[Edit]

top

539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.

1216 - King John lost his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge

1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia

1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1609 - "Three Blind Mice" published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft

1654 - The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100.

1681 - A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics"

1709 - After a democratic voting, La Villa de San Francisco de Cuéllar was founded, which with time turned into San Felipe del Real Chihuahua and now it is known as the city of Chihuahua.

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 Brazilian Empire.

1823 - Charles Macintosh, of Scotland, sells the first raincoat.

1850 - The first women's medical college opens, in Pennsylvania.

1859 - Self-described "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton issues a decree dissolving the U.S. Congress. Congress fails to notice.

1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited in unison by students in US public schools.

1899 - Boer republic of South Africa declares war with England.

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 - The First Battle of Passchendaele

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

1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz

1941 - This and the next day, German Nazis kill 11,000 Jews in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. Einsatzkommando 6 massacres most of the remaining Jews of the city, marching them to a ravine where they were killed.

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 colonialist policy being conducted in Eastern Europe

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 were 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 Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party of China.

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: Margaret Thatcher survives an IRA bomb, which shredded her bathroom barely two minutes after she had left it.

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.

1998 - U.S. Congress passes Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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

2001 - Prompted by a request by US President George W. Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted features 22 most wanted terrorists

2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.

2003 - Thirty patients die in a mental hospital fire in Randilovshchina, Belarus.

2005 - The 5th generation Ipod is released.

2005 - The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.

2006 - A law is passed in France that makes denying the Armenian Genocide a crime.

2006 - Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

top

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)

1576 - Thomas Dudley, Massachusetts colonial magistrate (d. 1653)

1602 - William Chillingworth, English churchman (d. 1644)

1710 - Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1785)

1712 - William Shippen, American physician and Continental Congressman (d. 1801)

1725 - Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (d. 1810)

1798 - Pedro I of Brazil (d. 1834)

1801 - Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1873)

1840 - Helena Modrzejewska, Polish-born 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, 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)

1890 - Michael Collins, Irish leader (d. 1922)

1891 - Edith Stein, Carmelite Catholic nun and martyr (d. 1942)

1896 - Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)

1904 - Ding Ling, Chinese writer (d. 1986)

1906 - Joe Cronin, baseball player (d. 1984)

1908 - Ann Petry, American novelist (d. 1997)

1910 - Robert Fitzgerald, American poet and translator (d. 1985)

1916 - Alice Childress, American actress, playwright, and novelist (d. 1994)

1917 - Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (d. 2004)

1920 - Christy Ring, Irish Hurler (d. 1979)

1924 - Doris Grau, American actress (d. 1995)

1929 - Robert Coles, American psychologist and author

1932 - Dick Gregory, American comedian and activist

1933 - Guido Molinari, Canadian painter (d. 2004)

1934 - Richard Meier, American architect

1934 - Albert Shiryaev, Russian mathematician

1935 - Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor

1935 - Sam Moore, American R&B singer (Sam & Dave)

1938 - Bob Miller, American NHL broadcaster

1942 - Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1995)

1944 - Angela Rippon, British television personality

1945 - Dusty Rhodes, professional wrestler

1947 - Chris Wallace, American journalist

1948 - Rick Parfitt, British musician (Status Quo)

1950 - Susan Anton, American actress

1950 - Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor

1951 - Ed Royce, American politician

1951 - Sally Ride, First American woman in space

1953 - Serge Lepeltier, French politician

1953 - Les Dennis, British comedian/TV presenter

1955 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian general

1955 - Jane Siberry, Canadian musician

1957 - Kristen Bjorn, British film director

1962 - Deborah Foreman, American actress

1962 - Carlos Bernard, American actor

1963 - Satoshi Kon, Japanese anime director

1963 - Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer

1965 - Jean-Jacques Daigneault, National Hockey League defenseman

1966 - Brian Kennedy, Northern Irish musician and author

1968 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer

1968 - Adam Rich, American actor

1969 - Martie Maguire, American musician (Dixie Chicks)

1969 - Dwayne Roloson, Canadian NHL hockey player

1970 - Kirk Cameron, American actor

1970 - Tanyon Sturtze, baseball player

1970 - Charlie Ward, American football and basketball player

1972 - Irina Pantaeva, Russian supermodel and actress

1973 - Rodney Mack, Professional wrestler

1974 - Stephen Lee, English snooker player

1975 - Marion Jones, American athlete

1976 - Sarah Lane, American television personality

1977 - Young Jeezy, African-American rapper

1977 - Bode Miller, American alpine ski-racer

1979 - Jordan Pundik, American singer (New Found Glory)

1978 - Baden Cooke, Australian cyclist

1981 - Shola Ameobi, English footballer

1982 - Molly Bennett, Irish singer

1986 - Marcus T. Paulk, American actor

1992 - Josh Hutcherson, American actor

top

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

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)

1898 - Calvin Fairbank, American abolitionist minister (b. 1816)

1915 - Edith Cavell, English nurse (b. 1865)

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)

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)

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

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)

1978 - Nancy Spungen, Girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious b. 1958)

1983 - The Grand Wizard of Wrestling, Wrestling manager

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 - Carmen Cavallaro, American popular pianist (b. 1913)

1989 - Jay Ward, American animator (Rocky and Bullwinkle, etc.) (b. 1920)

1991 - Arkady Strugatsky, Russian Novelist (b. 1925)

1993 - Leon Ames, American actor (b. 1902)

1993 - Tofik Bakhramov, Russian footballer (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)

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)

top

St. Wilfrid

St. Edwin

St. Amicus

St. Salvinus

St. Seraphinus

Bl. Camillus Constanzi

St. Domnina

St. Edistius

St. Fiace

St. Felix and Cyprian

St. Heribert

St. Maximilian of Lorch

St. Monas

St. Pantalus

Roman festivals - Fortuna Redux, last day of the Ludi Augustales

RC Saints - Our Lady of the Pillar (Zaragoza, Spain); Saint Wilfrid

Also see October 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Equatorial Guinea - Independence Day (from Spain, 1968)

Malawi - Mother's Day

Spain - Hispanic Day, 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