. 1888)
1961 – Harriet Shaw Weaver, English political activist (b. 1876)
1965 – Randall Jarrell, American poet, novelist, critic, children's author and essayist (b. 1914)
1967 – Marcel Aymé, French novelist and playwright (b. 1902)
1973 – Edmund A. Chester, American broadcaster and journalist (b. 1897)
1976 – Dame Edith Evans, English actress (b. 1888)
1977 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (b. 1903)
1983 – Willard Price, Canadian author and naturalist (b. 1887)
1984 – Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1918)
1985 – Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (b. 1916)
1986 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
1989 – Michael Carmine, American actor (b.1959)
1990 – Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1918)
1997 – Harold Robbins, American novelist (b. 1915)
1998 – Cleveland Amory, American writer and animal rights activist (b. 1917)
1998 – Frankie Yankovic, American musician (b. 1916)
1999 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician (b. 1922)
2002 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and songwriter (b. 1911)
2003 – Patrick Dalzel-Job, English soldier and inspiration for James Bond (b. 1913)
2004 – Vlassis Bonatsos, Greek singer, actor and entertainer (b. 1949)
2005 – Jody Dobrowski, English murder victim (b. 1981)
2006 – Jared Anderson, American bassist (b. 1975)
2006 – Freddy Fender, American musician (b. 1937)
2006 – Maurice Grosse, British paranormal investigator (b. 1919)
2006 – Nancy Lynn, American aviator (b. 1956)
2006 – Gerry Studds, American politician (b. 1937)
2007 – Big Moe, American rapper (b. 1974)
2008 – Richard Cooey, American murderer and rapist (executed) (b. 1967)

Holidays and observances

RC Saints – Pope Callistus I, Angadrisma, Fortunatus of Todi
Teachers' Day, or National Education Day in Poland
French Republican Calendar – Navet (Turnip) Day, twenty-third day in the Month of Vendémiaire
Chişinău's (Moldova's capital) local holiday (known as "Hramul Oraşului" by locals).
World Standards Day

 

[historylover]

October 15

Events

533 – Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
1783 – Montgolfier brothers Hot air balloon:first human ascent by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, (tethered balloon).
1793 - Queen Marie-Antoinette of France is tried and condemned in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.
1815 – Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Glasgow is fought, resulting in the surrender of Glasgow, Missouri, and its Union garrison, to the Confederacy.
1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.
1880 – Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
1888 – The "From Hell" letter sent by Jack the Ripper is received by the investigators.
1894 – The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying.
1904 – The Russian Baltic Fleet leaves Reval, Estonia for Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
1917 – World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.
1928 – The airship, the Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.
1934 – The Soviet Republic of China collapses when Chiang Kai-shek's National Revolutionary Army successfully encircle Ruijin, forcing the fleeing Communists to begin the Long March.
1938 – The District of Columbia formally adopts a design for its flag.
1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.
1944 – The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes over the power in Hungary.
1945 – World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.
1946 – Nuremberg Trials: Hermann Göring poisons himself the night before his execution.
1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first two oral contraceptives.
1953 – British nuclear test Totem 1 detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
1956 – Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.
1965 – Vietnam War: The National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam stages the first public burning of a draft card in the United States to result in arrest under a new law.
1966 – Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
1970 – Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
1970 – The domestic Soviet Aeroflot Flight 244 is hijacked and diverted to Turkey.
1971 – The start of the 2500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia.
1973 – The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Gabon are established.
1979 – Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several PN clubs are ransacked and destroyed by the PL(Labour) supporters.
1981 – Professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson leads what is thought to be the first audience wave in Oakland, California.
1987 – The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
1996 – Phish's eighth studio album Billy Breathes is released.
1997 – The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere.
1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.
2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.
2003 – The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi runs into a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
2005 – Iraqi constitution ratification vote.
2005 – A riot in Toledo, Ohio breaks out during a National Socialist/Neo-Nazi protest; over 100 are arrested.
2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post 9/11 anti-terrorism raids.

Births

70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
1471 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (d. 1526)
1542 – Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed, Mughal Emperor (d. 1605)
1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (d. 1647)
1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (d. 1758)
1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, first native Canadian canonized (d. 1771)
1711 – Elisabeth Teresa of Lorraine, queen of Sardinia (d. 1741)
1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, Marshal of France and duke of Isly (d. 1849)
1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and founding father (d. 1821)
1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author (d. 1841)
1825 – Queen Marie of Prussia, (d. 1889)
1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer (d. 1907)
1836 – James Tissot, French artist (d. 1902)
1840 – Honoré Mercier, politician and premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)
1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (d. 1918)
1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian president (d. 1956)
1874 – Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, (d. 1899)
1878 – Paul Reynaud, French politician (d. 1966)
1879 – Jane Darwell, Academy Award-winning American actress (d. 1967)
1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, British novelist (d. 1975)
1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player (d. 1941)
1884 – Arch Hoxsey, pioneer aviator (d. 1910)
1893 – King Carol II of Romania, (d. 1953)
1894 – Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)
1898 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (d. 1951)
1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American film director (d. 1987)
1905 – C. P. Snow, British writer (d. 1980)
1906 – Hiram Leong Fong, American politician (d. 2004)
1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist (d. 1967)
1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born US economist (d. 2006)
1909 – Robert Trout, American reporter (d. 2000)
1909 – Jesse Leonard Greenstein, American astronomer (d. 2002)
1915 – Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician
1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
1917 – Arthur Schlesinger Jr., American historian and political commentator (d. 2007)
1919 – Malcolm Ross, American balloonist and atmospheric physicist (d. 1985)
1920 – Mario Puzo, American novelist (d. 1999)
1920 – Henri Verneuil, French film director (d. 2002)
1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese writer
1923 – Italo Calvino. Italian writer (d. 1985)
1924 – Lee Iacocca, American industrialist
1924 – Mark Lenard, American actor (d. 1996)
1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German writer
1924 – Warren Miller, American director
1925 – Mickey Baker, American guitarist (Mickey & Sylvia)
1926 – Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1984)
1926 – Evan Hunter, American author (d. 2005)
1926 – Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)
1926 – Karl Richter, German conductor (d. 1981)
1930 – Fereydun M. Esfandiary, Iranian philosopher (d. 2000)
1931 – Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Eleventh President of India
1934 – N. Ramani, Indian flutist
1935 – Bobby Joe Morrow, American sprinter
1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer
1935 – Willie O'Ree, Canadian Hockey Player
1937 – Linda Lavin, American actress
1938 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician (d. 1997)
1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer (d. 1993)
1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player
1940 – Peter Doherty, Australian immunologist, Nobel laureate
1942 – Penny Marshall, American actress and movie director
1944 – Sali Berisha, President of Albania
1944 – David Trimble, Irish politician, Nobel laureate
1944 – Haim Saban, Egyptian-born American media proprietor
1945 – Jere Burns, American actor
1945 – Jim Palmer, American baseball player
1946 – Richard Carpenter, American musician (The Carpenters)
1946 – Stewart Stevenson, Scottish politician
1948 – Chris de Burgh, Irish singer and songwriter
1949 – Laurie McBain, U.S.American novelist.
1949 – Prannoy Roy, Journalist, Psephologist, CEO – NDTV
1953 – Tito Jackson, American musician
1953 – Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
1953 – Betsy Clifford, Canadian alpine skier
1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
1954 – Princess Friederike of Hanover, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
1955 – Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
1955 – Tanya Roberts, American actress
1957 – Mira Nair, Indian director
1957 – Stacy Peralta, American director
1958 – Stephen Clarke, British author of A Year in the Merde
1959 – Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
1959 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef
1959 – Todd Solondz, American film director
1960 – Daniel Mazur, American mountaineer
1964 – Roberto Vittori, Italian astronaut
1966 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer
1968 – Jyrki 69, Finnish musician The 69 Eyes
1968 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer
1969 – Paige Davis, American television personality and Broadway actress
1969 – Vanessa Marcil, American actress
1969 – Dominic West, British actor
1969 – Vítor Baía, Portuguese footballer
1970 – Eric Benét, American singer
1971 – Andy Cole, British footballer
1971 – Jason Arhndt, American wrestler
1972 – Matt Keeslar, American actor
1972 – Sandra Kim, Belgian singer
1973 – Dax Riggs, American musician
1975 – Ginuwine, American singer
1975 – Glen Little, English footballer
1976 – Yoon Son-ha, South Korean actress and singer
1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese racing driver
1977 – Erin McKeown, American musician
1977 – David Trezeguet, French football player
1977 – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer
1978 – Devon Gummersall, American actor
1978 – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese professional wrestler
1979 – Paul Robinson, English footballer
1979 – Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer
1979 – Blue Adams, American Football Player
1979 – Tomas Kalnoky, American Singer
1980 – Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist
1980 – Siiri Nordin, Finnish singer (Killer)
1981 – Keyshia Cole, American R&B singer
1981 – Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
1981 – Guo Jingjing, Chinese diver
1981 – Radoslav Židek, Slovak snowboarder
1982 – Paulini Curuenavuli, Fijian/Australian singer
1982 – Charline Labonté, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer and actress
1985 – Walter López, Uruguayan footballer
1985 – Marcos Martínez, Spanish racing driver
1986 – Donghae, South Korean singer (Super Junior)
1987 – Jesse Levine, Canadian/American tennis player
2005 – Prince Christian of Denmark

Deaths

412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria
898 – Lambert, Holy Roman Emperor
912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Emir of Córdoba (b. 844)
1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)
1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfeld, Duke of Swabia
1326 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (b. 1261)
1389 – Pope Urban VI
1564 – Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (b. 1514)
1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (b. 1675)
1730 – Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (b. 1658)
1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)
1810 – Alfred Moore, American judge (b. 1755)
1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (b. 1735)
1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish and Lithuanian national hero (b. 1746)
1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1744)
1820 – Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (b. 1771)
1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman and poet (b. 1760)
1880 – Victorio, Apache leader
1891 – Gilbert Arthur a Beckett, English writer (b. 1837)
1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
1910 – Stanley Ketchel, boxer (murdered) (b. 1886)
1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)
1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian saint (b. c. 1838)
1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (b. 1866)
1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French statesman (b. 1860)
1945 – Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of Vichy France (executed) (b. 1883)
1946 – Hermann Göring, German air force commander (suicide) (b. 1893)
1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
1959 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1880)
1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress (b. 1890)
1963 – Horton Smith. American golfer (b. 1908)
1964 – Cole Porter, American composer (b. 1891)
1976 – Carlo Gambino, American gangster (b. 1902)
1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)
1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)
1981 – Philip Fotheringham-Parker, British racing driver (b. 1907)
1987 – Thomas Sankara, African revolutionary and leader of Burkina Faso (assassinated) (b. 1949)
1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer and pianist (b. 1892)
1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher (b. 1934)
1995 – Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1976)
2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
2001 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese ruler of Manchuria (b. 1901)
2003 – Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian environmental activist (b. 1919)
2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (b. 1977)
2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
2008 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish poet (b. 1914)
2008 – Edie Adams, American singer and Broadway actress (b. 1927)
2008 – Jack Narz, American game show host (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Roman festivals – the Equirria or October equus: sacrifice of a horse to Mars
R.C. Saints – Saint Teresa of Avila
United States – White Cane Safety Day
French Republican Calendar – Amaryllis (Amaryllis) Day, twenty-fourth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
Teachers' Day in Brazil
Global Handwashing Day for first time in 2008
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in Canada and the United States of America

 

[historylover]

October 16

Events

456 – Magister militum Ricimer defeats Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the Western Roman Empire.
1780 – Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont are the last major raids of the American Revolutionary War.
1781 – George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia after the Siege of Yorktown.
1793 – Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.
1793 – The Battle of Wattignies ends in a French victory.
1813 – The Sixth Coalition attacks Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig.
1834 – Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London is burnt to the ground.
1841 – Queen's University is founded in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
1843 – Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers.
1846 – William TG Morton first demonstrated ether anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Ether Dome.
1859 – John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.
1869 – The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered".
1869 – Girton College, Cambridge is founded, becoming England's first residential college for women.
1875 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
1882 – The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.
1905 – The Partition of Bengal in India takes place.
1906 – The Captain of Köpenick fools the city hall of Köpenick and several soldiers by impersonating a Prussian officer.
1916 – Margaret Sanger founds Planned Parenthood by opening the first U.S. birth control clinic.
1923 – The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney.
1934 – Chinese Communists begin the Long March; it ended a year and four days later, by which time Mao Zedong had regained his title as party chairman.
1939 – World War II: First attack on British territory by the German Luftwaffe.
1940 – Benjamin O. Davis Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
1940 – Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.
1945 – The Food and Agriculture Organization is founded in Quebec City, Canada.
1946 – Nuremberg Trials: Execution of the convicted Nazi leaders of the Main Trial.
1949 – Nikolaos Zachariadis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece, announces a "temporary cease-fire", effectively ending the Greek Civil War.
1949 – The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic are established.
1951 – The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis between the United States and Cuba begins.
1964 – The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon.
1964 – Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Aleksey Kosygin are inaugurated as General Secretary of the CPSU and Premier, respectively.
1968 – United States athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked off the USA's team for participating in the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.
1968 – Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, inspired by the barring of Walter Rodney from the country.
1970 – In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act.
1973 – Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1975 – The Balibo Five, a group of Australian television journalists based in the town of Balibo in the then Portuguese Timor (now East Timor), are killed by Indonesian troops.
1975 – Rahima Banu, a 2-year old girl from the village of Kuralia in Bangladesh, is the last known person to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox.
1978 – Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave.
1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1986 – Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders.
1987 – Great Storm of 1987: Hurricane force winds hit much of the South of England killing 23 people.
1991 – Luby's massacre: George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20 in Luby's Cafeteria.
1993 – Anti-Nazi riot breaks out in Welling in Kent, after police stop protesters approaching the British National Party headquarters.
1995 – The Million Man March occurs in Washington, D.C.
1995 – The Skye Bridge is opened.
1996 – Eighty-four people are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 football fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
1998 – Former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.
2002 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.

Births

1396 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English soldier (d. 1450)
1430 – King James II of Scotland (d. 1460)
1483 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (d. 1542)
1535 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese warlord (d. 1585)
1663 – Prince Eugene of Savoy, French-born Austrian general (d. 1736)
1710 – Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (d. 1790)
1714 – Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (d. 1795)
1726 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (d. 1801)
1751 – Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen of Prussia (d. 1805)
1752 – Johann Gottfried Eichhorn, German theologian (d. 1827)
1754 – Morgan Lewis, Governor of New York (1804-07) (d. 1844)
1758 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843)
1762 – Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina (1804–06) and U.S. Secretary of Navy (1809–12) (d. 1816)
1789 – William Burton, Governor of Delaware (1859–63) (d. 1866)
1795 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author (d. 1876)
1802 – Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
1806 – William Pitt Fessenden, U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1864-65) (d. 1869)
1815 – Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (d. 1905)
1819 – Austin F. Pike, American politician from New Hampshire (d. 1886)
1840 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1900)
1841 – Hirobumi Ito, Japanese governor of Korea, 1st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1909)
1854 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900)
1854 – Karl Kautsky, Marxist theoretician (d. 1938)
1855 – Samedbey Mehmandarov, Russian general (d. 1931)
1861 – J. B. Bury, Irish historian (d. 1927)
1863 – Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1937)
1876 – Jimmy Sinclair, South African cricketer, rugby union and soccer player (d. 1913)
1878 – Maxey Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
1883 – Vasiliki Maliaros, Greek actress (d. 1973)
1884 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (d. 1916)
1886 – David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1973)
1888 – Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
1888 – Paul Popenoe, American activist (d. 1979)
1890 – Michael Collins, Irish patriot (d. 1922)
1890 – Maria Goretti, Italian saint (d. 1902)
1890 – Paul Strand, American photographer (d. 1975)
1897 – Louis de Cazenave, French supercentenarian (d. 2008)
1898 – William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1980)
1900 – Edward Ardizzone, artist and illustrator (d. 1979)
1900 – Primo Conti, Italian painter (d. 1988)
1900 – Goose Goslin, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1903 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (d. 2003)
1906 – León Klimovsky, Argentine film director (d. 1996)
1908 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (d. 1985)
1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Shah of Afghanistan (d. 2007)
1916 – George Turner, Australian author (d. 1997)
1917 – Alice Pearce, American actress (d. 1966)
1918 – Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher (d. 1990)
1919 – Kathleen Winsor, American writer (d. 2003)
1922 – Max Bygraves, English singer/songwriter
1922 – Leon Sullivan, American civil rights leader and pastor (d. 2001)
1923 – Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (d. 1980)
1923 – Linda Darnell, American film actress (d. 1965)
1925 – Angela Lansbury, English-born actress
1927 – Günter Grass, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Mary Daly, American feminist philosopher and theologian
1928 – Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress
1929 – Fernanda Montenegro, Brazilian actress
1930 – Carmen Sevilla, Spanish actress
1931 – Charles Colson, American Watergate conspirator
1931 – Rosa Rosal, Filipino actress and humanitarian
1931 – Valery Klimov, Russian violinist
1932 – John Grant, British politician (d. 2000)
1932 – Henry Lewis, American musician and conductor (d. 1996)
1934 – Peter Ashdown, British racing driver
1936 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (d. 1994)
1936 – Akira Machida, Japanese judge
1936 – Peter Bowles, English actor
1938 – Nico (born Christa Päffgen; singer-songwriter, fashion model, actress) (d. 1988)
1938 – Carl Gunter Jr, Louisiana State Representative (d. 1999)
1940 – Barry Corbin, American actor
1940 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player (d. 2003)
1940 – Ivan Della Mea, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
1941 – Tim McCarver, baseball player and commentator
1943 – Fred Turner, Canadian bass player (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
1946 – Suzanne Somers, American actress
1947 – Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player
1947 – Bob Weir, American musician (Grateful Dead)
1947 – David Zucker, American film director
1948 – Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
1948 – Hema Malini, Indian Actress
1952 – Boogie Mosson, American musician (P Funk)
1952 – Ron Taylor, American actor (d. 2002)
1953 – Paulo Roberto Falcão, Brazilian footballer
1953 – Tony Carey, American-born rock keyboardist, producer (Rainbow, Planet P Project)
1953 – Al Sobotka, Zamboni driver
1954 – Stephen Mellor, American actor
1956 – John Chavis, American football coach
1958 – Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and writer
1958 – Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Greek singer
1959 – Gary Kemp, British musician and actor
1959 – Erkki-Sven Tüür, Estonian composer
1959 – Brian Harper, baseball player
1960 – Bob Mould, American musician
1961 – Randy Vasquez, American actor
1961 – Marc Levy, French novelist
1962 – Flea, Australian-born American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
1962 – Manute Bol, Sudanese-born basketball player for the NBA
1962 – Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian baritone
1963 – Brendan Kibble, Australian musician
1965 – Steve Lamacq, British journalist and disc jockey
1967 – Davina McCall, British television presenter
1968 – Randall Batinkoff, American actor
1968 – Elsa Zylberstein, French actress
1969 – Roy Hargrove, American jazz trumpeter
1969 – Terri J. Vaughn, American actress
1969 – Wendy Wilson, American pop singer (Wilson Phillips)
1969 – Takao Ōmori, Japanese professional wrestler
1970 – Mehmet Scholl, German footballer
1970 – Kazuyuki Fujita, Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter
1971 – Chad Gray, American singer
1972 – Tomas Lindberg, Swedish musician (At the Gates)
1972 – Darius Kasparaitis, Russian Super League player
1972 – Kordell Stewart, American football player
1973 – Peter Polaco, American professional wrestler
1973 – David Unsworth, English professional footballer
1974 – Paul Kariya, Canadian hockey player
1975 – Kellie Martin, American actress
1975 – Brynjar Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer
1975 – Jacques Kallis, South African cricketer
1976 – Ryan Fitzgerald, Australian football (AFL) player and media personality
1977 – John Mayer, American musician
1978 – Ethan Luck, American musician (The O.C. Supertones, Demon Hunter, Relient K)
1979 – Erin Brown, American actress, model, filmmaker, and musician
1980 – Sue Bird, American basketball player
1980 – Jeremy Jackson, American actor
1980 – Timana Tahu, Australian Rugby League player
1981 – Caterina Scorsone, Canadian actress
1981 – Anthony Reyes, American baseball player
1981 – Martin Halle, Danish footballer
1982 – Vincy Chan, Hong Kong singer
1982 – Frédéric Michalak, French rugby player
1982 – Pippa Black, Australian actress
1983 – Jennifer Hurt, model
1984 – Trevor Blumas, Canadian actor
1984 – Melissa Lauren, French pornographic actress
1984 – Shayne Ward, British singer
1985 – Casey Stoner, Australian motorcycle racer
1986 – Craig Pickering, British sprinter
1988 – Zoltán Stieber, Hungarian footballer

Deaths

1355 – Louis, King of Sicily, felled by the Black Death (b. 1337)
1553 – Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter (b. 1472)
1555 – Hugh Latimer, English Protestant (martyred)
1555 – Nicholas Ridley, English Protestant (martyred)
1591 – Pope Gregory XIV (b. 1535)
1594 – William Cardinal Allen, English Catholic cardinal (b. 1532)
1621 – Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Dutch composer (b. 1562)
1628 – François de Malherbe, French poet and critic (b. 1555)
1649 – Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (b. 1621)
1655 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (b. 1591)
1680 – Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian-Austrian general
1750 – Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German composer and lutenist (b. 1687)
1755 – Saint Gerard Majella, Catholic saint (b. 1725)
1774 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet (b. 1750)
1781 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b. 1705)
1791 – Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, Russian general and statesman (b. 1739)
1793 – Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (executed) (b. 1755)
1793 – John Hunter, eminent doctor and philosopher (b. 1728)
1796 – Victor Amadeus III of Savoy (b. 1726)
1810 – Nachman of Breslov, founder of Breslov Hasidut (b. 1772)
1822 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian ballet dancer (b. 1724)
1865 – Andrés Bello, Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, philosopher, and sociologist (b. 1781)
1877 – Theodore Barrière, French dramatist (b. 1823)
1888 – John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
1893 – Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, President of France (b. 1808)
1908 – Father Ignatius, a restorer of religious life in the Church of England (b. 1837)
1909 – Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer (b. 1856)
1937 – Jean de Brunhoff, French writer (b. 1899)
1946 – Nuremberg trial executions of the Main Trial:
Hans Frank, German war criminal (b. 1900)
Wilhelm Frick, German war criminal (b. 1877)
Alfred Jodl, German military officer (b. 1890)
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian SS officer (b. 1903)
Wilhelm Keitel, German military officer (b. 1882)
Joachim von Ribbentrop, German politician (b. 1893)
Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi ideologist (b. 1893)
Fritz Sauckel, German war criminal (b. 1894)
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi leader (b. 1892)
Julius Streicher, German propagandist (b. 1887)
1951 – Liaqat Ali Khan, first Prime Minister of Pakistan (b 1895/10/02)
1952 – Syed Ghulam Bhik Nairang , Indian/Pakistani Muslim leader and poet (b. 1876)
1956 – Jules Rimet, president of FIFA (b. 1873)
1959 – George Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel laureate (b. 1880)
1962 – Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (b. 1884)
1964 – Patsy Callighen, Canadian Hockey Player (b. 1906)
1966 – George O'Hara, American actor (b. 1899)
1968 – Ellis Kinder, baseball player (b. 1914)
1972 – Hale Boggs, U.S. Congressman from Louisiana (b. 1914)
1972 – Leo G. Carroll, English actor (b. 1886)
1973 – Gene Krupa, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
1974 – Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, noted Carnatic musician (b. 1895)
1978 – Dan Dailey, American actor (b. 1913)
1979 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (b. 1903)
1981 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
1982 – Mario del Monaco, Italian tenor (b. 1915)
1983 – Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (b. 1895)
1983 – Kelso, American racehorse (b. 1957)
1986 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
1989 – Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1915)
1990 – Jorge Bolet, Cuban-American classical pianist (b. 1914)
1990 – Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (b. 1919)
1992 – Shirley Booth, American actress (b. 1898)
1994 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1940)
1996 – Eric Malpass, English novelist (b. 1910)
1996 – Jason Bernard, American actor (b. 1938)
1997 – James Michener, American writer (b. 1907)
1997 – Audra Lindley, American actress (b. 1918)
1998 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
1999 – Jean Shepherd, American writer and actor (b. 1921)
2000 – Mel Carnahan, American politician (b. 1934)
2002 – Dawson family, American murder victims
2003 – Avni Arbas, Turkish artist (b. 1919)
2003 – Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1915)
2003 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
2004 – Pierre Salinger, John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (b. 1925)
2005 – "Len" Dresslar, American singer and voice actor (b. 1925)
2005 – Eugene "Porky" Lee, American child actor (b. 1933)
2005 – David Reilly, American singer (God Lives Underwater) (b. 1971)
2005 – Ursula Howells, English actress (b. 1922)
2006 – Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Ex President of Peru (b. 1936)
2006 – John Murra, Ukranian-american anthropologist (b. 1916)
2006 – Ross Davidson, Scottish actor (b. 1949)
2006 – Tommy Johnson, American tubist (b. 1935)
2006 – Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (b. 1921)
2007 – Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (b. 1921)
2007 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian music star and humanitarian (b. 1981)
2007 – Barbara West, Second to last living Titanic survivor (b. 1911)

Holidays and observances

Boss's Day in the United States
Pope John Paul II Day in Poland
World Food Day
R.C. Saints – Gerard Majella, Hedwig, Fortunatus of Casei, Silvanus of Ahun
International Credit Union Day

 

[historylover]

October 17

Events

539 BC – King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.
1091 – T8/F4 tornado strikes the heart of London.
1346 – Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
1448 – Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi is defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
1456 – The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
1604 – Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.
1610 – French king Louis XIII is crowned in Rheims.
1660 – Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered.
1662 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.
1777 – American troops defeat the British in the Battle of Saratoga.
1781 – General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionists at Yorktown, Virginia.
1797 – Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria
1800 – England takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
1806 – Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti is assassinated after an oppressive rule.
1814 – London Beer Flood occurs in London, killing nine.
1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
1907 – Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
1912 – Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
1917 – First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
1931 – Al Capone convicted of income tax evasion.
1933 – Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moves to the U.S..
1941 – For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
1941 – German troops execute the male population of the villages Kerdyllia in Serres, Greece and burn the houses down.
1945 – A massive number of people, headed by CGT and Evita, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Día de la lealtad (day of loyalty). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.
1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.
1961 – Scores of Algerian protesters (some claim up to 400) are massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.
1966 – A fire at a building in New York, New York kills 12 firefighters, the New York City Fire Department's deadliest day until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
1970 – Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
1973 – OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria.
1977 – German Autumn: Four days after it is hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
1979 – Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1979 – The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
1987 – First commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
1989 – 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
1998 – At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging gasoline.
2000 – Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack.
2003 – The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise.
2006 – The United States population reaches 300 million.
2007 – The Dalai Lama receives the United States Congressional Gold Medal.

Births

1253 – Ivo of Kermartin, Patron saint of lawyers (d. 1303)
1563 – Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (d. 1611)
1577 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (d. 1621)
1582 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (d. 1637)
1623 – Francis Turretin, Swiss theologian (d. 1687)
1688 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (d. 1726)
1711 – Jupiter Hammon, American writer (d. 1806)
1719 – Jacques Cazotte, French writer (d. 1792)
1811 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch/American religious leader (d. 1876)
1813 – Georg Büchner, German playwright (d. 1837)
1814 – Yakiv Holovatsky, Ukrainian writer and professor (d. 1888)
1817 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian intellectual (d. 1898)
1853 – Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (d. 1920)
1864 – Elinor Glyn, British writer (d. 1943)
1865 – James Rudolph Garfield, American politician (d. 1950)
1886 – Spring Byington, American actress (d. 1971)
1890 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer (d. 1928)
1892 – Theodor Eicke, Nazi official (d. 1943)
1892 – Herbert Howells, English Composer (d. 1983)
1898 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violin teacher (d. 1998)
1898 – Simon Vestdijk, Dutch writer (d. 1971)
1900 – Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)
1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
1903 – Nathanael West, American writer (d. 1940)
1906 – Paul Derringer, American baseball player (d. 1987)
1908 – Red Rolfe, American baseball player (d. 1969)
1912 – Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)
1912 – Jack Owens, The Cruising Crooner, American singer/songwriter (d. 1982)
1914 – Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (d. 1996)
1915 – Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)
1917 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-born American novelist (d. 1991)
1917 – Marsha Hunt (actress), American actress
1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (d. 1987)
1918 – Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills
1919 – Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov, Russian physicist
1920 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish writer
1920 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (d. 1966)
1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
1921 – Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (d. 2001)
1922 – Pierre Juneau, Canadian film and broadcast executive
1922 – Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian composer (d. 2001)
1923 – Charles McClendon, American football coach (d. 2001)
1923 – Barney Kessel, American musician (d. 2004)
1925 – Harry Carpenter, English sports commentator
1926 – Julie Adams, American film actress
1926 – Beverly Garland, American actress (d. 2008)
1930 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (d. 2003)
1930 – Jimmy Breslin, American newspaper columnist and author
1931 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian writer
1933 – Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun (d. 1985)
1933 – Bill Anders, American astronaut
1934 – Johnny Haynes, English footballer (d. 2005)
1935 – Sydney Chapman, English politician and architect
1936 – Hiroo Kanamori, Japanese seismologist
1937 – Paxton Whitehead, English actor
1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (d. 2007)
1940 – Peter Stringfellow, British nightclub owner
1940 – Jim Smith, English footballer and manager
1941 – Earl Thomas Conley, American singer
1941 – Jim Seals American singer (Seals and Crofts)
1942 – Gary Puckett, American musician
1942 – Steve Jones, American basketball player
1946 – Sir Cameron Mackintosh, British stage producer
1946 – Adam Michnik, Polish activist
1946 – Bob Seagren, American athlete
1946 – Michael Hossack, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)
1946 – Drusilla Modjeska, Australian writer and editor
1947 – Gene Green, American politician
1947 – Michael McKean, American actor
1948 – Margot Kidder, Canadian actress
1948 – George Wendt, American actor
1948 – Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
1950 – Howard Rollins, American actor (d. 1996)
1951 – Roger Pontare, Swedish singer
1954 – Carlos Buhler, American high altitude mountaineer
1955 – Georgios Alogoskoufis, Greek politician
1956 – Mae Jemison, American astronaut
1956 – Patrick McCrory, American politician
1957 – Lawrence Bender, American film producer
1957 – Steve McMichael, American football player
1958 – Alan Jackson, American singer and songwriter
1959 – Ron Drummond, American writer
1959 – Mark Peel, Australian historian and academic
1959 – Richard Roeper, American film critic
1959 – Russell Gilbert, Australian comedian
1960 – Rob Marshall, American director
1960 – Guy Henry, English actor
1962 – Mike Judge, American cartoonist, filmmaker and voice actor
1963 – Sergio Goycochea, Argentine footballer
1963 – Norm Macdonald, Canadian comedian and actor
1965 – Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
1966 – Mark Gatiss, English actor and writer
1966 – Tommy Kendall, American race car driver and television personality
1966 – Danny Ferry, American basketball player
1967 – René Dif, Danish musician (Aqua)
1968 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician
1969 – Wood Harris, American actor
1969 – Ernie Els, South African golfer
1969 – Rick Mercer, Canadian comedian
1970 – Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer
1970 – John Mabry, American baseball player
1970 – Blues Saraceno, American guitarist
1971 – Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer ('N Sync)
1972 – Eminem, American rapper
1972 – Tarkan, Turkish singer
1972 – Wyclef Jean, Haitian-born singer
1972 – Sharon Leal, American actress
1972 – Joe McEwing, American baseball player
1974 – Matthew Macfadyen, British actor
1974 – Ariel Levy, American feminist writer
1974 – Janne Puurtinen, Finnish keyboardist (HIM)
1974 – John Rocker, American baseball player
1975 – Francis Bouillon, American hockey player
1976 – Sebastián Abreu, Uruguayan footballer
1977 – Dudu Aouate, Israeli footballer
1977 – Bryan Bertino, American film director and screenwriter
1979 – Marcela Bovio, Mexican singer and violinist (Stream of Passion)
1979 – Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish race car driver
1979 – Kostas Tsartsaris, Greek basketball player
1980 – Ekaterina Gamova, Russian volleyball player
1980 – Alessandro Piccolo, Italian racing driver
1982 – Nick Riewoldt, Australian football player
1983 – Daniel Booko, American actor
1983 – Ivan Saenko, Russian football player
1984 – Jelle Klaasen, Dutch darts player
1984 – Chris Lowell, American actor
1984 – Randall Munroe, American cartoonist
1985 – Baran Kosari, Iranian actress
1987 – Bea Alonzo, Filipina actress
1987 – Jarosław Fojut, Polish footballer
1992 – Sam Concepcion, Filipino performer and actor

Deaths

532 – Pope Boniface II
1174 – Queen Petronila of Aragon (b. 1135)
1586 – Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer (killed in battle) (b. 1554)
1616 – John Pitts, Catholic scholar and writer. (b. 1560)
1660 – Adrian Scrope, English regicide (b. 1601)
1673 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (b. 1630)
1757 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French scientist (b. 1683)
1776 – Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (b. 1681)
1780 – William Cookworthy, English chemist (b. 1705)
1786 – Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss artist (b. 1723)
1806 – Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Haitian independence leader (b. 1758)
1836 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian painter (b. 1782)
1837 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer (b. 1778)
1849 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish-French musician and composer (b. 1810)
1868 – Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the war of 1812 (b. 1775)
1887 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (b. 1824)
1889 – Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1828)
1910 – Julia Ward Howe, American composer and abolitionist (b. 1819)
1931 – Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist (b. 1884)
1934 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist and neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1852)
1938 – Karl Kautsky, Marxist theoretician (b. 1854)
1943 – Stefan Starzyński, Polish politician (b. 1893)
1956 – Anne Crawford, British film actor (b. 1920)
1958 – Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (b. 1876)
1958 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer (b. 1896)
1962 – Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter (b. 1882)
1963 – Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician (b. 1865)
1965 – John Barton King, Philadelphian cricketer (b. 1873)
1966 – Wieland Wagner, German stage director (b. 1917)
1967 – Henry Pu Yi, last Emperor of China (b. 1906)
1970 – Pierre Laporte, Vice-Premier of Quebec (assassinated) (b. 1921)
1970 – Vola Vale, American actress (b. 1897)
1972 – Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
1972 – Prince George of Yugoslavia (b. 1887)
1972 – Billy Williams, American singer (b. 1910)
1973 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (b. 1926)
1978 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of the Italian Republic (b. 1887)
1979 – S. J. Perelman, American writer (b. 1904)
1979 – John Stuart, Scottish actor (b. 1898)
1981 – Albert Cohen, Swiss author (b. 1895)
1983 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher (b. 1905)
1987 – Abdul Malek Ukil,Bangladeshi politician (b. 1925)
1991 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and television performer (b. 1919)
1992 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (b. 1912)
1992 – Orestis Laskos, Greek film director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1908)
1993 – Criss Oliva, American musician (Savatage) (b. 1963)
1996 – Chris Acland, English drummer (Lush) (b. 1966)
1998 – Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
1998 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
1999 – Nicholas Metropolis, Greek-American mathematician, physicist and computer scientist (b. 1915)
2000 – Leo Nomellini, wrestler (b. 1924)
2000 – Joachim Nielsen, Norwegian rock musician and poet (b. 1964)
2001 – Jay Livingston, American songwriter (b. 1915)
2001 – Rehavam Zeevi, Israeli politician (b. 1926)
2002 – Derek Bell, Irish harpist (The Chieftans) (b. 1935)
2002 – Aileen Riggin, American swimmer (b. 1906)
2004 – Uzi Hitman, Israeli singer (b. 1952)
2005 – Ba Jin, Chinese writer (b. 1904)
2005 – Franky Gee, European techno artist (b. 1962)
2006 – Daniel Emilfork, French actor (b. 1924)
2006 – Christopher Glenn, American newscaster (b. 1938)
2007 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the Rat Pack (b. 1918)
2007 – Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (b. 1931)
2008 – Levi Stubbs, American baritone singer (Four Tops) (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

R.C. Saints – Saint Ignatius of Antioch; translation of Saint Audrey (Æthelthryth); Saint Richard Gwyn; Saint Catervus; Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque
Haiti – Death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines (1806), State holiday
French Republican Calendar – Aubergine (Eggplant) Day, twenty-sixth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

 

[historylover]

October 18

Events

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
1016 – The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Ashingdon.
1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1210 – Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV .
1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroyed the town of Basel, Switzerland.
1386 – Opening of the University of Heidelberg
1561 – Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima – Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.
1648 – Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.
1748 – Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.
1767 – Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.
1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.
1851 – Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
1860 – The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.
1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
1898 – United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.
1912 – The First Balkan War begins.
1914 – The Schoenstatt Movement is founded in Germany.
1921 – The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the RSFSR.
1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
1925 – The Grand Ole Opry opens in Nashville, Tennessee.
1929 – Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.
1936 – Adolf Hitler announces the Four Year Economic Plan to the German people. The plan details the rebuilding of the German military from 1936 to 1940.
1944 – Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
1944 – Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.
1944 – Adolf Hitler orders the public funeral procession of Nazi field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps
1945 – The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1945 – A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, staged a coup d'état against then president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.
1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.
1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
1968 – The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends two black athletes for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
1968 – Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90 m in the long jump at the Mexico City games.
1977 – German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is executed and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.
1989 – East German leader Erich Honecker resigns.
1991 – Azerbaijan declares independence from USSR.
2003 – Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
2007 – 2007 Karachi bombings: attempted assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Births

1127 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1192)
1405 – Pope Pius II (d. 1464)
1517 – Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese Jesuit in Brazil (d. 1570)
1547 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (d. 1606)
1569 – Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (d. 1625)
1595 – Edward Winslow, Plymouth Colony founder (d. 1655)
1634 – Luca Giordano, Italian artist (d. 1705)
1653 – Abraham van Riebeeck, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1713)
1662 – Matthew Henry, English non-conformist minister (d. 1714)
1668 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (d. 1694)
1679 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem Witch Trials (d. 1716)
1701 – Charles le Beau, French historian (d. 1778)
1706 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (d. 1785)
1741 – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and author (d. 1803)
1777 – Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (d. 1811)
1785 – Thomas Love Peacock, English satirist (d. 1866)
1831 – Emperor Friedrich III of Germany (d. 1888)
1854 – Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
1859 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1941)
1865 – Arie de Jong, Dutch linguist (d. 1957)
1865 – Logan Pearsall Smith, American essayist and critic (d. 1946)
1868 – Ernst Didring, Swedish author (d. 1931)
1870 – Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Japanese scholar (d. 1966)
1873 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1951)
1882 – Lucien Petit-Breton, Argentine-French cyclist (d. 1917)
1893 – Georges Ohsawa, Japanese founder of Macrobiotics (d. 1966)
1894 – H. L. Davis, American author (d. 1960)
1897 – Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist (d. 1980)
1898 – Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (d. 1981)
1902 – Miriam Hopkins, American actress (d. 1972)
1902 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist (d. 1980)
1903 – Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)
1904 – A. J. Liebling, American journalist (d. 1963)
1905 – Jan Gies, Dutch resistance fighter (d. 1993)
1905 – Félix Houphouët-Boigny, first President of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 1993)
1906 – James Brooks, American painter (d. 1992)
1909 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and legal theorist (d. 2004)
1914 – Raymond Lambert, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1997)
1915 – Victor Sen Yung, American actor (d. 1980)
1918 – Bobby Troup, American musician (d. 1999)
1919 – Ric Nordman, Canadian politician (d. 1996)
1919 – Anita O'Day, American singer (d. 2006)
1919 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)
1920 – Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and Minister for Culture of Greece (d. 1994)
1921 – Jesse Helms, American politician (d. 2008)
1924 – Hugh Allan "Buddy" MacMaster, Canadian musician
1925 – Ramiz Alia, political leader of Albania
1926 – Chuck Berry, American musician
1926 – Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991)
1927 – George C. Scott, American actor (d. 1999)
1928 – Keith Jackson, American football commentator
1929 – Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua
1931 – Chris Albertson, American jazz historian
1932 – Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian politician
1933 – Forrest Gregg, American football player
1934 – Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian actor (d. 2007)
1934 – Inger Stevens, Swedish actress (d. 1970)
1934 – Chuck Swindoll, American evangelist
1935 – Peter Boyle, American actor (d. 2006)
1938 – Dawn Wells, American actress
1939 – Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, and commentator
1939 – Lee Harvey Oswald, purported American assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
1939 – Flavio Cotti, member of the Swiss Federal Council
1940 – Cynthia Weil, American songwriter
1942 – Larry Pickering, Australian newspaper cartoonist
1943 – Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish politician
1944 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican musician (d. 1987)
1945 – Chris Shays, Member of the United States Congress from Connecticut
1945 – Huell Howser, American TV host
1945 – Yıldo, Turkish famous showman and football player
1946 – James Robert Baker, American novelist, screenwriter
1946 – Howard Shore, Canadian film composer
1946 – Frank Beamer, American football coach Virginia Tech Hokies football
1947 – Job Cohen, Dutch politician, mayor of Amsterdam
1947 – Joe Morton, American actor
1947 – Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)
1947 – Paul Chuckle, British comedian
1948 – Ntozake Shange, American author
1948 – Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher
1949 – Joe Egan, British musician (Stealers Wheel)
1949 – George Hendrick, baseball player
1949 – Gary Richrath, American musician (REO Speedwagon)
1950 – Om Puri, Indian actor
1950 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright (d. 2006)
1950 – Sheila White, English actress
1951 – Mike Antonovich, American ice hockey player and executive
1951 – Terry McMillan, American author
1951 – Pam Dawber, American actress
1952 – Patrick Morrow, Canadian mountaineer, first to complete the Seven Summits
1952 – Bảo Ninh, Vietnamese novelist
1952 – Jerry Royster, American baseball player
1954 – Liz Burch, Australian actress
1954 – Arliss Howard, American actor
1955 – Timmy Mallett, British TV presenter
1955 – David Twohy, American movie director and screenwriter
1955 – Rita Verdonk, Dutch politician
1955 – Vanessa Briscoe Hay, American singer and songwriter (Pylon (band) & Supercluster)
1956 – Martina Navrátilová, Czech-born tennis player
1956 – Craig Bartlett, American animator
1956 – Jim Talent, American politician
1957 – Catherine Ringer, French singer and songwriter (Les Rita Mitsouko)
1958 – Corinne Bohrer, American actress
1958 – Thomas Hearns, American boxer
1958 – Kjell Samuelsson, National Hockey League defenseman
1959 – Kirby Chambliss, Aerobatic pilot and Red Bull Air Racer
1959 – Milčo Mančevski, Macedonian film director and screenwriter
1959 – John Nord, former American pro wrestler
1959 – Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, American sports talk show host
1959 – Steve Swayne, Dartmouth Professor
1960 – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian actor
1960 – Erin Moran, American actress
1961 – Wynton Marsalis, American jazz musician
1961 – Rick Moody, American author
1962 – Vincent Spano, American actor
1964 – Dan Lilker, American musician, bassist for Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, and Brutal Truth
1964 – Charles Stross, British speculative-fiction author
1965 – Curtis Stigers, American jazz vocalist and saxophonist.
1965 – Zakir Naik, Indian Islamic speaker and doctor.
1966 – Slavi Trifonov, Bulgarian showman
1969 – Nelson Vivas, Argentine former footballer
1970 – José Padilla, American former gang member and alleged supporter of terrorism
1970 – Doug Mirabelli, American baseball player
1972 – Alex Tagliani, Quebec racing driver
1972 – Jake Farrow, actor
1973 – Michalis Kapsis, Greek footballer
1974 – Robbie Savage, Welsh footballer
1974 – Peter Svensson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
1974 – Candy Lo, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
1975 – Alex Cora, Puerto Rican baseball player
1976 – Zhou Xun, Chinese actress and singer
1977 – Ryan Nelsen, New Zealand footballer
1977 – David Vuillemin, Pro Motocross Rider
1978 – Wesley Jonathan, American actor
1978 – Mike Tindall, English rugby union player
1978 – Jyothika Saravanan, Indian actress popular in Tamil
1978 – Priyanka Trivedi, Indian actress
1978 – Jake Farrow, American actor
1980 – Josh Gracin, American singer
1981 – Greg Warren, American football player
1982 – Ne-Yo, American R&B singer
1982 – Thierry Amiel, French singer
1984 – Lindsey Vonn, American alpine skier
1984 – Freida Pinto, Indian actress and model
1985 – Derrick Tribbett, American musician (Twisted Method)
1987 – Zac Efron, American actor
1987 – Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model
1990 – Carly Schroeder, American actress
1991 – Tyler Posey, American actor
1998 – Julia Wróblewska, Polish actress
2001 – Annelise Manojlovic, English actress

Deaths

1035 – Sancho III of Navarre
1101 – Hugh of Vermandois, son of Henry I of France (b. 1053)
1141 – Margrave Leopold IV of Austria
1382 – James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (b. 1331)
1417 – Pope Gregory XII
1503 – Pope Pius III (b. 1439)
1541 – Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland (b. 1489)
1545 – John Taverner, English composer
1558 – Maria of Austria, wife of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1505)
1564 – Johannes Acronius Frisius, German physician and mathematician (b. 1520)
1570 – Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese Jesuit in Brazil (b. 1517)
1604 – Igram van Achelen, Dutch statesman (b. 1528)
1646 – Isaac Jogues, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1607)
1667 – Fasilides, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1603)
1678 – Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (b. 1593)
1739 – Antônio José da Silva, Brazilian-born dramatist (b. 1705)
1744 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, close friend of Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1660)
1770 – John Manners, Marquess of Granby, British soldier (b. 1721)
1775 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1715)
1817 – Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, French composer (b. 1763)
1871 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (b. 1791)
1865 – Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)
1886 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (b. 1796)
1889 – Antonio Meucci, Italian inventor (b. 1808)
1892 – William W. Chapman, American politician (b. 1808)
1893 – Charles Gounod, French composer (b. 1818)
1911 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist (b. 1857)
1921 – King Ludwig III of Bavaria (b. 1845)
1931 – Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)
1932 – Ioannis Chrysafis, Greek gymnast (b. 1873)
1941 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7th President of Portugal (b. 1860)
1942 – Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (b. 1862)
1948 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1959 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
1961 – Tsuru Aoki, Japanese-born American actress (b. 1892)
1965 – Henry Travers, British actor (b. 1874),
1966 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (b. 1878)
1966 – Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant (Kmart) (b. 1867)
1973 – Margaret Caroline Anderson, American magazine publisher (b. 1886)
1973 – Leo Strauss, German-American philosopher (b. 1899)
1975 – Al Lettieri, American actor (b. 1928)
1976 – Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Telugu writer (b. 1895)
1977 – Red Army Faction Stammheim Prison suicides
Andreas Baader (b. 1943)
Gudrun Ensslin (b. 1940)
Jan-Carl Raspe (b. 1944)
1978 – Ramón Mercader, Assassin of Leon Trotsky (b. 1914)
1982 – Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)
1982 – Dwain Esper, American film director (b. 1892)
1982 – Pierre Mendès-France, French politician (b. 1907)
1982 – John Robarts, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario (b. 1917)
1983 – Willie Jones, baseball player (b. 1925)
1983 – Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish anarchist (b. 1897)
1984 – Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (b. 1957)
1984 – Henri Michaux, French painter and poet (b. 1899)
2000 – Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)
2000 – Gwen Verdon, American dancer and actress (b. 1925)
2001 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (b. 1922)
2002 – Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut (b. 1932)
2002 – Roman Tam, Hong Kong singer (b. 1950)
2003 – Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (b. 1912)
2003 – Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Spanish writer (b. 1939)
2004 – Veerappan, Indian bandit and smuggler (b. 1945)
2005 – John Hollis, British actor (b. 1931)
2005 – Johnny Haynes, English footballer (b. 1934)
2005 – Bill King, American sports broadcaster (b. 1927)
2006 – Mario Francesco Cardinal Pompedda (b. 1929)
2006 – Anna Russell, English music satirist (b. 1911)
2007 – Alan Coren, English writer and satirist (b. 1938)
2007 – William J. Crowe, American admiral and ambassador (b. 1925)
2007 – Vincent DeDomenico, American entrepreneur (b. 1915)
2007 – Lucky Dube, South African musician (b. 1964)
2008 – Dee Dee Warwick, American soul singer (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

French Republican Calendar – Piment (Chili Pepper) Day, twenty-seventh day in the Month of Vendémiaire
October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
R.C. Church, Anglican communion, et alii – Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist
Saint Justus of Beauvais
United States : Alaska: Alaska Day

 

[historylover]

October 19

Events

202 BC – Second Punic War: At the Battle of Zama, Roman legions under Scipio Africanus defeat Hannibal Barca, leader of the invading Carthaginian army.
439 – The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1216 – King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
1453 – The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years' War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil.
1466 – The Thirteen Years War ends with the Second Treaty of Thorn.
1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain.
1512 – Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia).
1649 – New Ross town, Co. Wexford, Ireland, surrenders to Oliver Cromwell.
1781 – At Yorktown, Virginia, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis' sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau.
1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
1812 – Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow.
1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.
1822 – In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí.
1864 – Battle of Cedar Creek – Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroy the Confederate Army under Jubal Early.
1864 – St. Albans Raid – Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.
1873 – Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.
1904 – Polytechnic University of the Philippines founded as Manila Business School through the superintendence of the American C.A. O'Reilley.
1912 – Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.
1914 – The First Battle of Ypres begins.
1917 – The Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened.
1921 – Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup.
1933 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
1943 – Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
1944 – United States forces land in the Philippines.
1950 – The military of the People's Republic of China takes control of the town of Chamdo in eastern Tibet.
1954 – First ascent of Cho Oyu
1959 – The first discothèque opens.
1969 – The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba.
1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.
1974 – Niue becomes a self-governing colony of New Zealand.
1976 – Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon.
1983 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard.
1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others die when their Tupolev 134 plane crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.
1987 – In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.
1987 – Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points.
1989 – The convictions of the Guildford Four are quashed by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, after they had spent 15 years in prison.
2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.
2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.
2004 – Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the SPDC on charges of corruption.
2004 – Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq.
2005 – Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
2005 – Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb.
2007 – Philippines. Amidst corruption controversies hounding the Arroyo administration, a bomb explosion rocked Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati. The blast killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.

Births

1276 – Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328)
1433 – Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499)
1562 – Archbishop George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633)
1582 – Dmitry Ivanovich, Russian Tsarevich (d. 1591)
1605 – Thomas Browne, English writer (d. 1682)
1610 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688)
1658 – Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704)
1680 – John Abernethy, Irish Protestant minister (d. 1740)
1688 – William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752)
1718 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (d. 1804)
1720 – John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772)
1721 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800)
1784 – James Henry Leigh Hunt, English Romantic critic, essayist, and poet (d. 1859)
1784 – John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857)
1810 – Cassius Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903)
1850 – Annie Smith Peck, American mountaineer (d. 1935)
1851 – Empress Myeongseong, Empress of Korea (d. 1895)
1858 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937)
1862 – Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d. 1954)
1868 – Bertha Landes, first woman mayor of a major US city (d. 1943)
1873 – Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925)
1873 – John Barton King, American cricketer (d. 1965)
1876 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (d. 1945)
1882 – Umberto Boccioni, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1916)
1885 – Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956)
1895 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (d. 1990)
1895 – Frank Durbin, last American veteran of the Battle of Verdun (d. 1999)
1896 – Bob O'Farrell, American baseball player (d. 1988)
1897 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994)
1899 – Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1900 – Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
1900 – Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1957)
1900 – Erna Berger, German soprano (d. 1990)
1901 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (d. 1996)
1903 – Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (d. 1971)
1907 – Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962)
1908 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981)
1909 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (d. 1981)
1909 – Marguerite Perey, French physicist (d. 1975)
1910 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1910 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980)
1913 – Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980)
1915 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian composer, musician, and actor (d. 1974)
1916 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2009)
1916 – Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985)
1918 – Charles Evans, British mountaineer, leader of the expedition that made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955 (d. 1995)
1920 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003)
1922 – Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005)
1926 – Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)
1926 – Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
1928 – Lou Scheimer, American animation producer
1931 – John le Carré, English novelist
1932 – Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992)
1936 – Tony Lo Bianco, American actor
1936 – James Bevel, American activist (d. 2008)
1937 – Peter Max, American artist
1937 – Marilyn Bell, Canadian swimmer
1940 – Michael Gambon, Irish actor
1941 – Simon Ward, British actor
1942 – Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney
1943 – Robin Holloway, British composer
1943 – Takis Ikonomopoulos, Greek footballer
1944 – George McCrae, American soul singer
1945 – Divine, American actor (d. 1988)
1945 – Patricia Ireland, American attorney and feminist
1945 – John Lithgow, American actor
1945 – Jeannie C. Riley American country and gospel singer
1946 – Philip Pullman, English writer
1947 – Giorgio Cavazzano, Italian comic strip artist
1948 – Patrick Simmons, American musician
1948 – Dave Mallow, American voice actor
1949 – Lynn Dickey, American football player
1949 – Jamie McGrigor, British politician
1951 – Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek mathematical physicist, recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize
1952 – Verónica Castro, Mexican actress and singer
1953 – Lionel Hollins, American basketball player and coach
1954 – Joe Bryant, American basketball player
1954 – Sam Allardyce, English football manager
1954 – Deborah Blum, American writer
1955 – Melpo Kosti, Greek actress
1956 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993)
1956 – Bruce Weber, American Basketball Coach
1956 – Didier Theys, Belgian racing driver
1957 – Ray Richmond, American columnist and critic
1957 – Karl Wallinger, Welsh musician
1957 – Doug Kirby, American author and travel guide
1958 – Tiriel Mora, Australian actor
1958 – Lou Briel, Puerto Rican singer and actor
1958 – Michael Steele, American political figure
1959 – Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem (2008 - )
1960 – Jonathan FeBland, English musician and artist
1961 – Sunny Deol, Indian actor
1962 – Tracy Chevalier, American author
1962 – Evander Holyfield, American boxer
1963 – Prince Laurent of Belgium
1964 – Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-born American boxer
1965 – Brad Daugherty, American basketball player
1965 – Ty Pennington, American television carpenter
1966 – Roger R. Cross, Jamaican-born actor
1966 – Jon Favreau, American actor, writer and director
1966 – Sinitta, American singer
1967 – Yoko Shimomura, Japanese composer
1967 – Amy Carter, daughter of US President Jimmy Carter
1969 – Trey Parker, American cartoonist and actor
1969 – Erwin Sánchez, Bolivian footballer
1969 – DJ Sammy, Spanish DJ
1969 – John Edward, American TV Psychic
1970 – Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor
1972 – Keith Foulke, American baseball pitcher
1972 – Pras, American musician
1973 – Hicham Arazi, Moroccan tennis player
1973 – Joaquin Gage, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Joy Bryant, American actress
1976 – Omar Gooding, American actor
1976 – Desmond Harrington, American actor
1976 – Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Michael Young, baseball player
1977 – Louis-José Houde, Canadian stand-up comic
1977 – Jason Reitman, Canadian filmmaker
1977 – Raúl Tamudo, Spanish footballer
1977 – Habib Beye, Senegalese footballer
1978 – Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian race car driver
1978 – James Roberts, British Ice Hockey Player
1978 – Zakhar Dubenskiy, Russian footballer
1978 – Henri Sorvali, Finnish musician
1979 – Brian Robertson, American trombonist
1979 – José Luis "Parejita" López, Mexican footballer
1979 – Pascale, German hairstylist and founder of "Yes, please"
1980 – Benjamin Salisbury, American actor
1981 – Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish race car driver
1982 – Gonzalo Pineda, Mexican footballer
1985 – Terry Etim, English UFC Fighter
1989 – Miroslav Stoch, Slovakian footballer
1990 – Janet Leon, Swedish singer and dancer (Play)

Deaths

727 – Saint Frideswide
1187 – Pope Urban III
1216 – King John (b. 1167)
1432 – John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392)
1587 – Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541)
1608 – Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551)
1636 – Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician
1682 – Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605)
1723 – Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (b. 1646)
1745 – Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667)
1790 – Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724)
1813 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763)
1815 – Paolo Mascagni, Anatomist (b. 1755)
1842 – Aleksey Koltsov, Russian poet (b. 1808)
1851 – Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (b. 1778)
1856 – William Sprague III, American politician from Rhode Island (b. 1799)
1889 – King Louis of Portugal (b. 1838)
1893 – Lucy Stone, American suffragist and women's rights activist (b. 1818)
1897 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
1901 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829)
1918 – Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887)
1936 – Lu Xun, Chinese writer (b. 1881)
1937 – Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
1943 – Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
1945 – Plutarco Elías Calles, President of Mexico (b. 1877)
1950 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (b. 1892)
1956 – Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)
1960 – George Wallace, Australian vaudevillian and film comedian (b. 1895)
1964 – Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (b. 1885)
1970 – Lázaro Cárdenas, President of Mexico (b. 1895)
1978 – Gig Young, American actor (b. 1913)
1983 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)
1985 – Alfred Rouleau, French Canadian businessman (b. 1915)
1986 – Dele Giwa, Nigerian journalist
1986 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)
1987 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945)
1987 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
1988 – Son House, American musician (b. 1902)
1994 – Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916)
1995 – Don Cherry, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1936)
1997 – Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947)
1999 – Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer (b. 1900)
1999 – James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917)
2000 – Hortense Ellis, Jamaican reggae singer (b. 1941)
2003 – Alija Izetbegović, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925)
2003 – Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902)
2003 – Road Warrior Hawk, American professional wrestler (b. 1960)
2005 – Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982)
2005 – Corinne Lévesque, wife of Quebec premier René Lévesque (b. 1943)
2006 – James Glennon, American cinematographer (b. 1942)
2007 – Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate (b. 1943)
2007 – Michael Maidens, English footballer with Hartlepool United (b. 1987)
2007 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch writer (b. 1925)
2008 – Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic (b. 1922)
2008 – Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian and actor (Dolemite) (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances

Roman festivals – Armilustrium in honor of Mars
Roman Catholic Saints – Saints Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions; Saint Frideswide
Also see October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Albania – Mother Teresa Day.
Brazil – Independence Day of State of Piauí
Niue – Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974.
French Republican Calendar – Tomate (Tomato) Day, twenty-eighth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
Aaron, a saint of the Coptic Church

 

[historylover]

October 20

Events

1740 – Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
1781 – Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
1818 – The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
1827 – Battle of Navarino – a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is destroyed by an allied British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece.
1883 – Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.
1905 - Turkish sport club Galatasaray is founded.
1910 – The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1935 – The Long March ends.
1941 – World War II: Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre.
1944 – The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia
1944 – Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
1944 – General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.
1947 – The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
1947 - United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
1951 – The "Johnny Bright Incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
1952 – Governor Evelyn Baring declares a state of emergency in Kenya and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising, including Jomo Kenyatta, the future first President of Kenya.
1967 – A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin.
1968 – Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
1970 – Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state.
1971 – The Nepal Stock Exchange collapses.
1973 – "Saturday Night Massacre": President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.
1973 – The Sydney Opera House opens.
1976 – The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.
1977 – A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.
1979 – The John F. Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
1982 – During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
1984 – The Monterey Bay Aquarium opens in Monterey Bay, California.
1991 – The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.

Births

1463 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (d. 1512)
1496 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (d. 1550)
1616 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (d. 1680)
1620 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (d. 1691)
1632 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (d. 1723)
1656 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (d. 1746)
1660 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (d. 1723)
1677 – Stanislaus I Leszczyński, King of Poland (d. 1766)
1700 – Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans, Duchess of Modena (d. 1761)
1711 – Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (d. 1795)
1719 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (d. 1772)
1759 – Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (d. 1815)
1780 – Pauline Bonaparte, princess Borghese, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1825)
1784 – Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1865)
1785 – George Ormerod, English historian and antiquarian (d. 1873)
1808 – Karl Andree, German geographer (d. 1875)
1819 – The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (d. 1850)
1819 – Carl Mikuli, Polish pianist (d. 1897)
1822 – Thomas Hughes, English novelist (d. 1896)
1832 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect (d. 1894)
1854 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (d. 1891)
1858 – John Burns, English politician (d. 1943)
1859 – John Dewey, American philosopher (d. 1952)
1864 – James F. Hinkle, American politician, sixth Governor of New Mexico (d. 1951)
1873 – Nellie McClung, Canadian feminist (d. 1951)
1874 – Charles Ives, American composer (d. 1954)
1882 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1956)
1889 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (d. 1965)
1890 – Jelly Roll Morton, American composer (d. 1941)
1891 – James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1891 – Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya (d. 1978)
1893 – Charley Chase, American comedian (d. 1940)
1894 – Olive Thomas, American actress (d. 1920)
1895 – Rex Ingram, American actor (d. 1969)
1897 – Crown Prince Eun of Korea (d. 1970)
1900 – Wayne Morse, U.S. Senator from Oregon (d. 1974)
1904 – Anna Neagle, English actress (d. 1986)
1904 – Tommy Clement Douglas, Canadian politician (d. 1986)
1905 – Arnold Luhaäär, Estonian weightlifter and Olympic medalist (d. 1965)
1905 – Ellery Queen, pseudonym of two American writers (d. 1982)
1907 – Arlene Francis, American television personality (d. 2001)
1909 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (d. 1993)
1913 – Grandpa Jones, American banjo player and singer (d. 1998)
1914 – Fayard Nicholas, American dancer (d. 2006)
1917 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (d. 1973)
1918 – Robert Lochner, German journalist (d. 2003)
1919 – Tracy Hall, American inventor (d. 2008)
1922 – John Anderson, American actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Robert Craft, American conductor
1925 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (d. 2007)
1925 – Tom Dowd, American recording engineer (d. 2002)
1925 – Roger Hanin, French actor
1927 – Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet (d.2007)
1927 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist and advice columnist
1931 – Richard Caliguiri, American politician (d. 1988)
1931 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1932 – Rosey Brown, American football player (d. 2004)
1932 – William Christopher, American actor (M*A*S*H)
1934 – Eddie Harris, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1996)
1934 – Michiko, empress of Japan
1935 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004)
1935 – Barrie Chase, American dancer
1937 – Juan Marichal, Dominican baseball player
1937 – Wanda Jackson, American rock and rockabilly singer
1938 – Iain Macmillan, Abbey Road photographer (d. 2006)
1940 – Kathy Kirby, British singer
1940 – Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States
1942 – Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
1942 – Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1943 – Dunja Vejzovic, Croatian soprano
1944 – David Mancuso, American disc jockey
1944 – Nalin de Silva, Sri Lankan theoretical physicist, philosopher and a political analyst
1946 – Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (d. 1994)
1946 – Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
1946 – Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist
1948 – Melih Gökçek, Turkish politician
1949 – Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete
1950 – Tom Petty, American musician
1951 – Patrick Hall, British politician
1951 – Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish politician
1951 – Claudio Ranieri, Italian football player and manager
1951 – Ken Ham, Australian evangelist and businessman
1953 – Keith Hernandez, American baseball player
1953 – Bill Nunn, American actor
1954 – Steve Orich, orchestrator
1954 – Günter Müller, German sound artist, improvisor and percussionist
1955 – Thomas Newman, American composer
1955 – David Profumo, English novelist
1955 – Aaron Pryor, American boxer
1956 – Danny Boyle, English film director
1957 – Susanna Haavisto, Finnish actress and singer
1957 – Hilda Solis, American politician
1958 – Valerie Faris, American film director
1958 – Lynn Flewelling, American fantasy author
1958 – Scott Hall, American professional wrestler
1958 – Mark King, English musician and singer (Level 42)
1958 – Dave Krieg, American football player
1958 – Viggo Mortensen, American actor
1958 – Ivo Pogorelic, Croatian pianist
1958 – Dave Finlay, Irish professional wrestler
1960 – Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (d. 2004)
1960 – Lepa Brena, famous Yugoslav singer
1961 – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer
1961 – Michie Tomizawa, Japanese voice actress
1962 – David M. Evans, American screenwriter and film director
1962 – Dave Wong, Hong Kong/Taiwanese singer-songwriter
1963 – Julie Payette, Canadian astronaut
1963 – Nikos Tsiantakis, Greek footballer
1965 – Norman Blake, Scottish musician
1965 – Jil Caplan, French singer and songwriter
1965 – Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player
1965 – William Zabka, American actor
1966 – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda leader (d. 2006)
1966 – Allan Donald, former South African cricketer
1966 – Fred Coury, American drummer (Cinderella)
1966 – Stefan Raab, German entertainer
1966 – Patrick J. Volkerding, Founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution
1967 – Luigi Lo Cascio, Italian actor
1967 – Elizabeth Carling, English Actress and Singer
1967 – Luck Mervil, Québécois actor and singer
1967 – Marco Ngai, Hong Kong actor
1969 – Juan González, Puerto Rican baseball player
1969 – Laurie Daley, Australian rugby league footballer
1969 – Lambros Papakostas, Greek high jumper
1970 – Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American professional wrestler
1970 – Michelle Malkin, American political commentator and author
1971 – Dannii Minogue, Australian singer
1971 – Eddie Jones, American basketball player
1971 – Snoop Dogg, American rapper
1972 – Will Greenwood, England rugby union player
1976 – Tom Wisniewski, American guitarist (MxPx)
1977 – Matt Jansen, English footballer
1977 – Leila Josefowicz, Canadian classical violinist
1977 – Sam Witwer, American actor
1978 – Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer
1978 – Paul Wilson, Scottish bass player (Snow Patrol)
1979 – Paul Ifill, Barbadian footballer
1979 – John Krasinski, American actor
1979 – Paul O'Connell, Irish rugby player
1980 – Gary Jarman, English musician
1980 – Niall Matter, Canadian actor
1980 – Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Willis McGahee, American football player
1981 – Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
1981 – Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
1982 – Yasser Al-Qahtani, Saudi footballer
1982 – Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer
1983 – Alex Nackman, musician
1983 – Luis Saritama, Ecuadorian footballer
1983 – Takayuki Yamada, Japanese actor
1984 – Florent Sinama-Pongolle, French footballer
1984 – Andrew Trimble, Northern Irish rugby player
1985 – Jennifer Nicole Freeman, American actress
1985 – Alphonso Smith, American football player
1985 – Dominic McGuire, American basketball player
1985 – James Sutton, British racing driver
1986 – Priyanka Sharma, Indian actress
1988 – Candice Swanepoel, South African model
1988 – Risa Niigaki, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
1992 – Ksenia Semenova, Russian Olympic gymnast.
1994 – Morgan Featherstone, Australian model

Deaths

460 – Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine Empress
1139 – Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
1570 – João de Barros, Portuguese historian (b. 1496)
1631 – Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1550)
1640 – John Ball, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1585)
1652 – Antonio Coello, Spanish writer (b. 1611)
1713 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (b. 1652)
1740 – Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
1842 – Grace Darling, English heroine (b. 1815)
1865 – Champ Ferguson, Confederate guerrilla (b. 1821)
1890 – Sir Richard Burton, British explorer and writer (b. 1821)
1900 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet (b. 1846)
1907 – Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (b. 1834)
1910 – David B. Hill, Governor of New York (b. 1843)
1926 – Eugene Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate (b. 1855)
1935 – Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
1936 – Anne Sullivan, American teacher (b. 1866)
1940 – Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect (b. 1885)
1953 – Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (b. 1916)
1964 – Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
1967 – Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
1968 – Bud Flanagan, British wartime entertainer (b. 1896)
1972 – Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (b. 1885)
1977 – Members of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in a plane crash:
Cassie Gaines (b. 1948)
Steve Gaines (b. 1949)
Ronnie Van Zant (b. 1948)
1978 – Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1948)
1983 – Peter Dudley, British actor (b. 1935)
1983 – Yves Thériault, French Canadian author (b. 1915)
1984 – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
1984 – Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1987 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)
1988 – Sheila Scott, English aviatrix (b. 1922)
1989 – Anthony Quayle, English actor (b. 1913)
1990 – Joel McCrea, American actor (b. 1905)
1992 – Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (b. 1926)
1993 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (b. 1909)
1994 – Burt Lancaster, American actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Christopher Stone, American actor (b. 1942)
1999 – Calvin Griffith, Former owner of Washington Senators (b. 1911)
1999 – Jack Lynch, Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1917)
2001 – Ted Ammon, American financier (b. 1949)
2002 – Barbara Berjer, American actress (b. 1920)
2002 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (b. 1931)
2003 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
2003 – Miodrag Petrović, Serbian actor (b. 1924)
2004 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (b. 1923)
2004 – Chuck Hiller, American baseball player (b. 1934)
2005 – Shirley Horn, American singer (b. 1934)
2005 – Endon Mahmood, First Lady of Malaysia (b. 1941)
2005 – Eva Svankmajerova, Czech artist (b. 1940)
2006 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (b. 1910)
2007 – Max McGee, American football player (b. 1932)
2007 – Paul Raven, British bass-player (Killing Joke, Ministry) (b. 1961)
2008 – Gene Hickerson, American football Hall of Famer (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

Christianity – the feast day of martyr Andrew of Crete, Caprasius of Agen, Irene of Tomar, Artemius
October 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Bahá'í Faith – Holy Day – Birth of the Báb
French Republican Calendar – Orge (Barley) Day, twenty-ninth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

 

[historylover]

October 21

Events

1096 – People's Crusade: The Turkish army annihilates the People's Army of the West.
1512 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
1600 – Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate that in effect rules Japan until the mid-nineteenth century.
1774 – First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1797 – In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signals almost the end of French maritime power and leaves Britain's navy unchallenged until the twentieth century.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at the Battle of Ulm. 30,000 prisoners are captured and 10,000 casualties inflicted on the losers.
1816 – The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
1824 – Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are sent to the Crimean War.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff – Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting.
1867 – Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty – Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western Oklahoma.
1879 – Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).
1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.
1895 – The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
1902 – In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
1912 – During the First Balkan War, Kardzhali is liberated by Bulgarian forces
1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.
1921 – George Melford's silent film, The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, premiers.
1944 – The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200 kilograms (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
1945 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
1945 – Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Evita.
1959 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.
1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
1965 – Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
1966 – Aberfan disaster: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
1967 – Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, D.C.. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility. Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
1969 – A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
1973 – John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.
1973 – Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
1977 – The European Patent Institute is founded.
1978 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
1979 – Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
1983 – The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
1987 – Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.
1994 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.
1994 – In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.
2003 – Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz.

Births

1449 – George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III (d. 1478)
1527 – Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1578)
1581 – Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (d. 1641)
1650 – Jean Bart, French admiral (d. 1702)
1660 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German scientist (d. 1734)
1675 – Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (d. 1710)
1687 – Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1759)
1712 – Sir James Steuart, British economist (d. 1780)
1725 – Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (d. 1801)
1757 – Pierre Augereau, Marshal of France and duc de Castiglione (d. 1816)
1762 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (d. 1818)
1772 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British poet (d. 1834)
1775 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (d. 1844)
1790 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French writer (d. 1869)
1821 – Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
1833 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (d. 1896)
1845 – Will Carleton, American poet (d. 1912)
1847 – Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian writer (d. 1906)
1851 – George Ulyett, English cricketer (d. 1898)
1884 – Claire Waldoff, German singer and entertainer (d. 1957)
1886 – Eugene Burton Ely, American aviation pioneer (d. 1911)
1894 – Rampo Edogawa, Japanese author and critic (d. 1965)
1895 – Edna Purviance, American actress (d. 1958)
1898 – Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wrestler and Olympic medalist (d. 1960)
1904 – Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet (d. 1967)
1906 – Lillian Asplund, last American Titanic survivor (d. 2006)
1907 – Nikos Engonopoulos, Greek painter and poet (d. 1985)
1912 – Sir Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (d. 1997)
1912 – Alfredo Pián, Argentine racing driver (d. 1990)
1914 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician and writer
1917 – Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (d. 1993)
1918 – Milton Himmelfarb, American sociographer (d. 2006)
1921 – Sir Malcolm Arnold, British composer (d. 2006)
1922 – Liliane de Bettencourt, heir to L'Oreal
1924 – Celia Cruz, Cuban singer, Queen of Salsa. (d. 2003)
1924 – Joyce Randolph, American actress
1925 – Louis J. Robichaud, Canadian premier of New Brunswick (d. 2005)
1927 – Fritz Wintersteller, Austrian mountaineer who made the first ascent of Broad Peak
1928 – Whitey Ford, American baseball player
1929 – Ursula K. Le Guin, American author
1930 – Ivan Stepanovich Silayev, Last prime minister of the Soviet Union
1931 – Vivian Pickles, English actress.
1938 – Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2001)
1940 – Geoff Boycott, English cricketer
1940 – Manfred Mann, English musician
1940 – Frances FitzGerald, American journalist and author
1941 – Steve Cropper, American musician
1942 – Elvin Bishop, American musician
1942 – Judy Sheindlin, American judge ("Judge Judy")
1942 – Allan Grice, Australian racing driver
1942 – Lou Lamoriello, New Jersey Devils General Manager
1943 – Tariq Ali, Pakistani author and historian
1945 – Everett McGill, American actor
1946 – Jim Hill, American sportscaster
1946 – Lux Interior, American singer (The Cramps) (d. 2009)
1946 – Lee Loughnane, American musician
1948 – Shaye Cohen, Historian and Professor at Harvard University
1948 – Tom Everett, American actor
1949 – Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1971)
1949 – Mike Keenan, Canadian ice hockey coach
1949 – Benjamin Netanyahu, 9th Prime Minister of Israel
1950 – Ronald McNair, American astronaut (d. 1986)
1952 – Trevor Chappell, Australian cricketer
1952 – Patti Davis, American actress and novelist, daughter of Ronald Reagan
1952 – Allen Hoey, American poet and novelist
1952 – Brent Mydland, American keyboardist (Grateful Dead) (d. 1990)
1953 – Keith Green, American musician (d. 1982)
1953 – Peter Mandelson, British politician
1953 – Charlotte Caffey, American musician (The Go-Go's)
1954 – Brian Tobin, Canadian premier of Newfoundland
1955 – Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
1956 – Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer
1957 – Julian Cope, English musician and writer
1957 – Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel laureate
1957 – Steve Lukather, American musician
1959 – George Bell, Dominican baseball player
1959 – Tony Ganios, American Actor
1959 – Rose McDowall, Scottish musician
1959 – Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
1962 – David Campese, Australian rugby union footballer
1964 – Jon Carin, American musician (Pink Floyd, The Who)
1965 – Hisashi Imai, Japanese musician (BUCK-TICK, Lucy)
1965 – Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, Spanish footballer
1967 – Paul Ince, English footballer
1968 – Melora Walters, American actress
1969 – Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, crown prince of Bahrain
1969 – Mo Lewis, American football player
1969 – Michael Hancock, Australian rugby league footballer
1970 – Louis Koo, Hong Kong actor
1971 – Conor O'Shea, Irish rugby player
1971 – Damien Martyn, Australian cricketer
1971 – Jade Jagger, Socialite and Jewellery Designer
1971 – Nick Oliveri, American musician
1971 – Paul Norman Telfer, Scottish footballer
1972 – Felicity Andersen, Australian actress
1972 – Saffron Burrows, English actress
1972 – Masakazu Morita, seiyu and actor
1972 – Matthew Friedberger, American musician (The Fiery Furnaces)
1972 – Evhen Tsybulenko, Ukrainian professor of international law
1973 – Lera Auerbach, Russian composer
1974 – Costel Busuioc, Romanian tenor
1975 – Toby Hall, American baseball player
1975 – Henrique Hilário, Portuguese footballer
1976 – Jeremy Miller, American actor
1976 – Lavinia Miloşovici, Romanian gymnast
1976 – Josh Ritter, American musician
1976 – Mélanie Turgeon, Canadian alpine skier
1978 – Will Estes, American actor
1978 – Joey Harrington, American football player
1978 – Henrik Klingenberg, Member of Finnish band, Sonata Arctica
1979 – Khalil Greene, American baseball player
1979 – Gabe Gross, American baseball player
1980 – Kim Kardashian, American socialite, Model, Reality T.V. Star.
1980 – Brian Pittman, American musician (Relient K)
1981 – Nemanja Vidić, Serbian footballer
1982 – James White, American basketball player
1982 – Matt Dallas, American actor
1982 – Tim Wildsmith, American musician
1983 – Zack Greinke, American baseball player
1983 – Andy Marté, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Shelden Williams, American basketball player
1983 – Charlotte Sullivan, Canadian actress
1983 – Ninette Tayeb, Israeli singer
1984 – Kenny Cooper, American footballer
1984 – Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Canadian speed skater
1984 – Marvin Mitchell, American football player
1984 – Kieran Richardson, English footballer
1986 – Chibuzor Chilaka, Nigerian footballer
1986 – Natalee Holloway, American missing person (missing since 2005)
1986 – Christopher Uckermann, Mexican actor and singer (RBD)
1990 – Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player
1992 – Bernard Tomic, Australian tennis player

Deaths

1125 – Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian writer
1204 – Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English nobleman
1221 – Alix of Thouars, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)
1266 – Birger jarl, Swedish statesman (b. 1210)
1422 – King Charles VI of France (b. 1368)
1500 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (b. 1442)
1505 – Paul Scriptoris, German mathematician
1558 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian scholar (b. 1484)
1600 – Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (b. 1557)
1623 – William Wade, English statesman and diplomat (b. 1546)
1662 – Henry Lawes, English composer (b. 1595)
1687 – Sir Edmund Waller, English poet (b. 1606)
1765 – Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (b. 1691)
1775 – Peyton Randolph, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)
1777 – Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)
1805 – Horatio Nelson, British admiral (b. 1758)
1872 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist (b. 1794)
1873 – Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (b. 1807)
1896 – James Henry Greathead, British engineer (b. 1844)
1904 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and writer (b. 1877)
1907 – Jules Chevalier, French priest (b. 1824)
1931 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian writer (b. 1862)
1940 – William G. Conley, Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)
1944 – Alois Kayser, German missionary to Nauru (b. 1877)
1952 – Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (b. 1871)
1963 – Józef Franczak, last cursed soldier – anticommunist underground in Poland (b. 1918)
1965 – Bill Black, American musician (b. 1926)
1969 – Jack Kerouac, American novelist (b. 1922)
1969 – Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician (b. 1882)
1973 – Nasif Estéfano, Argentine racing driver (b. 1932)
1975 – Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1887)
1978 – Anastas Mikoyan, Soviet politician (b. 1895)
1980 – Hans Asperger, Austrian psychologist (b. 1906)
1984 – François Truffaut, French film director (b. 1932)
1985 – Dan White, American politician, assailant in the Moscone-Milk assassinations (b. 1946)
1986 – Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge (b. 1922)
1989 – Jean Image, Hungarian-born French animator (b. 1910)
1990 – Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian spiritual leader (b. 1921)
1992 – Jim Garrison, American attorney (b. 1921)
1993 – Sam Zolotow, American theater reporter (b. 1899)
1995 – Shannon Hoon, American singer (Blind Melon) (b. 1967)
1995 – Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (b. 1919)
1995 – Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1916)
1996 – Georgios Zoitakis, Greek Army general and regent (b. 1910)
1998 – Francis W. Sargent, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1915)
1999 – Lars Bo, Danish artist and writer (b. 1924)
2003 – Fred Berry, American actor (b. 1951)
2003 – Luis A. Ferré, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1904)
2003 – Louise Day Hicks, American politician (b. 1916)
2003 – Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969)
2005 – Tara Correa-McMullen, American actress (b. 1989)
2006 – Sandy West, American musician (The Runaways) (b. 1959)
2007 – Paul Fox, English musician and singer (The Ruts) (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances

Apple Day in the United Kingdom
Overseas Chinese Day in the Republic of China
Trafalgar Day — celebrated throughout much of the British Empire in the 19th and early 20th Century.
R.C. saints – Saint Ursula; Saint Hilarion; John of Bridlington
French Republican Calendar – Tonneau (Barrel) Day, thirtieth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
International Day of the Nacho- Mexico and USA

 

[historylover]

October 23

Events

42 BC – Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.
425 – Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
502 – The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
1086 – At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
1157 – The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
1295 – The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.
1641 – Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
1642 – Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
1694 – American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec.
1707 – The first Parliament of Great Britain, i.e., the United Kingdom, meets.
1739 – War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
1812 – Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he is now the commandant of Paris.
1850 – the first National Women's Rights Convention is begun in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
1861 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Westport – Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
1867 – 72 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1911 – First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
1915 – Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.
1917 – Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
1929 – Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
1929 – The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
1935 – Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
1941 – World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.
1942 – World War II: The Second Battle of El Alamein starts – At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begin a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt, never to return.
1942 – All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger ("Thanks for the Memory", "Love in Bloom", "Blue Hawaii").
1942 – The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins – The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines; and also, the Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly convened for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
1956 – Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
1958 – The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
1958 – The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series appear for the first time, in the story Le flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou
1965 – Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
1973 – The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
1973 – A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
1983 – Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
1989 – The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös, replacing the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
1989 – Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas killed 23 and injured 314.
1992 – Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
1993 – Shankill Road bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in the Shankill area of Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians.
1998 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
2001 – The Provisional IRA begins disarmament after peace talks.
2001 – Apple releases the iPod.
2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
2004 – A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
2007 – A powerful Cold front in the Bay of Campeche causes the Usumacinta Jackup rig to collide with Kab 101, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after they evacuated the rig.

Births

1503 – Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (d. 1539)
1516 – Charlotte de Valois, princess of France (d. 1524)
1634 – Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden (d. 1715)
1698 – Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d. 1782)
1705 – Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Austrian field marshal (d. 1757)
1715 – Peter II of Russia (d. 1730)
1762 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)
1766 – Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)
1771 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)
1790 – Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman (d. 1860)
1796 – Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1857)
1801 – Albert Lortzing, German composer (d. 1851)
1805 – John Russell Bartlett, American linguist (d. 1886)
1813 – Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d. 1848)
1815 – João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (d. 1889)
1817 – Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer (d. 1875)
1835 – Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, 23rd Vice President (d. 1914)
1844 – Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
1865 – Neltje Blanchan, American writer (d. 1918)
1869 – John Heisman, American football player and coach (d. 1936)
1870 – Francis Kelley, Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma (d. 1948)
1873 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (d. 1975)
1875 – Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (d. 1946)
1876 – Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d. 1970)
1880 – Úna O'Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)
1885 – Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d. 1970)
1888 – Onésime Gagnon, Canadian politician (d. 1961)
1893 – Gummo Marx, American actor (d. 1977)
1894 – Rube Bressler, baseball player (d. 1966)
1896 – André Lévêque, French engineer (d. 1930)
1900 – Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (d. 1958)
1904 – Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
1905 – Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
1905 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
1908 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
1909 – Zellig Harris, American linguist (d. 1992)
1910 – Richard Mortensen, Danish painter (d. 1993)
1918 – James Daly, American actor (d. 1978)
1919 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (d. 1992)
1920 – Ted Fujita, Japanese meteorologist (d. 1998)
1922 – Coleen Gray, American actress
1923 – Aslam Farrukhi, Pakistani scholar and poet
1923 – Ned Rorem, American composer
1923 – Frank Sutton, American actor (d. 1974)
1925 – Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)
1925 – Manos Hadjidakis, Greek composer (d. 1994)
1925 – Fred Shero, Canadian hockey player and coach (d. 1990)
1928 – Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1985)
1928 – Bella Darvi, Polish-born French actress (d. 1971)
1927 – Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (d. 2009)
1931 – Jim Bunning, American baseball player and politician
1931 – Diana Dors, British actress (d. 1984)
1931 – William P. Clark, United States Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan
1935 – Juan "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez, Puerto Rican golfer
1936 – Philip Kaufman, American film director
1940 – Ellie Greenwich, American singer (d. 2009)
1940 – Pelé, Brazilian footballer
1940 – Baby Jane Holzer, American art collector, film producer and Andy Warhol "superstar"
1941 – Igor Smirnov, Moldovan politician
1941 – Mel Winkler, American actor
1942 – Michael Crichton, American writer (d. 2008)
1942 – Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop (d. 2007)
1944 – Mike Harding, English singer and comedian
1945 – Kim Larsen, Danish singer
1946 – Mel Martinez, American politician
1948 – Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born entrepreneur
1948 – Brian Ross, American journalist
1948 – Tony Anselmo, American animator and cartoon voice actor, current voice of Donald Duck (1985-present)
1949 – Michael 'Wurzel' Burston, British musician (Motörhead)
1949 – Nick Tosches, American writer
1951 – Charly García, Argentine singer
1951 – Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo
1952 – Pierre Moerlen, French drummer and percussionist (d. 2005)
1954 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director
1956 – Dwight Yoakam, American singer
1957 – Martin Luther King III, American human rights advocate
1958 – Michael Eric Dyson, American activist, professor, author
1958 – Rose Nabinger, German singer
1959 – Nancy Grace, American former prosecutor
1959 – Sam Raimi, American film director
1959 – "Weird Al" Yankovic, American musical parodist
1960 – Randy Pausch, American computer science professor, author (d. 2008)
1960 – Wayne Rainey, American motorcyclist
1961 – Laurie Halse Anderson, American writer
1961 – Don and Ron Harris, American professional wrestlers
1961 – Andoni Zubizarreta, Spanish footballer
1962 – Doug Flutie, American football player
1964 – Robert Trujillo, American bassist (Metallica)
1965 – Augusten Burroughs, American writer
1965 – Al Leiter, American baseball player
1966 – Alex Zanardi, Italian race car driver
1967 – Dale Crover, American musician (Melvins, The Men of Porn, Altamont)
1969 – Trudi Canavan, Australian writer
1970 – Grant Imahara, American TV Mythbuster
1970 – Zoe Wiseman, American Model and Photographer
1971 – Carlo Forlivesi, Italian composer
1971 – Christopher Horner, American cyclist
1972 – Bryan Pratt, Missouri Politician
1973 – Christian Dailly, Scottish footballer
1974 – Sander Westerveld, Dutch footballer
1974 – Jasmin St. Claire, Former pornographic actress
1975 – Odalys García, Cuban actress
1975 – Jessicka, American artist
1975 – Keith Van Horn, American basketball player
1976 – Cat Deeley, English model and television personality
1976 – Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
1978 – Steve Harmison, English cricketer
1978 – Jimmy Bullard, English footballer
1978 – Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
1979 – Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
1979 – Jorge Solís, Mexican professional boxer
1980 – Pedro Liriano, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dutch racing driver
1981 – Ben Francisco, American baseball player
1982 – Valentin Badea, Romanian footballer
1983 – Filipos Darlas, Greek footballer
1983 – Josh Strickland, American entertainer
1984 – Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model
1984 – Meghan McCain, American author and daughter of John McCain
1985 – Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American writer and actress
1986 – Briana Evigan, American actress
1986 – Jake Robinson, English footballer
1986 – Jessica Stroup, American Actress
1987 – Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (Play)
1990 – Stevie Brock, American singer
1991 – Princess Mako of Akishino of Japan
1991 – Erin Proctor, American flutist

Deaths

42 BC – Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)
525 (probable date) – Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Christian philosopher (b. 480)
930 – Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)
1456 – Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)
1550 – Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)
1581 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)
1616 – Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)
1688 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)
1730 – Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)
1764 – Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)
1774 – Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b. 1715)
1869 – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1799)
1872 – Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)
1885 – Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician (b. 1829)
1893 – Alexander Battenberg, prince of Bulgaria (b. 1857)
1910 – Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (b. 1853)
1915 – W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b. 1848)
1921 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b. 1840)
1939 – Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)
1942 – Ralph Rainger, American composer (b. 1901)
1944 – Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
1944 – Hana Brady, Holocaust victim (b. 1931)
1950 – Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)
1953 – Adrien-Maurice-Victurnien-Mathieu, 8th duc de Noailles (b. 1869)
1957 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)
1959 – Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (b. 1871)
1978 – Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b. 1909)
1983 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b. 1947)
1984 – James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)
1984 – Oskar Werner, Austrian actor (b. 1922)
1986 – Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
1989 – Armida, Mexican actress (b. 1911)
1990 – Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b. 1918)
1994 – Robert Lansing, American actor (b. 1928)
1996 – Bob Grim, American baseball player (b. 1930)
1997 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)
1998 – Barnett Slepian, American physician (b. 1946)
2000 – Rodney Anoa'i aka Yokozuna, Samoan-American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
2001 – Ronald William Kirby, British artist (b. 1928)
2001 – Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (b. 1917)
2002 – Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1915)
2003 – Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1944)
2003 – Soong May-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1897)
2004 – Robert Merrill, American baritone (b. 1919)
2004 – Bill Nicholson, English Footballer (b.1919)
2005 – William Hootkins, American actor (b. 1948)
2005 – John Muth, American economist (b. 1930)
2005 – Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b. 1945)
2006 – Lebo Mathosa, South African entertainer (b. 1977)
2007 – John Ilhan, Australian entrepreneur (b. 1965)
2007 – Lim Goh Tong, Malaysian-born Chinese businessman (b. 1918)
2008 – Kevin Finnegan, British Middleweight Boxing Champion (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

Chulalongkorn Memorial Day in Thailand
Day of the Revolution in Republic of Macedonia
Mole Day
National Day (revolution of 1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in 1989) in Hungary
R.C. Saints – Saint Giovanni da Capistrano; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius; Saint Anthony Mary Claret; Saint Ignatius of Constantinople
Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio in Western tropical astrology.
French Republican Calendar – Céleri (Celery) Day, second day in the Month of Brumaire

 

[historylover]

October 24

Events

69 – Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
1147 – After a siege of 4 months crusader knights led by Afonso Henriques, reconquered Lisbon.
1260 – The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1260 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself.
1360 – The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
1590 – John White, The governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the "lost" colonists.
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
1795 – Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.
1857 – Sheffield F.C., the world's first football club, is founded in Sheffield, England.
1861 – The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.
1892 – Goodison Park, the world's first association football specific stadium is opened.
1901 – Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
1911 – Orville Wright remains in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory.
1914 – End of Battle of Langemarck: The first Battle of Ypres (Flanders) ends with two more to follow.
1917 – Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
1917 – The day of the October revolution, The Red Revolution.
1926 – Harry Houdini's last performance, which is at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 – "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
1930 – A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1931 – The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.
1944 – World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, and the battleship Musashi are sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1945 – Founding of the United Nations
1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
1947 – Walt Disney testifies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
1957 – The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1960 – Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash
1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
1973 – Yom Kippur War ends
1977 – Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
1980 – Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
1986 – Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi is helped by Syrian officials.
1990 – Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army.
1998 – Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2003 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
2005 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida resulting in 35 direct 26 indirect fatalities and causing $20.6B USD in damage.
2006 – Justice Rutherford of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the "motive clause", an important part of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act.
2008 – "Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

Births

51 – Domitian, Roman Emperor (d. 96)
1378 – David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne of Scotland (d. 1402)
1561 – Anthony Babington, Leader of the Babington Plot (d. 1586)
1632 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch microbiologist (d. 1723)
1675 – Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, English soldier and politician (d. 1749)
1710 – Alban Butler, English Catholic priest and writer (d. 1773)
1763 – Dorothea von Schlegel, German novelist (d. 1839)
1788 – Sarah Josepha Hale, American poet (d. 1879)
1804 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist (d. 1891)
1811 – Ferdinand Hiller, German composer (d. 1885)
1854 – Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist (d. 1907)
1855 – James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (d. 1912)
1857 – Ned Williamson, American baseball player (d. 1894)
1868 – Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer and writer (d. 1969)
1872 – Peter O'Connor, Irish athlete (d. 1957)
1875 – Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter (d. 1958)
1882 – Dame Sybil Thorndike, British actress (d. 1976)
1887 – Octave Lapize, French cyclist (d. 1917)
1887 – Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (d. 1969)
1891 – Rafael Molina-Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic (d. 1961)
1894 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Bengali author (d. 1987)
1896 – Jack Warner, English actor (d. 1981)
1901 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born American actress and dancer (d. 1959)
1903 – Melvin Purvis, American FBI agent (d. 1960)
1904 – Moss Hart, American dramatist (d. 1961)
1905 – Fran Zwitter, Slovenian historian (d. 1988)
1906 – Alexander Gelfond, Russian mathematician (d. 1968)
1909 – Bill Carr, American athlete (d. 1966)
1911 – Sonny Terry, American blues musician (d. 1986)
1911 – Paul Grégoire, French Canadian archbishop of Montreal (d. 1993)
1913 – Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (d. 1984)
1915 – Bob Kane, American cartoonist (d. 1998)
1915 – Roger Milliken, American millionaire
1915 – Marghanita Laski, British Journalist and Novelist (d. 1988)
1919 – Frank Piasecki, American aeronautical engineer (d. 2008)
1920 – Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician (d. 1996)
1923 – Denise Levertov, English-born poet (d. 1997)
1925 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (d. 2003)
1926 – Y. A. Tittle, American football player
1926 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish screenwriter (d. 2008)
1927 – Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer and actor (d. 1992)
1927 – Gilbert Bécaud, French composer and actor (d. 2001)
1929 – George Crumb, American composer
1929 – Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (d. 2004)
1929 – Hubert Aquin, French-Canadian novelist and activist (d. 1977)
1930 – J.P. Richardson, The Big Bopper, American singer (d. 1959)
1930 – Johan Galtung, Norwegian peace researcher
1930 – Sultan Ahmad Shah, King of Malaysia
1931 – Sofia Gubaidulina, Russian composer
1932 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1932 – Robert Mundell, Canadian economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 – Norman Rush, American writer
1935 – Malcolm Bilson, American pianist and music professor
1936 – David Nelson, Actor/Television Personality
1936 – Bill Wyman, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
1937 – Santo Farina, American musician and composer (Santo & Johnny)
1939 – F. Murray Abraham, American actor
1940 – Martin Campbell, New Zealand film director
1941 – William H. Dobelle, American biomedical engineer
1943 – Bill Dundee, American professional wrestler
1944 – Ray Downs American author and musician
1944 – Viktor Prokopenko, Ukranian footballer and coach (d. 2007)
1945 – Anthony Christian, English artist
1945 – Gérald Larose, Quebec labour union executive
1945 – Alan Titus, American baritone
1946 – Jerry Edmonton, Canadian drummer (Steppenwolf) (d. 1993)
1947 – Kevin Kline, American actor
1948 – Paul and Barry Ryan, British composers-singers
1948 – Kweisi Mfume, American politician and activist
1949 – Robert Pickton, Canadian serial killer
1950 – Steven Greenberg, American composer (Lipps Inc.)
1950 – Rawly Eastwick, American baseball player
1954 – Brad Sherman, American politician
1954 – Malcolm Turnbull, Australian politician
1954 – Thomas J. Mulcair, Quebec politician
1954 – Mike Rounds, American politician, current governor of South Dakota
1954 – Jozef Ráž, Slovak musician
1956 – Dale Maharidge, American author
1956 – Jeff Merkley, American politician
1957 – Ron Gardenhire, German-born American baseball manager
1957 – John Kassir, American actor and comedian
1959 – Anthony Waller, Lebanese film director
1960 – Ian Baker-Finch, Australian golfer
1960 – B.D. Wong, American actor
1960 – Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian (d. 1999)
1960 – Joachim "Jo" Winkelhock, German race car driver
1960 – Dennis Anderson, American monster truck driver (Grave Digger)
1961 – Mary Bono, American politician
1961 – Bruce L. Castor, Jr. American politician
1961 – Dave Meltzer, American wrestling journalist
1962 – Dave Blaney, American race car driver
1962 – Jay Novacek, American football player
1963 – John Hendrie, Scottish footballer
1965 – Kyriakos Velopoulos, Greek politician
1966 – Roman Abramovich, Russian oil magnate
1967 – Jacqueline McKenzie, Australian actress
1968 – Robert Wilonsky, American journalist
1969 – Adela Noriega, Mexican actress
1970 – Rob Leslie-Carter, British engineer and project manager
1971 – Dervla Kirwan, Irish actress
1971 – Caprice Bourret, American model and actress
1972 – Kim Ji-soo, South Korean actress
1972 – Scott Peterson, American murderer
1972 – Pat Williams, American football player
1973 – Levi Leipheimer, American cyclist
1973 – Madlib, American musician and rapper
1973 – Jackie McNamara, Scottish footballer
1973 – Jeff Wilson, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer
1974 – Wilton Guerrero, Dominican baseball player
1974 – Corey Dillon, American football player
1974 – Jamal Mayers, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Juan Pablo Ángel, Colombian footballer
1976 – Petar Stoychev, Bulgarian swimmer
1977 – Iván Kaviedes, Ecuadoran footballer
1978 – Carlos Edwards, Trinidadian footballer
1978 – Justin Lee Brannan, American musician
1979 – Ben Gillies, Australian musician (Silverchair)
1980 – Monica, American singer and actress
1980 – Matthew Amoah, Ghanaian footballer
1980 – Zac Posen, American fashion designer
1980 – Casey Wilson, American comic actress (Saturday Night Live)
1981 – Mallika Sherawat, Indian actress
1981 – Tila Tequila, American model
1982 – Mohamed Fairuz Fauzy, Malaysian racing driver
1982 – Macay McBride, American baseball player
1983 – Brian Vickers, American race car driver
1983 – Adrienne Bailon, American actress and singer
1984 – Kaela Kimura, Japanese model and singer
1984 – Felicia Chin, Singaporean actress
1985 – Wayne Rooney, English footballer
1986 – Aubrey Graham, Canadian actor and rapper
1986 – John Ruddy, English footballer
1987 – Charlie White, American ice dancer
1987 – Anthony Vanden Borre, Belgian footballer
1987 – Lincoln Lewis, Australian actor
1989 – Shenae Grimes, Canadian actress
1989 – Eliza Taylor-Cotter, Australian actress

Deaths

996 – King Hugh Capet of France (b. 938)
1260 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt
1375 – King Valdemar IV of Denmark (b. c.1320)
1537 – Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1508)
1572 – Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, English politician (b. c.1508)
1601 – Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer (b. 1546)
1655 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592)
1669 – William Prynne, English Puritan leader (b. 1600)
1672 – John Webb, English architect (b. 1611)
1708 – Kowa Seki, Japanese mathematician
1725 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1660)
1799 – Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer (b. 1739)
1821 – Elias Boudinot, American President of the Continental Congress (b. 1740)
1852 – Daniel Webster, American lawyer and politician (b. 1782)
1875 – Raffaello Carboni, Italian writer (b. 1817)
1898 – Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter (b. 1824)
1912 – Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian composer (b. 1842)
1915 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist (b. 1828)
1922 – George Cadbury, British chocolate and cocoa manufacturer (b. 1839)
1935 – Dutch Schultz, American gangster (b. 1902)
1938 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor (b. 1870)
1943 – Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, French Canadian poet (b. 1912)
1944 – Louis Renault, French automobile manufacturer (b. 1877)
1945 – Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian soldier, politician and convicted traitor, by execution (b. 1887)
1948 – Franz Lehár, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
1964 – Toni Kinshofer, German mountaineer, first winter ascent of the Eiger North Face (b. 1931)
1966 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (b. 1896)
1971 – Carl Ruggles, American composer (b. 1876)
1972 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player, and the first black player in Major League Baseball (b. 1919)
1972 – Claire Windsor, American actress (b. 1897)
1974 – David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1908)
1975 – Zdzisław Żygulski, Sr., Polish literary historian (b. 1888)
1985 – Richie Evans, American NASCAR driver (b. 1941)
1985 – Maurice Roy, Archbishop of Quebec, (b. 1905)
1989 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer, second person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders (b. 1948)
1991 – Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (b. 1921)
1994 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1940)
1997 – Don Messick, American voice actor (b. 1926)
2001 – Wolf Rüdiger Hess, German neo-Nazi (b. 1937)
2002 – Herman Gaviria, Colombian football player (b. 1969)
2002 – Winton M. Blount, United States Postmaster General (b. 1921)
2002 – Harry Hay, American activist (b. 1912)
2003 – Rosie Nix Adams, Stepdaughter of Johnny Cash (b. 1958)
2004 – Randy Dorton, American race car crew member (b. 1954)
2004 – Ricky Hendrick, American race car team owner (b. 1980)
2004 – James Cardinal Hickey, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1920)
2005 – José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
2005 – Joy Clements, American soprano (b. 1932)
2005 – Robert Sloman, writer (b. 1926)
2005 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (b. 1913)
2005 – Immanuel C.Y. Hsu, scholar of modern Chinese intellectual and diplomatic history (b. 1923)
2005 – Mokarrameh Ghanbari, Iranian painter (b. 1928)
2006 – Enolia McMillan, American civil rights activist (b. 1904)
2006 – William Montgomery Watt, Islamic studies scholar, orientalist and historian (b. 1909)
2007 – Petr Eben, Czech organ composer (b. 1929)
2007 – Alisher Saipov, Kyrgyz journalist (b. 1981)
2007 – Ian Middleton, New Zealand novelist (b. 1928)
2008 – Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

Independence Day in Zambia (1964)
United Nations Day (charter 1945)
French Republican Calendar – Poire (Pear) Day, third day in the Month of Brumaire
Christian observances
Anthony Mary Claret
Maladay (Discordianism)

 

[historylover]

October 25

Events

1147 – The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a four-month siege.
1147 – Seljuk Turks completely annihilate German crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum.
1315 – Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea and William Bradshaw, led an attack on Liverpool Castle.
1415 – The army of Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
1616 – Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the Western Australian coast.
1747 – British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeats the French at the second battle of Cape Finisterre.
1760 – George III becomes King of Great Britain.
1813 – War of 1812: Canadians and Mohawks defeat the Americans in the Battle of Chateauguay.
1828 – The St Katharine Docks opened in London.
1854 – The Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
1861 – The Toronto Stock Exchange is created.
1900 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1917 – Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia.
1920 – After 74 days on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney died.
1924 – The forged Zinoviev Letter is published in the Daily Mail, wrecking the British Labour Party's hopes of re-election.
1935 – Hurricane floods Haiti, killing over 2,000 people.
1938 – The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces Swing music as "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people", warning that it leads down a "primrose path to hell".
1944 – Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich.
1944 – The USS Tang (SS-306) under Richard O'Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own torpedo.
1944 – The Romanian Army liberates Carei, the last Romanian city under Axis Powers' occupation.
1944 – Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history, takes place in and around the Philippines between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Third and U.S. Seventh Fleets.
1945 – The Republic of China takes over administration of Taiwan following Japan's surrender to the Allies.
1962 – Cuban missile crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows photos at the UN proving Soviet missiles are installed in Cuba
1970 – The wreck of Confederate submarine Hunley is found off Charleston, South Carolina, by pioneer underwater archaeologist, Dr. E. Lee Spence, then just 22 years old. Hunley is the first submarine to sink a ship in warfare.
1971 – The United Nations seated the People's Republic of China and expelled the Republic of China (see political status of Taiwan and China and the United Nations)
1972 – The Washington Post reports that White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman is the fifth person to control a secret cash fund designed to finance illegal political sabotage and espionage during the 1972 presidential election campaign (see also Watergate scandal).
1977 – Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
1983 – Operation Urgent Fury: The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d'état.
1991 – History of Slovenia: Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.
1992 – Lithuania holds a referendum on its first post-Soviet constitution.
1995 – A commuter train slams into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students.
1997 – After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
2004 – Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8.
2007 – The first Airbus A380 passenger flight, operating for Singapore Airlines, with flight number SQ 380, flying scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia.

Births

1102 – William Clito, Count of Flanders (d. 1128)
1330 – Louis II of Flanders (d. 1384)
1510 – Renée of France, French princess (d. 1574)
1683 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, British politician (d. 1757)
1759 – Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), Russian empress (d. 1828)
1759 – William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, British politician (d. 1834)
1767 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss writer (d. 1830)
1772 – Geraud Duroc, French general (d. 1813)
1782 – Levi Lincoln, Jr., 13th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1868)
1802 – Joseph Montferrand, Canadian logger and strong man (d. 1864)
1806 – Max Stirner, German philosopher (d. 1856)
1811 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (d. 1832)
1825 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (d. 1899)
1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer (d. 1875)
1856 – Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger, Croatian paleontologist (d. 1936)
1864 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (d. 1956)
1864 – John Francis Dodge, American automobile pioneer (d. 1920)
1867 – Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (d. 1937)
1881 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1973)
1886 – Leo G. Carroll, English actor (d. 1972)
1888 – Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (d. 1957)
1888 – Nils von Dardel, Swedish painter (d. 1943)
1889 – Abel Gance, French film director (d. 1981)
1889 – Smoky Joe Wood, American baseball pitcher (d. 1985)
1891 – Father Coughlin, Roman Catholic priest and pro-Fascist radio broadcaster (d. 1979)
1895 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1969)
1902 – Henry Steele Commager, American historian (d. 1998)
1902 – Eddie Lang, American jazz guitarist (d. 1933)
1903 – Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman (d. 1976)
1903 – Harry Shoulberg, American painter (d. 1995)
1908 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (d. 2004)
1910 – William Higinbotham, American physicist (d. 1994)
1912 – Minnie Pearl, American comedian and singer (d. 1996)
1913 – Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal (d. 1991)
1914 – John Berryman, American poet (d. 1972)
1915 – Ivan M. Niven, Canadian mathematician (d. 1999)
1917 – Lee MacPhail, American baseball manager and league executive
1921 – King Michael I of Romania
1923 – Jean Duceppe, Quebec actor (d. 1990)
1924 – Billy Barty, American actor (d. 2000)
1926 – Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter
1926 – Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano
1927 – Barbara Cook, American singer and actress
1927 – Jorge Batlle Ibáñez, President of Uruguay
1928 – Marion Ross, American actress
1928 – Anthony Franciosa, American actor (d. 2006)
1931 – Jimmy McIlroy, Irish footballer and football manager
1931 – Annie Girardot, French actress
1932 – Harry Gregg, Irish footballer and football manager
1933 – Eugene "Porky" Lee, American child actor (d. 2005)
1935 – Russell Schweickart, astronaut
1936 – Sir Martin Gilbert, British historian
1939 – Robin Spry, Canadian filmmaker and producer (d. 2005)
1940 – Bobby Knight, American basketball coach
1941 – Helen Reddy, Australian singer
1941 – Anne Tyler, American novelist
1944 – Jon Anderson, English singer (Yes)
1944 – James Carville, American political strategist and commentator
1945 – Peter Ledger, Australian artist (d. 1994)
1947 – Glenn Tipton, English guitarist (Judas Priest)
1948 – Dave Cowens, American basketball player and coach
1948 – Daniel Mark Epstein, American poet and biographer
1948 – Dan Gable, American wrestler and coach
1948 – Dan Issel, American basketball player
1949 – Réjean Houle, Canadian ice hockey player
1950 – Chris Norman, English singer
1951 – Richard Lloyd, American guitarist (Television)
1952 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (d. 2004)
1954 – Mike Eruzione, American hockey player
1955 – Glynis Barber, English actress
1955 – Robin Eubanks, American jazz trombonist
1955 – Matthias Jabs, German guitarist (Scorpions)
1957 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress
1958 – Phil Daniels, English actor
1958 – Kornelia Ender, East German swimmer
1961 – Ward Burton, American auto racer
1961 – Chad Smith, American drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
1962 – Nick Hancock, British television presenter
1962 – Darlene Vogel, American actress
1963 – Tracy Nelson, American actress
1964 – Michael Boatman, American actor
1964 – Nicole, German singer
1964 – Kevin Michael Richardson, American actor
1965 – Þorsteinn Bachmann, Icelandic actor
1965 – 2 Cold Scorpio, American professional wrestler
1966 – Wendel Clark, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Perry Satullo, American professional wrestler
1969 – Josef Beranek, Czech ice hockey player
1969 – Nika Futterman, American voice actress
1969 – Oleg Salenko, Russian footballer
1970 – J.A. Adande, American sports columnist
1970 – Peter Aerts, Dutch kickboxer and martial artist
1970 – Adam Goldberg, American actor
1970 – Adam Pascal, American actor
1970 – Ed Robertson, Canadian musician (Barenaked Ladies)
1971 – Simon Charlton, English footballer
1971 – Athena Chu, Hong Kong actress and singer
1971 – Neil Fallon, Lead singer of Clutch (band)
1971 – Midori Goto, Japanese violinist
1971 – Pedro Martínez, Dominican baseball player
1972 – Jonathan Torrens, Canadian actor
1973 – Lamont Bentley, American actor (d. 2005)
1974 – Lee Byung-Kyu, South Korean baseball player
1975 – Ryan Clement, former XFL quarterback
1975 – Eirik Glambek Bøe, Norwegian musician
1976 – Steve Jones, Irish footballer
1977 – Birgit Prinz, German footballer
1978 – Russell Anderson, Scottish footballer
1979 – Rob Hulse, English footballer
1979 – Natasha Khan, British singer
1979 – Milena Roucka, Canadian professional wrestler
1979 – Sarah Thompson, American actress
1979 – Tony Torcato, American baseball player
1980 – Mehcad Brooks, American actor and former model
1981 – Josh Henderson, American actor and singer
1981 – Jerome Isaac Jones, American singer
1981 – Austin Winkler, American lead vocalist (Hinder)
1981 – Jon Wood, American NASCAR driver
1981 – Shaun Wright-Phillips, English footballer
1982 – Jerome Carter, American football player
1982 – Eman Lam, Hong Kong singer
1983 – Han Yeo-reum, South Korean actress
1983 – Tim McGarigle, American football player
1984 – Sara Helena Lumholdt, Swedish musician (A-Teens)
1984 – Katy Perry, American singer
1985 – Ciara Harris, American singer
1985 – Kara Lynn Joyce, American swimmer and Olympian
1986 – DJ Webstar, American disc jockey
1986 – Eddie Gaven, American footballer
1987 – Darron Gibson, Irish football player
1987 – Fabian Hambüchen, German gymnast and Olympic medallist
1988 – Shane Edwards, Australian rules footballer
1995 – Conchita Campbell, Canadian actress
2001 – Princess Elisabeth of Belgium

Deaths

304 – Pope Marcellinus (martyred)
625 – Pope Boniface V
1047 – King Magnus I of Norway (b. 1024)
1154 – King Stephen of England (b. 1096)
1200 – Conrad of Wittelsbach, German Archbishop
1230 – Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, English soldier (b. 1180)
1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet
1415 – Killed in the Battle of Agincourt:
Charles d'Albret, Count of Dreux and Constable of France
John I of Alençon (b. 1385)
Antoine, Duke of Brabant (b. 1384)
Frederick of Lorraine (b. 1371)
Philip II, Count of Nevers (b. 1389)
Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk (b. 1394)
Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (b. 1373)
1478 – Katarina Kosača, queen consort of Bosnia
1492 – Thaddeus McCarthy, Irish Catholic bishop
1495 – King John II of Portugal (b. 1455)
1514 – William Elphinstone, Scottish bishop and statesman (b. 1431)
1555 – Olympia Fulvia Morata, Italian classical scholar (b. 1526)
1557 – William Cavendish, English politician (b. 1505)
1633 – Jean Titelouze, French organist
1647 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
1683 – William Scroggs, Lord Chief Justice of England
1733 – Giovanni Gerolamo Saccheri, Italian mathematician (b. 1667)
1757 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (b. 1672)
1760 – George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
1806 – Henry Knox, American general and politician (b. 1750)
1826 – Philippe Pinel, French psychiatrist (b. 1745)
1833 – Abbas Mirza, prince of Persia (b. 1789)
1852 – John C. Clark, American politician (b. 1793)
1889 – Émile Augier, French dramatist (b. 1820)
1895 – Charles Hallé, German pianist and conductor (b. 1819)
1910 – Willie Anderson, Scottish-born golfer (b. 1878)
1920 – King Alexander I of Greece (b. 1893)
1920 – Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, died on Hunger Strike, Brixton Prison, England (b. 1879)
1921 – Bat Masterson, American journalist and lawman (b. 1853)
1938 – Alfonsina Storni, Argentine poet (b. 1892)
1945 – Robert Ley, Nazi German leader (b. 1890)
1953 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (b. 1867)
1955 – Sadako Sasaki atomic bomb victim (b. 1943)
1957 – Albert Anastasia, Italian-born gangster (b. 1902)
1957 – Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish writer (b. 1878)
1960 – Harry Ferguson, farm equipment manufacturer (b. 1884)
1963 – Roger Désormière, French conductor (b. 1898)
1965 – Eduard Einstein, son of Albert Einstein (b. 1910)
1973 – Cleo Moore, American actress (b. 1928)
1973 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian athlete (b. 1932)
1975 – Vladimir Herzog, Brazilian journalist and activist (b.1937) (murdered)
1976 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (b. 1903)
1980 – Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
1985 – Gary Holton, English actor (b. 1952)
1986 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (b. 1919)
1991 – Bill Graham, American rock promoter (b. 1931)
1992 – Roger Miller, American musician and composer (b. 1936)
1993 – Danny Chan, Hong Kong singer/songwriter (b. 1958)
1993 – Vincent Price, American actor (b. 1911)
1994 – Kara Spears Hultgreen, American naval pilot (b. 1965)
1994 – Mildred Natwick, American actress (b. 1905)
1995 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (b. 1918)
1995 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-born actress (b. 1920)
1999 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (b. 1957)
2002 – Richard Harris, Irish actor (b. 1930)
2002 – Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (b. 1944)
2002 – René Thom, French mathematician (b. 1923)
2003 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Founder Swadhyay Movement (b. 1920)
2003 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1925)
2003 – Robert Strassburg, American composer (b. 1915)
2004 – John Peel, British disc jockey (b. 1939)
2005 – Wellington Mara, American football team owner (b. 1916)
2006 – Danny Rolling, American murderer (b. 1954) (executed)
2007 – Martín Caballero, commander of the Caribbean Bloc of the FARC-EP (KIA)
2008 – Anne Pressly, American news anchor (b. 1982)

Holidays and observances

R.C. Saints feast days:
Saints Chrysanthus and Daria
Saints Crispin and Crispinian
Minias of Florence
Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy
French Republican Calendar – Betterave (Beetroot) Day, fourth day in the Month of Brumaire
Grenada – Thanksgiving Day (commemorates Invasion of Grenada)
Kazakhstan – Republic Day
Taiwan – Retrocession Day (1945)
Virgin Islands – Thanksgiving Day
Romania – Day of the Romanian Army

 

[historylover]

October 26

Events

306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
740 – An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and many deaths.
1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1775 – King George III goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.
1776 – Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
1825 – The Erie Canal opens – passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.
1859 – The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.
1860 – Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
1861 – The Pony Express officially ceased operations.
1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
1905 – Norway becomes independent from Sweden.
1912 – First Balkan War: The capital city of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany.
1917 – World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
1918 – Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.
1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, is sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged.
1943 – World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil".
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.
1947 – The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.
1948 – Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
1951 – Clement Attlee resigned as the UK's Labour Prime Minister following defeat to Winston Churchill. This was the start of the 40th UK government.
1951 – Boxer Joe Louis comes out of retirement to fight Rocky Marciano. However, Marciano would win the fight in eight rounds.
1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.
1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.
1959 – The world sees the far side of the Moon for the first time.
1964 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.
1965 – The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs).
1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and then crowns his wife Farah Empress of Iran.
1977 – The last natural case of smallpox is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
1984 – "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.
1985 – The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines.
1992 – The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.
1992 – The London Ambulance Service is thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Despatch, system which failed.
1994 – Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty
1994 – The National Football League announced that the Carolina Panthers would become the league's 29th franchise.
1995 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
1999 – Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
2000 – Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï.
2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
2003 – The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.

Births

1427 – Archduke Sigismund of Austria (d. 1496)
1473 – Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)
1491 – Zhengde, Emperor of China (d. 1521)
1609 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian prince, linguist, and scholar (d. 1723)
1684 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (d. 1757)
1685 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)
1694 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (d. 1758)
1757 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher (d. 1823)
1759 – Georges Jacques Danton, French Revolutionary leader (d. 1794)
1768 – Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (d. 1844)
1794 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (d. 1881)
1795 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (d. 1872)
1797 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (d. 1865)
1800 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)
1802 – King Miguel of Portugal (d. 1866)
1803 – Joseph Hansom, English architect and inventor (d. 1882)
1842 – Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
1849 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (d. 1917)
1854 – C. W. Post, American entrepreneur (d. 1914)
1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)
1869 – Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (d. 1957)
1871 – Guillermo Kahlo, father of Frida Kahlo (d. 1941)
1873 – Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
1873 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Sher-E-Bangla (Tiger Of Bengal) (d. 1962)
1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, socialite and philanthropist (d. 1948)
1874 – Martin Lowry, British chemist (d. 1936)
1880 – Andrei Bely, Russian writer (d. 1934)
1883 – Napoleon Hill, American Writer and Philosopher (Think and Grow Rich) (d. 1970)
1883 – Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (d. 1958)
1888 – Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist Insurrectionary leader (d. 1934)
1899 – Judy Johnson, Hall of Fame baseball player in the Negro Leagues (d. 1989)
1902 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d. 1994)
1905 – George Flahiff, Canadian Cardinal (d. 1989)
1906 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)
1911 – Sid Gilman, American football player (d. 2003)
1911 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (d. 1972)
1911 – Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d. 1996)
1912 – Don Siegel, American director (d. 1991)
1913 – Charlie Barnet, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1991)
1914 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (d. 1984)
1915 – Joe Fry, British racing driver (d. 1950)
1916 – François Mitterrand, President of France (d. 1996)
1916 – Boyd Wagner, First USAAF fighter ace of WWII (d. 1942)
1919 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Shah of Iran (d. 1980)
1919 – Edward Brooke, American politician
1921 – George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (d. 1968)
1925 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author (d. 2007)
1928 – Francisco Solano López, Argentine comics artists
1929 – Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer (The Jordanaires) (d. 2000)
1933 – Takis Kanellopoulos, Greek film director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1934 – Hans-Joachim Rödelius, German composer and musician (Cluster, Harmonia)
1936 – Shelley Morrison, American actress
1941 – Charlie Landsborough, Singer/Songwriter
1942 – Bob Hoskins, British actor
1945 – Pat Conroy, American writer
1945 – Demetris Th. Gotsis, Greek poet and author
1946 – Pat Sajak, American game show host
1946 – Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
1946 – Keith Hopwood, British musician (Herman's Hermits)
1947 – Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th United States Secretary of State
1947 – Jaclyn Smith, American actress
1947 – Trevor Joyce, Irish poet
1947 – Ian Ashley, British racing driver
1947 – Ricardo Asch, Argentine physician and figure in University of California, Irvine fertility scandal
1948 – Toby Harrah, American baseball player
1949 – Steve Rogers, American baseball player
1949 – Antonio Carpio, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
1949 – Kevin Sullivan, American professional wrestler
1951 – Bootsy Collins, American musician (P Funk)
1951 – Julian Schnabel, American filmmaker
1952 – Andrew Motion, English poet and Poet Laureate
1953 – Rosa Monckton, notable charity fundraiser
1953 – Keith Strickland, American musician (The B-52's)
1954 – Vassilis Hatzipanagis, Greek footballer
1956 – Stephen Gumley, Australian businessman
1956 – Rita Wilson, American actress
1957 – Bob Golic, American football player
1959 – Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
1959 – François Chau, Cambodian actor
1959 – Paul Farmer, American Anthropologist
1959 – Brian Bovell, British actor
1960 – June Brigman, American comic book artist
1960 – Patrick Breen, American actor
1961 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
1961 – Gerald Malloy, American politician
1962 – Cary Elwes, British actor
1963 – Natalie Merchant, American singer
1963 – Ted Demme, American film and television director (d. 2002)
1964 – Thomas Cavanagh, Canadian actor
1965 – Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Hong Kong singer
1965 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress and producer.
1966 – Jane Hajduk, American actress
1966 – Steve Valentine, British actor
1966 – Jeanne Zelasko, American sportcaster
1966 – Masaharu Iwata, Japanese composer
1967 – Keith Urban, New Zealand singer
1968 – Lisa Ryder, American actress
1970 – Dian Bachar, American actor
1971 – Anthony Rapp, American singer and actor
1973 – Seth MacFarlane, American animator
1973 – Taka Michinoku, Japanese professional wrestler
1973 – Austin Healey, English rugby player
1974 – Lisa, Japanese musician
1974 – Raveena Tandon, Indian actress
1976 – Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player
1977 – Jon Heder, American actor
1977 – Bakar Ibor, Comorian footballer
1978 – Jimmy Aggrey, English footballer
1978 – Eva Kaili, Greek TV presenter and politician
1978 – CM Punk, American professional wrestler
1979 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen militant (d. 2002)
1980 – Cristian Chivu, Romanian footballer
1981 – Sam Brown, American comedian
1981 – Guy Sebastian, Australian singer
1982 – Adam Carroll, Irish racing driver
1983 – Francisco Liriano, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Dmitri Sychev, Russian footballer
1983 – Luke Watson, South African rugby player
1984 – Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
1984 – Martin Burke, Irish actor
1984 – Adriano Correia Claro, Brazilian footballer
1984 – Jefferson Farfán, Peruvian footballer
1984 – Amanda Overmyer, American singer
1985 – Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player
1985 – Monta Ellis, American basketball player
1985 – Asin Thottumkal, Indian actress
1988 – Greg Zuerlein, American ice dancer

Deaths

899 – Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (b. 849)
1235 – King Andrew II of Hungary (b. 1175)
1440 – Gilles de Rais, French serial killer (b. 1404)
1633 – Horio Tadaharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1596)
1671 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1593)
1675 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (b. 1609)
1679 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)
1686 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (b. 1623)
1717 – Catherine Sedley, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1657)
1751 – Philip Doddridge, English religious leader (b. 1702)
1764 – William Hogarth, British painter (b. 1697)
1773 – Amédée-François Frézier, French military engineer and explorer (b. 1682)
1803 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (b. 1721)
1806 – John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (b. 1752)
1817 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (b. 1727)
1864 – "Bloody Bill" Anderson, American Civil War rebel guerrilla leader (b. 1839)
1866 – John Kinder Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (Labatt Brewing Company) (b. 1803)
1890 – Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)
1896 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (b. 1827)
1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American feminist and suffragette (b. 1815)
1909 – Hirobumi Ito, Japanese Prime Minister (b. 1841)
1930 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1872)
1931 – Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b. 1859)
1937 – Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)
1941 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (b. 1904)
1943 – Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born archaeologist (b. 1862)
1944 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1857)
1944 – William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1881)
1945 – Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)
1945 – Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (b. 1863)
1947 – Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, English rector (b. 1862)
1949 – Lionel Halsey, British Royal Navy officer and courtier (b. 1872)
1952 – Hattie McDaniel, American singer and actress (b. 1895)
1956 – Walter Gieseking, German pianist (b. 1895)
1957 – Gerty Cori, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b. 1896)
1957 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (b. 1883)
1962 – Louise Beavers, American actress (b. 1902)
1965 – Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (b. 1949)
1966 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
1971 – Vincent Coleman, American actor (b. 1901)
1972 – Igor Sikorsky, Kiev, Russian Empire (currently Ukraine) born inventor (b. 1889)
1978 – Alexander Gerschenkron, Russian-born economic historian (b. 1904)
1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (b. 1917)
1984 – Gus Mancuso, baseball player (b. 1905)
1986 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
1989 – Charles J. Pedersen, American Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
1993 – Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1971)
1994 – Wilbert Harrison, American singer (b. 1929)
1995 – Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter (b. 1913)
1995 – Wilhelm Freddie, Danish painter (b. 1909)
1997 – Joe Cinque, Australian civil engineer murdered by Anu Singh (b. 1978)
1999 – Hoyt Axton, American actor and country music singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
2002 – Jacques Massu, French general (b. 1908)
2002 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen terrorist (b. 1979)
2004 – Bobby Avila, Mexican-American Major League Baseball player (b. 1924)
2005 – Keith Parkinson, American fantasy artist (b. 1958)
2005 – George Swindin, English football player manager (b. 1914)
2006 – Tillman Franks, American songwriter (b. 1920)
2006 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and museum director (b. 1924)
2007 – Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer (b. 1947)
2007 – Friedman Paul Erhardt (Chef Tell), German-American TV chef (b. 1943)
2007 – Dr. Arthur Kornberg, American Nobel Prize laureate in 1959 for the discovery of DNA polymerase (b. 1918)
2007 – Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)
2008 – Tony Hillerman, American writer (b. 1925)
2008 – Delmar Watson, American child actor (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

Roman festivals – first day of Ludi Victoriae Sullanae (until 1 November)
October 26th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Saints:
St. Albinus
St. Alfred the Great
St. Cedd
St. Cuthbert of Canterbury
St. Demetrius (aka St. Dimitrios) of Thessaloniki
St. Fulk (Roman Catholic only)
St. Quadragesimus
Austria – National Day: Anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality (1955)
Nauru – Angam Day

 

[historylover]

October 27

Events

312 – Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.
710 – Saracen invasion of Sardinia.
939 – Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
1275 – Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam.
1524 – Italian Wars: The French troops lay siege to Pavia.
1553 – Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
1644 – Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
1682 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.
1795 – The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
1806 – The French Army enters Berlin.
1810 – United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
1870 – Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
1904 – The first underground New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes the biggest in United States, and one of the biggest in world.
1916 – Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
1922 – A referendum in Rhodesia rejects the country's annexation to the South African Union.
1924 – The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.
1936 – Mrs Wallis Simpson files for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.
1948 – Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc.
1953 – British nuclear test Totem 2 is carried out at Emu Field, South Australia.
1954 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
1958 – Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
1961 – NASA launches the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
1962 – A plane carrying Enrico Mattei, post-war Italian administrator, crashes in mysterious circumstances.
1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as "A Time for Choosing".
1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
1973 – The Cañon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite, strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
1981 – The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
1986 – The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
1990 – Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
1991 – Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmates for being gay, precipitating first military, then national, debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.
1994 – The U.S. prison population tops 1 million for the first time in American history.
1994 – Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified.
1995 – Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
1995 – Former Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Craxi is convicted in absentia of corruption.
1997 – October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activates its "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early.
1999 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members.
2005 – Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.
2005 – The SSETI Express micro-satellite is successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

Births

1156 – Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (d. 1222)
1401 – Catherine of Valois, queen of Henry V of England (d. 1437)
1466 – Erasmus, Dutch humanist and theologian (d. 1536)
1728 – James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
1744 – Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
1760 – August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
1782 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
1811 – Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875)
1811 – Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
1814 – Daniel H. Wells, Mormon leader and politician (d. 1891)
1838 – John Davis Long, 32nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
1842 – Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (d. 1928)
1844 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
1854 – Sir William Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade (d. 1914)
1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
1865 – Charles Spencelayh, English painter (d. 1958)
1869 – Viola Allen, actress, (d. 1948)
1873 – Emily Post, American etiquette author (d. 1960)
1877 – George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
1885 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish modernist painter (d. 1948)
1894 – Oliver Leese, British general (d. 1978)
1896 – Edith Brown, survivor of the Titanic (d. 1997)
1904 – Erno Schwarz, Hungarian American soccer player (d. 1974)
1906 – Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)
1908 – Lee Krasner, American painter (d. 1984)
1910 – Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
1911 – Leif Erickson, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
1913 – Joe Medicine Crow, American tribal historian and anthropologist
1914 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
1915 – Harry Saltzman, American film producer (d. 1994)
1917 – Augustine Harris, British Bishop of Middlesbrough (d. 2007)
1917 – Oliver Tambo, South African freedom fighter (d. 1993)
1918 – Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
1920 – Nanette Fabray, American actress
1920 – K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India (d. 2005)
1921 – Warren Allen Smith, American encyclopedist
1922 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
1922 – Michel Galabru, French actor
1922 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player
1923 – Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (d. 1997)
1924 – Ruby Dee, American actress
1925 – Albert Medwin, American inventor
1925 – Warren Christopher, US Secretary of State (1993–1997)
1926 – H.R. Haldeman, American political personality (d. 1993)
1928 – Gilles Vigneault, Canadian poet, singer and songwriter
1929 – Maurice Robert Johnston, English Lieutenant-General
1931 – Nawal el-Saadawi, Egyptian writer
1932 – Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
1932 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (d. 2007)
1933 – Floyd Cramer, American popular pianist (d. 1997)
1934 – Giorgos Konstadinou, Greek actor and director
1937 – Lara Parker, American actress
1939 – John Cleese, British actor and writer
1940 – John Gotti, American gangster (d. 2002)
1940 – Maxine Hong Kingston, American writer
1941 – Dick Trickle, American auto racer
1942 – Lee Greenwood, American singer
1943 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor
1943 – Jerry Rook, American basketball player
1945 – Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
1945 – John Kane, actor/writer
1946 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
1946 – Ivan Reitman, Czechoslovakian-born Canadian film actor, producer and director
1949 – Garry Tallent, American bass player (E Street Band)
1949 – Clifford Antone, American businessman (d. 2006)
1950 – Fran Lebowitz, American writer
1951 – K.K. Downing, English guitarist (Judas Priest)
1951 – Carlos Frenk, Mexican/British cosmologist
1951 – Nancy Jacobs, American politician
1951 – Éric Morena, French singer
1952 – Hameed Haroon, Pakistani publisher
1952 – Roberto Benigni, Italian director and actor
1952 – Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer
1953 – Peter Firth, British actor
1953 – Robert Picardo, American actor
1954 – Jan Duursema, American comic book artist
1955 – Debra Bowen, American politician
1956 – Jaq D. Hawkins, British author, occultist and lecturer
1956 – Veronica Hart, American porn actress
1957 – Jeff East, American actor
1957 – Glenn Hoddle, English footballer
1958 – Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
1958 – Lee Carter, Alabama Judge of the 25th Judicial Circuit
1960 – Tom Nieto, American baseball player
1963 – Marla Maples, American actress and model
1963 – Farin Urlaub, German singer and guitarist (Die Ärzte)
1964 – Mark Taylor, Australian test cricket captain (1994-1999)
1966 – Matt Drudge, American blogger
1966 – Hege Nerland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
1967 – Simone Moro, Italian mountaineer
1967 – Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver)
1968 – Vinny Samways, English footballer
1970 – Felix Bwalya, Zambian boxer
1970 – Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth)
1970 – Alama Ieremia, New Zealand rugby union player
1971 – Jade Arcade, American comics artist and writer
1971 – Theodoros Zagorakis, Greek footballer
1971 – Jorge Soto, Peruvian footballer
1972 – Lee Clark, English footballer
1972 – Elissa, Lebanese singer
1972 – Evan Coyne Maloney, American filmmaker
1972 – Brad Radke, American baseball player
1972 – Marika Krook, Finnish singer (Edea)
1972 – Maria de Lurdes Mutola, Mozambican athlete
1973 – Jason Johnson, American baseball pitcher (Cincinnati Reds)
1975 – Zadie Smith, British novelist
1977 – Jiří Jarosík, Czech footballer
1977 – Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Sergei Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player
1978 – Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
1980 – Tanel Padar, Estonian singer
1980 – Cassia Riley, American model
1981 – Han Hye-jin, South Korean actress
1981 – Kristi Richards, Canadian freestyle skier
1982 – Patrick Fugit, American actor
1982 – Dennis Moran, American computer hacker
1982 – Takashi Tsukamoto, Japanese actor
1983 – Brent Clevlen, American baseball player
1983 – Martín Prado, Venezuelan baseball player
1984 – Bam Doyne, American basketball player
1984 – Kelly Osbourne, English television personality
1984 – Irfan Pathan, Indian cricketer
1984 – Brady Quinn, American football player
1986 – Matty Pattison, English footballer
1987 – Andrew Bynum, American basketball player
1987 – Victor Genev, Bulgarian footballer
1987 – Yi Jianlian, Chinese basketball player (birth date disputed)
1989 – Erik Kloeker, American juggler
1994 – Cooper Pillot, American actor

Deaths

939 – King Athelstan I of England (b. 895)
1271 – Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
1312 – John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
1327 – Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland (b. 1289)
1331 – Abu al-Fida, Arab historian and geographer (b. 1273)
1430 – Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania (b. 1350)
1439 – Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)
1449 – Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)
1505 – Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
1553 – Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian and doctor (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)
1561 – Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador (b. 1510)
1573 – Laurentius Petri, first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1499)
1605 – Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed, Mughal Emperor (b. 1542)
1617 – Ralph Winwood, English politician (b. 1563)
1670 – Vavasor Powell, Welsh non-conformist leader (b. 1617)
1674 – Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
1675 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
1789 – John Cook, American farmer and Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
1917 – Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)
1935 – E. A. D. Eldridge, British racing driver (b. 1897)
1942 – Helmuth Hubener, Youth Political Activist against the Hitler regime (b. 1925)
1949 – Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
1949 – Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
1953 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
1962 – Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
1962 – Rudolf Anderson, United States Air Force pilot and officer (b. 1927)
1968 – Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
1975 – Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)
1977 – James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)
1980 – Steve Peregrin Took, English singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
1980 – John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
1980 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, author and broadcaster (b. 1924)
1990 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
1990 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg, daughter of assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1901)
1990 – Elliott Roosevelt, American war hero, author, and advertising executive (b. 1910)
1990 – Jacques Demy, French film director (b. 1931)
1990 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (b. 1922)
1991 – George Barker, English poet (b. 1913)
1992 – David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)
1996 – Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
1996 – Arthur Tremblay, French Canadian politician (b. 1917)
1999 – Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
1999 – Charlotte Perriand, French architect and designer (b. 1903)
2000 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
2002 – Tom Dowd, American recording engineer (b. 1925)
2003 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
2004 – Serginho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1974)
2006 – Joe Niekro, American baseball player (b. 1944)
2006 – Brad Will, American anarchist and independent journalist (b. 1970)

Holidays and observances

Turkmenistan – Independence Day (from USSR, 1991)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Independence Day (from Britain, 1979)
R.C. saints – October 27th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
Abban of Magheranoidhe
Abban of New Ross
St. Elesbaan
St. Frumentius, the saint who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia.

 

[historylover]

October 28

Events

306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
312 – Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman Emperor.
1061 – Empress Agnes, acting as Regent for her son, brings about the election of Bishop Cadalus, the Antipope Honorius II.
1516 – Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.
1531 – Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control.
1538 – The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established.
1628 – The Siege of La Rochelle, which had been lasted for 14 months, ends with the surrender of the Huguenots.
1636 – A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.
1664 – The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains – British Army forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
1834 – The Battle of Pinjarra occurs in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.
1848 – The first railroad in Spain – between Barcelona and Mataró – is opened.
1864 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Fair Oaks ends – Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
1885 – First porcelain toilet was built
1886 – In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
1891 – The Mino-Owari Earthquake, the largest earthquake in Japan's history, strikes Gifu Prefecture.
1893 – Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique, receives its premiere performance in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death.
1918 – World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted independence from Austria-Hungary marking the beginning of independent Czechoslovak state, after 300 years.
1918 – New Polish government in Western Galicia (Central Europe) is established.
1919 – The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.
1922 – March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
1929 – Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval.
1936 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.
1940 – World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania, marking Greece's entry into World War II.
1942 – The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.
1948 – Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.
1954 – The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. officials deny any involvement in bombing North Vietnam.
1965 – Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's 760 year-old declaration.
1970 – Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
1971 – Britain launches its first (and as of 2007, only) satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket.
1982 – Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) wins elections, leading to first Socialist government in Spain after death of Franco. Felipe Gonzalez becomes Prime Minister-elect.
1985 – Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.
1986 – The centenary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty is celebrated in New York Harbor.
1998 – An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
2005 – Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns later that day.
2006 – Funeral service takes place for those executed at Bykivnia forest, outside Kiev, Ukraine. 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s – early 1940s are reburied.
2007 – Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner becomes the first woman elected President of Argentina.

Births

1510 – Francis Borgia, Spanish duke and Jesuit priest (d. 1572)
1585 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch bishop (d. 1638)
1667 – Maria Anna of Neuburg, second wife of Charles II of Spain (d. 1740)
1691 – Peder Tordenskjold, Norwegian naval hero (d. 1720)
1697 – Canaletto, Italian artist (d. 1768)
1703 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)
1718 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary (d. 1793)
1767 – Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1852)
1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer (d. 1861)
1804 – Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician (d. 1849)
1818 – Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (d. 1883)
1837 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last shogun (d. 1913)
1839 – Edward P. Allen, United States congressman from Michigan (d. 1909)
1845 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (d. 1888)
1846 – Georges Auguste Escoffier, French chef (d. 1935)
1854 – Jean-Marie Guyau, French philosopher and poet (d. 1888)
1864 – Adolfo Camarillo, prominent land owner, horse breeder, and rancher (d. 1958)
1875 – Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, American geographer and editor (d. 1966)
1877 – Joe Adams, American baseball player (d. 1952)
1879 – Channing H. Cox, 49th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1968)
1881 – Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (d. 1969)
1881 – Vin Coutie, Australian footballer
1884 – William Douglas Cook, founder of Eastwoodhill Arboretum and Pukeiti, (New Zealand) (d. 1967)
1885 – Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet (d. 1922)
1889 – Juliette Béliveau, Quebec comedian (d. 1975)
1891 – Ormer Locklear, American movie stunt pilot (d. 1920)
1892 – Dink Johnson, American musician (d. 1954)
1896 – Howard Hanson, American composer (d. 1981)
1897 – Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)
1901 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish Poet (d. 1979)
1902 – Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (d. 1986)
1903 – Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)
1907 – John Harold Hewitt, Northern Irish poet (d. 1987)
1908 – Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (d. 1995)
1909 – Francis Bacon, Anglo-Irish painter (d. 1992)
1912 – Richard Doll, English epidemiologist (d. 2005)
1914 – Glenn Robert Davis, U.S. Congressman (d. 1988)
1914 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (d. 1995)
1914 – Richard Laurence Millington Synge, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
1917 – Jack Soo, American actor (d. 1979)
1922 – Gershon Kingsley, German composer
1922 – Butch van Breda Kolff, American basketball coach (d. 2007)
1922 – Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (d. 2003)
1924 – Antonio Creus, Spanish racecar driver (d. 1996)
1925 – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener (d. 2006)
1926 – Bowie Kuhn, American Commissioner of Baseball (d. 2007)
1927 – Dame Cleo Laine, British singer
1928 – Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general
1928 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (d. 1955)
1929 – Joan Plowright, British actress
1929 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor (d. 1988)
1929 – John Hollander, American poet
1930 – Bernie Ecclestone, English motorsports impresario (F1)
1932 – Suzy Parker, American actress (d. 2003)
1932 – Spyros Kyprianou, a President of Cyprus
1933 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (d. 1983)
1935 – Alan Clarke, British film director (d. 1990)
1936 – Charlie Daniels, American musician
1936 – Carl Davis, American-born musical conductor and composer
1937 – Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player and coach
1938 – Dave Budd, American basketball player
1938 – David Dimbleby, English television commentator
1938 – Anne Perry, English-born novelist
1939 – Jane Alexander, American actress
1939 – Miroslav Cerar, Yugoslav gymnast
1940 – Susan Harris, American television writer and producer
1941 – John Hallam, Irish actor (d. 2006)
1941 – Hank Marvin, English guitarist
1941 – Curtis Lee, American singer
1942 – Kees Verkerk, Dutch speed skater
1943 – Conny Froboess, German singer
1943 – Charo López, Spanish actress
1944 – Dennis Franz, American actor
1944 – Anton Schlecker, German billionaire
1944 – Coluche, French comedian and actor (d. 1986)
1945 – Elton Dean, English musician (Soft Machine) (d. 2006)
1945 – Wayne Fontana, British singer (The Mindbenders)
1946 – Wim Jansen, Dutch footballer and coach
1946 – John Hewson, Australian politician
1948 – Telma Hopkins, American singer and actress (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
1949 – Bruce Jenner, American athlete
1949 – Tracy Reed, American actress
1950 – Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist
1950 – Ludo Delcroix, Belgian cyclist
1952 – Annie Potts, American actress
1953 – Pierre Boivin, Canadian businessman and hockey executive
1955 – Bill Gates, American software executive
1956 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
1956 – Dave Wyndorf, American singer (Monster Magnet)
1957 – Stephen Morris, British musician (Joy Division and New Order)
1960 – Landon Curt Noll, Astronomer, Cryptographer and Mathematician: youngest to hold the world record for the largest known prime 3 times
1958 – William Reid, Scottish musician (The Jesus and Mary Chain)
1962 – Daphne Zuniga, American actress
1962 – Scotty Nguyen, professional poker player
1962 – Erik Thorstvedt, Norwegian footballer
1963 – Lauren Holly, American actress
1963 – James Miller, the "Fan Man" (d. 2002)
1963 – Eros Ramazzotti, Italian singer
1965 – Jami Gertz, American actress
1966 – Steve Atwater, American football player
1966 – Andy Richter, American comedian and actor
1966 – Aris Spiliotopoulos, Greek politician
1967 – Julia Roberts, American actress
1967 – John Romero, American video game designer
1967 – Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein
1967 – Kevin Macdonald, Scottish film director
1968 – Marc Lièvremont, French rugby union footballer and coach
1969 – Ben Harper, American musician
1969 – Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Puerto Rican screenwriter and producer
1972 – Terrell Davis, American football player
1972 – Brad Paisley, American musician
1973 – Alvin Burke, Jr., American professional wrestler
1974 – Joaquin Phoenix, Puerto Rican actor
1974 – Vicente Moreno, Spanish footballer
1974 – Braden Looper, American baseball player
1974 – Dejan Stefanović, Serbian footballer
1974 – Dayanara Torres, Puerto Rican actress and beauty queen
1976 – Keiron Cunningham, Welsh rugby league player
1978 – Marta Etura, Spanish actress
1978 – Justin Guarini, American singer
1979 – Martin Škoula, Czech ice hockey player
1980 – Christy Hemme, American professional wrestler
1980 – Kanzi, American literate bonobo
1980 – Dimitri Liakopoulos, Greek actor
1980 – Alan Smith, English footballer
1981 – Solomon Andargachew, Ethiopian footballer
1981 – Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
1981 – Nate McLouth, American baseball player
1981 – Nick Montgomery, English footballer
1982 – Jeremy Bonderman, American baseball player
1982 – Mai Kuraki, Japanese singer
1982 – Anthony Lerew, American baseball player
1983 – Jarrett Jack, American basketball player
1984 – Jefferson Farfán, Peruvian footballer
1984 – Amanda Paige, American model
1984 – Obafemi Martins, Nigerian footballer
1988 – Devon Murray, Irish singer and actor

Deaths

312 – Maxentius, Roman emperor (b. c.278)
1225 – Jien, Japanese poet and historian (b. 1155)
1312 – Elisabeth of Tirol, German queen (b. 1262)
1412 – Margaret I of Denmark, wife of Haakon VI of Norway (b. 1353)
1485 – Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch humanist (b. 1443)
1520 – Pier Gerlofs Donia, Frisian pirate and freedom fighter (b. 1480)
1568 – Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shogun (b. 1539)
1627 – Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1569)
1639 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (b. 1587)
1646 – William Dobson, English painter (b. 1610)
1661 – Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish playwright (b. 1518)
1676 – Jean Desmarets, French writer (b. 1595)
1703 – John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 1616)
1704 – John Locke, English philosopher (b. 1632)
1708 – Prince George of Denmark, Consort of Queen Anne of England (b. 1653)
1716 – Stephen Fox, British politician (b. 1627)
1740 – Empress Anna of Russia (b. 1693)
1754 – Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (b. 1708)
1755 – Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (b. 1689)
1763 – Heinrich, count von Brühl, German statesman (b. 1700)
1768 – Michel Blavet, French flutist (b. 1700)
1792 – Paul Möhring, German physician and scientist (b. 1710)
1792 – John Smeaton, British civil engineer (b. 1724)
1800 – Artemas Ward, American politician and soldier (b. 1727)
1806 – Charlotte Turner Smith, British poet and novelist (b. 1749)
1818 – Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)
1841 – Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist (b. 1792)
1857 – Louis Eugène Cavaignac, French soldier and politician (b. 1802)
1877 – Robert Swinhoe, British naturalist (b. 1835)
1879 – Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French writer (b. 1799)
1899 – Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor (b. 1854)
1900 – Max Müller, German-born orientalist (b. 1823)
1914 – Richard Heuberger, Austrian composer, music critic and teacher (b. 1850)
1916 – Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (b. 1838)
1916 – Oswald Boelcke, German pilot (b. 1891)
1917 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (b. 1831)
1918 – Ulisse Dini, Italian mathematician (b. 1845)
1929 – Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)
1939 – Alice Brady, American actress (b. 1892)
1952 – Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
1957 – Ernst Gräfenberg, German physician and scientist (b. 1881)
1959 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)
1965 – Earl Bostic, American saxophonist (b. 1913)
1969 – Constance Dowling, American actress (b. 1920)
1973 – Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)
1973 – Sergio Tofano, Italian actor (b. 1883)
1975 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer (b. 1894)
1975 – Oliver Nelson, American jazz composer and arranger (b. 1932)
1986 – John Braine, British novelist (b. 1922)
1987 – André Masson, French artist (b. 1896)
1997 – Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
1998 – Ted Hughes, British poet (b. 1930)
2000 – Lída Baarová, Czech actress (b. 1914)
2000 – Andujar Cedeno, Dominican baseball player for the Houston Astros (b. 1969)
2000 – Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (b. 1912)
2001 – Gerard Hengeveld, Dutch composer (b. 1910)
2002 – Margaret Booth, American film editor (b. 1898)
2002 – Erling Persson, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1917)
2004 – Jimmy McLarnin, Northern Irish-born boxer (b. 1907)
2005 – Eugene K. Bird, German prison director (b. 1926)
2005 – Bob Broeg, American sports writer (b. 1918)
2005 – Raymond Hains, French artist (b. 1926)
2005 – Tony Jackson, American basketball player (b. 1942)
2005 – Fernando Quejas, Cape Verdean singer and musician (b. 1922)
2005 – Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1943)
2005 – Ljuba Tadić, Serbian actor (b. 1929)
2006 – Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and executive (b. 1917)
2006 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (b. 1955)
2006 – Marijohn Wilkin, American songwriter (b. 1920)
2007 – Porter Wagoner, American country singer (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

Czech Republic – Independence Day (from Austria-Hungary, 1918)
Slovakia – Day of the Establishment of an Independent Czecho-Slovak State (independence from Austria-Hungary, 1918)
Greece – Ohi (No) Day (marking the refusal of Greece to submit to Italy and the Axis Powers, 1940)
Gifu Prefecture, Japan – Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day
October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Christian feast days
Lord of Miracles – Peruvian Catholic festivity
Abdias of Babylon
Abgar V of Edessa
St. Eadsin
St. Fidelis of Como
Saint Faro
Saint Godwin
Saint Job of Pochayiv
Saint Jude (a.k.a Saint Thaddaeus or "of James")
St. Simon the Zealot (erroneously a.k.a. "the Canaanite")

 

[historylover]

October 29

Events

539 BC – Cyrus the Great entered the city of Babylon and detained Nabonidus.
437 – Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople unifying the two branches of the House of Theodosius
969 – Byzantine troops occupy Antioch Syria
1268 – Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed along with his companion Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily, a political rival and ally to the hostile Roman Catholic church.
1390 – First trial for witchcraft in Paris leading to the death of three people.
1422 – Charles VII of France becomes king in succession to his father Charles VI of France
1467 – Battle of Brustem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege
1618 – English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I of England.
1658 – Action of 29 October 1658 (Naval battle)
1665 – Battle of Ambuila, where Portuguese forces defeated the forces of the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitated king Antonio I of Kongo, also called Nvita a Nkanga.
1675 – Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.
1787 – Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.
1792 – Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
1859 – Spain declares war on Morocco.
1863 – Eighteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie – forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant ward off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1886 – The first ticker-tape parade takes place in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
1901 – In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
1901 – Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
1918 – The German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny on the night of the 29th-30th, an action which would trigger the German revolution.
1921 – The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.
1921 – Second trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in USA.
1921 – The Harvard University football team loses to Centre College, ending a 25 game winning streak. This is considered one of the biggest upsets in college football.
1922 – The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, appoints Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister.
1923 – Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
1929 – The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of '29 or "Black Tuesday", ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.
1941 – Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".
1942 – Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
1944 – The city of Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.
1945 – Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
1948 – Safsaf massacre
1953 – BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco, California. Pianist William Kapell is among the 19 killed.
1955 – The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.
1956 – Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
1956 – Tangier Protocol is signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
1957 – Israel's prime minister David Ben Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when a hand grenade is tossed into Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
1960 – In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
1961 – Syria exits from the United Arab Republic.
1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar unite to form the Republic of Tanzania.
1964 – A collection of irreplaceable gems, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen by a group of thieves (among them is "Murph the surf") from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
1966 – National Organization For Women is founded.
1967 – London criminal Jack McVitie is murdered by the Kray twins, leading to their eventual imprisonment and downfall.
1967 – Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.
1969 – The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
1980 – Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
1983 – Over 500,000 people demonstrate against cruise missiles in The Hague, The Netherlands.
1985 – Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.
1986 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.
1988 – Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as Governor of Sindh, following the efforts by President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan to limit the powers Rahimuddin had accumulated.
1991 – The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
1994 – Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House (Duran is later convicted of trying to kill US President Bill Clinton).
1998 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
1998 – ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.
1998 – While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
1998 – Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras.
1998 – The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden claims 63 lives and injures 200.
1999 – A large cyclone devastates Orissa, India.
2002 – Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno, a fire destroys a luxurious department store where 1500 people shopping. Over 60 people died and over 100 are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
2004 – The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
2004 – In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
2005 – 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings kill more than 60.
2008 – Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to 5.
2009 - Andrew, aka Historylover, turned 33. All is well even though he is single. He was with his mother and brother today, and went to his RCIA class tonight.

Births

1017 – Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1056)
1682 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (d. 1761)
1690 – Martin Folkes, English antiquarian (d. 1754)
1704 – John Byng, British admiral (d. 1757)
1740 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer of Samuel Johnson (d. 1795)
1815 – Daniel Emmett, American composer (d. 1904)
1815 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak politician, author of Slovak language (d. 1856)
1822 – Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, Polish Catholic Cardinal (d. 1902)
1827 – Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist (d. 1907)
1832 – Narcisa de Jesús Martillo, an Ecuadorian saint (d. 1869)
1855 – Paul Bruchési, archbishop of Montreal (d. 1939)
1861 – Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
1866 – Antonio Luna, Filipino revolutionary general (d. 1899)
1875 – Marie of Edinburgh, queen of Romania (d. 1938)
1877 – Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (d. 1973)
1877 – Narcisa de Leon, Filipino film mogul (d. 1966)
1879 – Alva B. Adams, American politician (d. 1941)
1879 – Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1969)
1880 – Abram Ioffe, Soviet physicist (d. 1960)
1882 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (d. 1944)
1891 – Fanny Brice, American singer (d. 1951)
1897 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (d. 1945)
1899 – Akim Tamiroff, Russian actor (d. 1972)
1906 – Fredric Brown, American science fiction and mystery writer (d. 1972)
1907 – Edwige Feuillère, French film actress (d. 1998)
1910 – Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (d. 1989)
1915 – William Berenberg, American physician (d. 2005)
1917 – Eddie Constantine, American actor/singer (d. 1993)
1918 – Bernard Gordon, American writer and producer (d. 2007)
1920 – Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, Nobel laureate
1920 – Catholicos Baselios Mar Thoma Didymos I Catholicos, Indian Orthodox Church
1921 – Bill Mauldin, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
1922 – Neal Hefti, American jazz musician (d. 2008)
1923 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian chemist
1923 – Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs, Dutch athlete
1925 – Dominick Dunne, American author (d. 2009)
1925 – Robert Hardy, English actor
1926 – Jon Vickers, Canadian tenor
1930 – Puck Brouwer, Dutch athlete (d. 2006)
1930 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French sculptor (d. 2002)
1930 – Natalie Sleeth, American composer (d. 1992)
1930 – Omara Portuondo, Cuban singer
1931 – Franco Interlenghi, Italian actor
1935 – Takahata Isao, Japanese animated film director
1936 – Akiko Kojima, Japanese model
1938 – Ralph Bakshi, Israeli cartoonist
1938 – Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia
1940 – Frida Boccara, French singer (d. 1996)
1940 – Connie Mack, U.S. Senator from Florida
1940 – José Ulises Macías Salcedo, Catholic bishop
1942 – Bob Ross, American artist and television host (d. 1995)
1943 – Don Simpson, American film producer (d. 1996)
1944 – Denny Laine, English musician (Moody Blues, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Wings)
1944 – Otto Wiesheu, German minister
1944 – Claude Brochu, Major League Baseball executive (Montreal Expos)
1946 – Peter Green, English guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
1946 – Lynn Carey, American actress and singer (Mama Lion)
1947 – Richard Dreyfuss, American actor
1947 – Helen Coonan, Australian politician
1948 – Kate Jackson, American actress
1949 – James Williamson, American guitarist
1949 – Paul Orndorff, American professional wrestler
1949 – Kieron Baker, English footballer
1950 – Abdullah Gul, Turkish President
1951 – Dirk Kempthorne, American politician
1953 – Denis Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Kevin DuBrow, American singer (Quiet Riot) (d. 2007)
1955 – Roger O'Donnell, English musician (The Cure)
1955 – Boy Abunda, Filipino journalist and television personality
1956 – Wilfredo Gómez, Puerto Rican boxer
1957 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor, Best known as the voice of Homer Simpson
1958 – David Remnick, American writer and editor of The New Yorker
1958 – Blažej Baláž, Slovak painter
1959 – Mike Gartner, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Finola Hughes, British actress
1961 – Randy Jackson, American musician
1961 – Joel Otto, National Hockey League player
1962 – Einar Örn Benediktsson, Icelandic musician (The Sugarcubes)
1964 – Yasmin Le Bon, British model
1964 – Eddie McGuire, Australian television presenter
1967 – Joely Fisher, American actress
1967 – Rufus Sewell, English actor
1968 – Johann Olav Koss, Norwegian speed skater
1968 – Tsunku, Japanese music producer
1969 – Giorgos Donis, Greek footballer
1969 – Eleni Menegaki, Greek TV presenter
1970 – Edwin van der Sar, Dutch footballer
1970 – Phillip Cocu, Dutch footballer
1971 – Winona Ryder, American actress
1971 – Daniel J. Bernstein, American professor
1971 – Matthew Hayden, Australian cricketer
1972 – Takafumi Horie, Japanese entrepreneur
1972 – Gabrielle Union, American actress
1972 – Tracee Ellis Ross, American actress
1973 – Robert Pirès, French footballer
1973 – Éric Messier, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Michael Vaughan, English cricketer
1975 – Kelly Lin, Chinese actress
1976 – Stephen Craigan, Northern Irish footballer
1976 – Milena Govich, American actress
1976 – Mohsen Emadi, Iranian poet
1976 - Andrew, AKA historylover on Freeones' and Bunny Ranch's Message Boards
1977 – Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor
1978 – Travis Henry, American football player
1979 – Ignasi Giménez Renom, Catalan politician
1979 – Anshuman Singh, MHRIL Venue Manager
1980 – Ben Foster, American actor
1980 – B.J. Sams, American football player
1981 – Amanda Beard, American swimmer
1981 – Jonathan Brown, Australian Australian rules footballer
1981 – Reema Sen, Indian actress
1982 – Ariel Lin, Taiwanese actress and singer
1982 – Chelan Simmons, Canadian actress
1983 – Richard Brancatisano, Australian actor
1983 – Maurice Clarett, American football player
1983 – Dana Eveland, American baseball player
1983 – Jason Tahincioglu, Turkish racing driver
1984 – Eric Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Severino Jefferson, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Sarita Pérez de Tagle, Filipina actress and model
1987 – Makoto Ogawa, Japanese singer

Deaths

1038 – Aethelnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury
1138 – Bolesław III Krzywousty, Duke of Poland (b. 1086)
1268 – Conradin, Duke of Swabia (executed) (b. 1252)
1268 – Frederick I, Margrave of Baden (beheaded) (b. 1249)
1590 – Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Dutch politician (b. 1522)
1618 – Sir Walter Raleigh, English explorer (executed) (b. 1554)
1650 – David Calderwood, Scottish historian (b. 1575)
1666 – Edmund Calamy the Elder, English Presbyterian leader (b. 1600)
1666 – James Shirley, English dramatist (b. 1596)
1783 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician (b. 1717)
1829 – Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian musician (b. 1751)
1877 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
1901 – Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (b. 1873)
1905 – Etienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (b. 1873)
1911 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born newspaper publisher (b. 1847)
1916 – John Sebastian Little, American politician and congressman (b. 1851)
1919 – A. B. Simpson, Canadian preacher (b. 1843)
1932 – Joseph Babiński, Polish-French neurologist (b. 1857)
1933 – Albert Calmette, French physician (b. 1863)
1933 – Paul Painlevé, French mathematician and politician (b. 1853)
1936 – Ramiro de Maeztu, Spanish writer and political theorist (b. 1874)
1939 – Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (b. 1864)
1941 – Harvey Hendrick, American baseball player (b. 1897)
1949 – G. I. Gurdjieff, Armenian mystic (b. 1872)
1950 – King Gustaf V of Sweden (b. 1858)
1953 – William Kapell, American pianist (b. 1922)
1957 – Louis B. Mayer, American film producer (b. 1885)
1957 – Rosemarie Nitribitt, German call girl (b. 1933)
1958 – Zoe Akins, American playwright (b. 1886)
1963 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (b. 1890)
1971 – Duane Allman, American musician (b. 1946)
1971 – Arne Tiselius, Swedish chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
1981 – Georges Brassens, French singer (b. 1921)
1986 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1913)
1987 – Woody Herman, American musician (b. 1913)
1995 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (b. 1924)
1997 – Anton LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan (b. 1930)
1998 – Paul Misraki, French songwriter (b. 1908)
1999 – Michel Regnier (Greg), Belgian comic-book writer and artist (Achille Talon) (b. 1931)
2002 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (b. 1960)
2003 – Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922)
2003 – Franco Corelli, tenor (b. 1921)
2004 – Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (b. 1923)
2004 – Vaughn Meader, American comedian (b. 1936)
2004 – Peter Twinn, English mathematician (b. 1916)
2006 – Mohammadu Maccido, 18th Sultan of Sokoto (b. 1928)
2008 – Mike Baker, American singer Shadow Gallery (b. 1963)

Holidays and observances

R.C. Saints – October 29th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem
St. Abraham of Rostov
Douai Martyrs
St. Maximillian
St. Gaetano Errico
Anglican Church – James Hannington
Turkey – Republic Day (1923)
Coronation Day of Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia