1125 Death of Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian writer
1221 Death of Alix of Thouars, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)
1266 Death of Birger jarl, Swedish statesman and founder of Stockholm (b. 1210)
1328 Birth of Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)
1422 Death of King Charles VI of France (b. 1368)
1449 Birth of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (d. 1478)
1492 Christopher Columbus lands on the San Salvador Islands.
1500 Death of Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (b. 1442)
1512 Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg
1520 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovers the strait separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland, near the tip of South America.
1527 Birth of Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, French cardinal (d. 1578)
1553 Volumes of the Talmud are burned.
1558 Death of Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian humanist scholar (b. 1484)
1581 Birth of Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (d. 1641)
1600 Death of Toda Katsushige, Japanese warlord (b. 1557)
1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, who in effect rule Japan until the mid-Nineteenth century.
1623 Death of William Wade, English statesman and diplomat (b. 1546)
1650 Birth of Jean Bart, French admiral (d. 1702)
1660 Birth of Georg Ernst Stahl, German scientist (d. 1734)
1662 Death of Henry Lawes, English composer (b. 1595)
1675 Birth of Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (d. 1710)
1681 English King Charles II instructs Massachusetts General Court to desist minting coins.
1687 Birth of Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1759)
1687 Death of Sir Edmund Waller, English poet (b. 1606)
1712 Birth of Sir James Denham Steuart, 4th Baronet, British economist (d. 1780)
1725 Birth of Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (d. 1801)
1757 Birth of Pierre Frantois Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione, French marshal (d. 1816)
1762 Birth of Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (d. 1818)
1765 Death of Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (b. 1691)
1772 Birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British poet (d. 1834)
1774 First display of the word “Liberty” on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
1775 Birth of Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (d. 1844)
1775 Death of Peyton Randolph, American president of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)
1777 Death of Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)
1790 Birth of Alphonse-Marie Louis de Lamartine Macon France, writer (RenT).
1797 In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
1805 Death of Horatio Nelson, British admiral (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1758)
1805 Napoleonic Wars: Austrian General Mack surrenders his army to the Grand Army of Napoleon at Ulm, reaping Napoleon over 30,000 prisoners and inflicting 10,000 casualties on the losers. Ulm was considered to be one of Napoleon’s finest hours.
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 signalled the virtual end of French maritime power and left Britain navally unchallenged until the twentieth century.
1805 The Royal Navy, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, attacks the Franco-Spanish Fleet at Cape Trafalgar. The British capture or destroy 22 of the 33 ships, with no British ship losses. An estimated 14,000 allied forces are killed wounded, or captured, with British losses totalling 1690. Admiral Nelson is struck by a bullet and is killed.
1824 Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.
1833 Birth of Alfred Bernhard Nobel in Stockholm, Sweden; created dynamite and Peace Prizes (dies 1896).
1847 Birth of Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian writer (d. 1906)
1851 Birth of George Ulyett, British cricketer (d. 1898)
1854 Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were 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.
1861 Battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia.
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.
1868 Severe earthquake at 7:53 AM, centered in Hayward, California.
1869 First shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore.
1871 First US amateur outdoor athletic games (New York).
1872 Death of Jacques Babinet, French physicist (b. 1794)
1872 The Treaty of Washington is signed by Canada and the USA, settling the “Pig War” of 1859, establishing the final boundary between the USA and Canada, granting the USA sole and permanent possession of San Juan Island, south of Vancouver Island.
1873 Death of Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (b. 1807)
1879 In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Alva Edison succeeds in creating an electric lamp, with carbonized cotton filament, burning for 14.5 hours.
1879 Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out).
1895 Birth of Edna Purviance, American actress (d. 1958)
1895 The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
1896 Death of James Henry Greathead, British engineer (b. 1844)
1897 Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago is dedicated.
1902 In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
1904 Birth of Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet (d. 1967)
1904 Death of Isabelle Eberhardt, explorer and writer who spent a lot of time in North Africa (b. 1877)
1905 England Pilgrim Association beats All New York 11, 7-1 in soccer at Polo Grounds.
1908 Birth of Alexander Schneider Vilna (Lithuania) Russia, violinist (Budapest String Quartet).
1911 Birth of Mary Robinson in McAlester, Oklahoma, USA; Disney artist (It’s a Small World), worked on Disney animation and live films, and parks, named Disney Legend in 1991.
1912 Birth of Sir Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (d. 1997)
1914 Birth of Martin Gardner Scientific American math and puzzles columnist.
1915 First transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris.
1917 Birth of Dizzy Gillespie; trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz (dies 1993).
1917 First Americans to see action on the front lines of WW I.
1918 Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for one min.
1921 Birth of Malcolm Arnold Northampton England, composer (Bridge over River Kwai).
1921 President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting President against lynching in the deep south.
1923 Deutsches Museum, Mnnchen, first Walther Bauersfeld Zeiss Planetarium.
1924 Birth of Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (d. 2003)
1928 Birth of Edward “Whitey” Ford; hall of fame pitcher (New York Yankees).
1929 Birth of Ursula K. Le Guin, American author
1931 Death of Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian writer (b. 1862)
1933 German Chancellor Adolf Hitler withdraws Germany from the League of Nations.
1935 Hank Greenberg is unanimously selected as American League Most Valuable Player.
1936 Siege of Madrid begins in Spanish Civil War.
1938 Adolf Hitler instructs the German armed forces to prepare “the liquidation of Czechoslovakia”.
1938 Japanese troops capture Canton, main southern China port.
1940 Birth of Manfred Mann; rocker (“The Mighty Quinn”).
1941 Birth of Steve Cropper, American musician
1941 World War II: massacre in Kragujevac, Yugoslavia. Thousands of civilians are killed in retaliation for an attack on German soldiers.
1942 Birth of Elvin Bishop in Oklahoma, USA; rocker (“Fooled Around and Fell in Love”).
1943 Birth of Brian Piccolo, American football player (d. 1970)
1944 Death of Alois Kayser, German missionary to Nauru (b. 1877)
1944 The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
1944 US troops capture Aachen, first large German city to fall.
1945 Argentine military officer and politician Juan Per=n married actress Evita.
1945 Birth of Kathy Young; rocker (“Thousand Stars in the Sky”).
1945 Women in France are allowed to vote for the first time.
1945 Women’s suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.
1947 21 die as a fire destroys an asylum in Hoff, Germany.
1948 Facsimile high-speed radio transmission demonstrated (Washington DC).
1949 Benjamin Netanyahu is born; Israeli politician.
1949 Birth of Benjamin Netanyahu, 9th Prime Minister of Israel
1950 Birth of Ronald E McNair in Lake City, South Carolina, USA; astronaut (STS 41B, 51L-Challenger disaster).
1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet.
1950 Tom Powers of Duke scores six touchdowns.
1952 Birth of Trevor Chappell, Australian Cricketer
1953 Birth of Charlotte Caffey; singer (GoGos – “Our Lips are Sealed”).
1954 The first part of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the The Fellowship of the Ring is published in the U.S.A.
1955 Birth of Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997)
1956 Birth of Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer
1957 Birth of Julian Cope; rocker (My Nation Underground).
1957 The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.
1959 Birth of George Bell in the Dominican Republic; outfielder (Toronto Blue Jays, 1987 American League Most Valuable Player).
1959 In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of contemporary art, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.
1959 In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
1959 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.
1959 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists to NASA.
1960 John Kennedy and Nixon clash in fourth and final presidential debate (New York City).
1962 Birth of David Campese, Australian rugby player
1964 Birth of Jon Carin, American musician (Pink Floyd, The Who)
1966 144 die as a coal waste landslide engulfs a school in South Wales.
1966 Aberfan disaster: A coal tip falls on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren
1967 Birth of Paul Ince, British footballer
1967 Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish astrophysicist, dies at age 94.
1967 Thousands opposing Vietnam War try to storm the Pentagon.
1967 Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, DC. 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 (event lasts until October 23; 683 people were arrested). Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
1969 A coup d’Ttat in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
1969 Bloodless coup in Somalia.
1969 Death of Jack Kerouac, American novelist (b. 1922)
1969 Willy Brandt of the SPD is elected the fourth chancellor of West Germany. Walter Scheel (FDP) becomes the vice chancellor and foreign minister.
1970 777 Unification church couples wed in Korea.
1970 Caledonian Airways takes over British United Airways.
1971 Birth of Jade Jagger, daughter of Mick Jagger.
1971 US President Richard Nixon nominates Lewis F Powell and William H Rehnquist to US Supreme Court, following resignations of Justices Hugo Black and John Harlan.
1972 Birth of Felicity Andersen, Australian actress
1973 Birth of Lera Auerbach, Russian composer
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 The Oakland Athletics’ win the 70th World Series defeating the New York Mets, 5-2 in Game 7.
1974 First New York Islanders’ shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 5-0 vs Washington Capitals.
1975 Boston Red Sox Carlton Fisk’s 12th inning home run beats Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in game six of World Series.
1975 Death of Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1887)
1975 Mexico City’s first major subway accident takes 26 lives.
1975 Venera 9, first craft to orbit the planet Venus.
1976 American Saul Bellow wins Nobel Prize for Literature.
1976 Birth of Lavinia Milo?ovici, Romanian gymnast
1976 Cincinnati Reds sweep New York Yankees in 73rd World Series.
1976 New York Knicks retire first number, 19, Willis Reed.
1977 Meat Loaf’s hit album Bat Out of Hell is released under Epic’s Cleveland International Records
1977 The European Patent Institute is founded
1977 US recalls William Bowdler, ambassador to South Africa.
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.
1978 Birth of Joey Harrington, American football player
1979 Greta Waitz wins woman participation in New York City marathon (2:27:33).
1980 Birth of Brian Pittman, American musician (Inhale Exhale, formerly of Relient K)
1980 Death of Hans Asperger, Austrian psychologist (b. 1906)
1980 In Game six in front of 65,838 fans at Veterans Stadium, the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series ever in the 98-year history of the franchise by defeating the Kansas City Royals, 4-1.
1981 Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
1981 Birth of Nemanja Vidic; Manchester United soccer player.
1983 At the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures, the metre is defined in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
1983 Birth of James Dickson; British lighting designer.
1983 The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
1984 Birth of Kieran Richardson, British footballer
1984 Death of Fran?ois Truffaut, French film director, at age 52 of brain cancer (born 1932).
1984 Steve Jones runs Chicago Marathon in world record 2:08:05.
1986 Birth of Alex Kew, British child actor
1986 Death of Lionel Murphy, Australian politician and judge (b. 1922)
1986 In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he was released in August 1991).
1987 Death of Jonathan David Cardey, English Legend also wrote and directed “Jono Vs The World”
1987 Former Miss America Bess Myerson is arrested on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud, all involving an alimony-fixing scandal. She is later found not guilty.
1987 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 10.15 percent.
1987 Ying-Chin Ho, Taiwan government official, dies at age 88.
1988 Boston Celtics beat Yugoslavia 113-85 in Madrid, Spain.
1988 Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges.
1989 Betram Lee and Peter Bynoe purchase Denver Nuggets for US$65 million.
1989 Buck Helm found alive after being buried four days, in San Francisco earthquake.
1989 Houston becomes first major college team to gain 1000 yards in a game.
1989 The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth’s main priorities.
1991 The Oakland Hills firestorm in California kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments.
1994 Death of Beno?t RTgent, French actor (born 1953).
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.
1995 Death of Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (born 1916).
1998 In Japan, Nintendo releases the Game Boy Color portable video game system. It features 2.1 MHz processor, and 32 kB RAM. It can display 56 colors simultaneously from a palette of 32,000. Size is 3 x 5.25 x 1 inches; weight is 6.7 ounces.
1998 The New York Yankees defeat the San Diego Padres to sweep them in the baseball World Series. The Yankees had a magical season with 114 regular-season wins and 11 postseason victories (125 total – the most by any team in 123 years of Major League Baseball).
2000 Death of Reginald Kray, leading figure in organised crime in London, United Kingdom (born 1933).
2000 Fifteen Arab leaders convene in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in four years; the Libyan delegation walks out, angry over signs the summit will stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
2001 What More Can I Give benefit concert held in Washington D.C., featuring performances by Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, James Brown, Al Green, Carole King, the Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, P!nk, and others.
2003 Death of Fred Berry, American actor (born 1951).
2003 Trans-Neptunian object 2003 UB313 is discovered.
2004 The British Ministry of Defence approves the deployment of the Black Watch regiment of the British Army to Baghdad, Iraq after a request for assistance by the U.S. government.
2004 The Royal Canadian Mint releases a circulating 25-cent coin featuring a black and red colored poppy. This is the world’s first colorized business-strike coin in circulation.
2004 The Saint Louis Cardinals defeat the Houston Astros in game seven to win the National League Championship Series, advancing to the World Series for the first time in 17 years.
2005 Lyn Knight auction of Series 1890 $1000 US Treasury “Grand Watermelon” note sells for record US$1,092,500.
2006 Death of Sandy West, drummer for The Runaways (born 1959).
2007 First round of the presidential elections in Slovenia.
2007 Kimi RSikk�nen is crowned world champion as the 2007 Formula One season ends at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
2007 Parliamentary elections are held in Poland. Civic Platform party wins 41 percent, 209 seats of 460 member lower house, with leader Donald Tusk. Law and Justice party wins 166 seats, Democratic Left Alliance wins 53, and the People’s Party wins 31.
2007 Parliamentary elections are held in Switzerland. Of the 200 seats in the lower house, Swiss People’s Party wins 62, Socialists wins 43, Free Democrats wins 31, Christian Democrats wins 31, Liveral Greens wins 23, and the Green Party wins 20.
2008 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is officially inaugurated. It is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
