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105 BC - Battle of Arausio: The Cimbri inflict a major defeat on the Roman army of Gnaeus Mallius Maximus.

68 BC - Battle of Artaxata: Lucullus averts the bad omen of this day by defeating Tigranes the Great of Armenia.

891 - Formosus becomes Pope.

1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

1600 - Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence.

1789 - French Revolution: Louis XVI returns to Paris from Versailles after being confronted by the Parisian women on 5 October

1849 - The execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad after the Hungarian war of independence.

1854 - The Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead was ignited a little after midnight, leading to 53 deaths and hundreds of injured.

1884 - The Naval War College of the United States Navy was founded in Newport, Rhode Island.

1889 - Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.

1898 - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity founded at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

1903 - The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.

1908 - Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1921 - International PEN is founded in London.

1922 - The great powers of the first world war withdraw from Istanbul

1927 - Opening of The Jazz Singer, the first prominent talking movie.

1928 - Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.

1939 - Last Polish army is defeated in World War II.

1945 - Baseball: Bill Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat).

1955 - A United Airlines DC-4 crashes in Medicine Bow Peak, Wyoming, killing 66 people

1966 - LSD is declared illegal in the United States.

1973 - The Crossing: 80,000 Egyptian troops cross the Suez Canal, destroying the fortified Israeli Bar-Lev Line and starting the Yom Kippur War.

1976 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Castrist militants, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados.

1976 - New Premier Hua Guofeng orders the arrest of the Gang of Four and their associates, putting an end to the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China.

1976 - Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.

1977 - In Alicante, Spain, a group of MCPV militants and sympathizers were attacked by fascists while putting up posters. Miquel Grau, a 20-year old MCPV sympathizer, is killed.

1981 - Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated.

1995 - 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus, 47.9 light-years away from Earth, was discovered to be the first major star apart from the Sun to have a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting around it.

1996 - American singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw married after touring on their Spontaneous Combustion Tour.

1998 - Gay-bashing: Near Laramie, Wyoming, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is viciously attacked by two assailants for being gay (he died on October 12).

2000 - Slobodan Milošević resigns.

2002 - The French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.

2002 - Opus Dei founder Josemaría Escrivá is canonized.

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1289 - King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (d. 1306)

1459 - Martin Behaim, German navigator and geographer (d. 1507)

1510 - Rowland Taylor, English clergyman (d. 1555)

1552 - Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (d. 1610)

1573 - Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, English patron of the theater (d. 1624)

1610 - Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier, French soldier (d. 1690)

1716 - George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English statesman (d. 1771)

1744 - James McGill, Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1813)

1769 - Sir Isaac Brock, British commander (d. 1812)

1773 - King Louis-Philippe of France (d. 1850)

1801 - Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (d. 1888)

1803 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (d. 1879)

1820 - Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (d. 1887)

1831 - Richard Dedekind, German mathematician (d. 1916)

1838 - Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Italian patriot and writer (d. 1910)

1846 - George Westinghouse, American engineer and inventor (d. 1914)

1866 - Reginald Fessenden, Canadian-born inventor and radio pioneer (d. 1932)

1872 - Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian writer (d. 1936)

1876 - Ernest Lapointe, French-Canadian politician (d. 1941)

1882 - Karol Szymanowski, Polish composer and pianist (d. 1937)

1886 - Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (d. 1960)

1887 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (d. 1965)

1888 - Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)

1895 - Caroline Gordon, American writer and critic (d. 1981)

1900 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)

1903 - Ernest Walton, Irish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

1905 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (d. 1998)

1906 - Janet Gaynor, American actress (d. 1984)

1908 - Carole Lombard, American actress (d. 1942)

1908 - Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (d. 1989)

1910 - Barbara Castle, British politician (d. 2002)

1912 - Pauline Gore, mother of American Vice President Al Gore (d. 2004)

1914 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (d. 2002)

1917 - Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist (d. 1977)

1920 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)

1920 - Lord Donaldson of Lymington, British judge (d. 2005)

1921 - Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (d. 1997)

1922 - Joe Frazier, American baseball player

1925 - Shana Alexander, American columnist (d. 2005)

1930 - Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (d. 2000)

1930 - Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer

1931 - Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer (d. 2004)

1931 - Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1935 - Bruno Sammartino, Italian strongman and professional wrestler

1938 - Serge Nubret, French bodybuilder

1942 - Britt Ekland, Swedish actress

1942 - Millie Small, Jamaican singer

1943 - Michael Durrell, American actor

1943 - Alexander Maxovich Shilov, Russian painter

1946 - Lloyd Doggett, American politician

1946 - Tony Greig, South African-born English cricketer

1948 - Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician

1950 - David Brin, American author

1950 - Thomas McClary, American guitarist (Commodores)

1951 - Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (d. 1985)

1952 - Ayten Mutlu, Turkish poet and writer

1953 - Klaas Bruinsma, Dutch drug lord (d. 1991)

1955 - Tony Dungy, American football coach

1963 - Elisabeth Shue, American film actress

1963 - Chip Foose, American automobile customizer

1965 - Ruben Sierra, Puerto Rican baseball player

1966 - Niall Quinn, Irish footballer

1969 - Troy Shaw, English snooker player

1970 - Darren Oliver, American baseball player

1970 - Amy Jo Johnson, American actress and singer

1972 - Mark Schwarzer, Australian soccer player

1973 - Sylvain Legwinski, French footballer

1973 - Jeff Davis, American comedian

1973 - Ioan Gruffudd, Welsh actor

1973 - Rebecca Lobo, American basketball player

1974 - Walter Centeno, Costa Rican footballer

1977 - Daniel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player

1981 - Zurab Khizanishvili, Georgian footballer

1981 - José Luis Perlaza, Ecuadorian footballer

1982 - MC Lars, American hip-hop artist

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1014 - Samuil, Tsar of Bulgaria (b. 958)

1101 - Bruno of Cologne, German founder of the Carthusian order

1413 - Dawit I, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1382)

1536 - William Tyndale, English Bible translator (burned at the stake)

1542 - Thomas Wyatt, English poet (b. 1503)

1641 - Matthijs Quast, Dutch explorer

1644 - Elisabeth of France, wife of Philip IV of Spain (b. 1602)

1660 - Paul Scarron, French writer

1661 - Guru Har Rai, seventh Sikh Guru

1688 - Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman (b. 1652)

1762 - Francesco Manfredini, Italian composer (b. 1684)

1873 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (b. 1797)

1891 - Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish politician (b. 1846)

1892 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, British poet (b. 1809)

1912 - Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert, Belgian statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1829)

1947 - Leevi Madetoja, Finnish composer (b. 1887)

1951 - Otto Fritz Meyerhof, German-born physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1884)

1951 - Will Keith Kellogg, American food manufacturer (Kellogg Company) (b. 1860)

1959 - Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)

1973 - François Cevert, French race car driver

1973 - Sidney Blackmer, American actor (b. 1895)

1978 - Johnny O'Keefe, Australian singer (b. 1935)

1962 - Tod Browning, American film director (b. 1880)

1980 - Hattie Jacques, British comedy actress (b. 1922)

1980 - Jean Robic, French cyclist (b. 1921)

1981 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1918)

1983 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1921)

1985 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (b. 1921)

1986 - Alexander Kronrod, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)

1989 - Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)

1992 - Denholm Elliott, English actor (b. 1922)

1992 - Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer (b. 1902)

1997 - Johnny Vander Meer, American baseball player (b. 1914)

1998 - Mark Belanger, American baseball player (b. 1944)

1999 - Amalia Rodrigues, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1920)

1999 - Gorilla Monsoon, Professional wrestler/commentator (b. 1937)

2000 - Richard Farnsworth, American actor (b. 1930)

2002 - Claus von Amsberg, Prince of the Netherlands and husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (b. 1926)

2003 - Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist (b. 1957)

2006 - Buck O'Neil, American baseball player (b. 1911)

2006 - Wilson Tucker, American writer

2006 - Puck Brouwer, Dutch athlete (b. 1930)

2006 - Charlie Bradberry, NASCAR driver (b. 1982)

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RC Saints - Saint Bruno, St Faith

Also see October 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Egypt - Armed Forces Day; commemorates the October war of 1973.

U.S. - German-American Day observed since 1987

Judaism - Fast of Gedalia (2005)

Ireland - Ivy Day commemorates the death of Charles Stewart Parnell.

French Republican Calendar - Âne (Donkey) Day, fifteenth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

China - Mid-Autumn Festival