Historical Events
Event of Interest
Oct 1 Germany annexes Sudetenland (1/3 of Czechoslovakia) following the Munich Agreement
Baseball Record
Oct 2 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller strikes out record 18 Detroit Tigers; his Cleveland Indians still lose 4-1 at Cleveland Stadium
- Oct 2 New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez beats Chicago Cubs, 6-3 in Game 2 at Wrigley Field; sets record of 6 World Series wins without a loss
- Oct 4 Baseball World Series: NY Yankees win third straight championship; beat Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Yankee Stadium for 4-0 sweep
- Oct 7 Germany requires all Jewish passports be stamped with letter J
Music History
Oct 10 Premiere performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st String Quartet
Music History
Oct 16 Aaron Copland's & Eugene Loring's ballet "Billy the Kid" premieres in Chicago
- Oct 21 Japanese troops occupies Canton
- Oct 22 Chester Carlson has 1st successful experiment in electrophotography, later sold to the Haloid Company and dubbed "Xerox copying"
- Oct 22 President of Czechoslovakia Edvard Beneš goes into exile in London, in the aftermath of the Munich agreement and German annexation of Sudetenland
- Oct 24 US forbids child labor in factories
- Oct 25 American Archbishop of Dubuque (Iowa), 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".
- Oct 25 Japanese troops occupies Hankou & Wuhan
- Oct 27 DuPont announces its new synthetic polyamide fiber will be called "nylon"
- Oct 28 Farewell parade of International Brigade (Barcelona)
Panic Over War of the Worlds
Oct 30 A radio broadcast of H. G. Wells "The War of the Worlds", narrated by Orson Welles, allegedly causes a mass panic
- Oct 31 Great Depression: In an effort to try restore investor confidence, the New York Stock Exchange unveils a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public.
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 1 Les Scheinflug, Australian soccer midfielder, coach (Marconi; Australia; 6 caps), born in Bückeburg, Germany
- Oct 2 Lloyd Turner, journalist (Daily Express), born in Australia (d. 1996)
- Oct 2 Rex Reed, American movie critic and actor (Myra Breckinridge), born in Fort Worth, Texas
- Oct 2 Waheed Murad, Pakistani film actor and director (Armaan), born in Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan (d. 1983)
- Oct 3 Alessandro Mazzinghi, Italian boxer (WBA and WBC light-middleweight champion 1963–65, 68), born in Pontedera, Italy (d. 2020)
- Oct 3 Dave Obey, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin), born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma
- Oct 3 Eddie Cochran, American rock vocalist and guitarist ("Summertime Blues"; "C'Mon Everybody"), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 1960)
- Oct 3 Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Peruvian economist and 66th President of Peru (2016-present), born in Lima, Peru
- Oct 3 Tereza Kesovija, Croatian popular music singer, born in Dubrovnik, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
- Oct 4 Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate
- Oct 5 Carlo Mastrangelo, Italian-American rock vocalist (Dion & The Belmonts; Pulse), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2016)
- Oct 5 Teresa Heinz Kerry, American philanthropist (wife of John Kerry), born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa
- Oct 6 Serge Nubret, French bodybuilder
Ann Haydon-Jones (84 years old)
Oct 7 British tennis player (Wimbledon 1969, French Open 1961, 66), born in Birmingham, England
- Oct 7 Carlos Contreras, Chilean soccer defender (30 caps; Universidad de Chile), born in Santiago, Chile (d. 2020)
- Oct 8 David Willis, British journalist (BBC World Service) (d. 1993)
Fred Stolle (84 years old)
Oct 8 Australian tennis player, broadcaster (French C'ship 1965, US Nat C'ship 1966), born in Sydney, Australia
- Oct 8 Penny Pitou, American skier (Olympic-2 silvers-1960), born in Bayside, New York
- Oct 8 Walter Gretzky, father of Wayne Gretzky, born in Canning, Ontario, Canada
- Oct 9 Heinz Fischer, Austrian politician (11th President of Austria), born in Graz, Austria
- Oct 9 Olga Szabó-Orbán, Romanian fencer (World C'ship gold women's foil individual 1962, team 1969; Olympic silver individual 1956, bronze team 1968, 72), born in Cluj, Romania (d. 2022)
- Oct 10 Daidō Moriyama, Japanese photographer, born in Ikeda, Osaka
- Oct 10 Gloria Coates, American post-minimalist composer ("Music on Open Strings"), born in Wausau, Wisconsin (d. 2023)
- Oct 10 Marcus Jan Adriani, biologist and director (Weevers' Duin) (d. 1995)
- Oct 10 Toby Roth, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin), born in Strasburg, North Dakota
- Oct 12 Andrzej Pogorzelski, Polish motorcycle speedway rider (Speedway World Team Cup gold 1965, 66, 69), born in Leszno, Poland (d. 2020)
- Oct 12 Bob Miller, American NHL broadcaster, born in Chicago, Illinois
- Oct 13 Enzo Dara, Italian operatic basso buffo (The Barber of Seville - "Don Bartolo"), and author, born in Mantua, Kingdom of Italy (d. 2017)
- Oct 13 Hugo Young, British journalist (The Guardian), born in Sheffield, England (d. 2003)
- Oct 13 Jim McMullan, American actor (Dr McDaniel-Ben Casey), born in Long Island, New York
- Oct 13 Mahboob Shah, Pakistani cricketer (Pakistani Test umpire on intl panel), born in Delhi, India
- Oct 14 Farah Pahlavi, Queen consort of Iran (1959-61), born in Tehran, Iran
- Oct 14 John Dean, American attorney and former White House counsel (Watergate figure), born in Akron, Ohio
- Oct 15 Betty Farmer, American jazz and cabaret singer, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 2001)
Fela Kuti (1938-1997)
Oct 15 Nigerian Afrobeat musician and composer, born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
- Oct 15 Marv Johnson, American R&B pianist, songwriter, and singer ("You Got What It Takes"; "(You've Got To) Move Two Mountains"), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1993)
- Oct 15 Rafael Aponte-Ledeé, Puerto Rican composer, born in Guayama, Puerto Rico
- Oct 16 Carl Gunter Jr, Louisiana State Representative (d. 1999)
- Oct 16 Nico [Christa Päffgen], German singer-songwriter (Velvet Underground), fashion model, and actress, born in Cologne, Germany (d. 1988)
Evel Knievel (1938-2007)
Oct 17 American motorcycle daredevil (Snake River Canyon), born in Butte, Montana
Dawn Wells (1938-2020)
Oct 18 American actress (Gilligan's Island -"Mary Ann"), born in Reno, Nevada [1]
- Oct 18 Ronnie Bright, American doo-wop bass vocalist (Johnny Cymbal's "Mr. Bass Man"; The Coasters, 1968-2009), born in New York City (d. 2015)
- Oct 19 Ton Regtien, Dutch student leader
- Oct 20 Iain Macmillan, Scottish Abbey Road photographer, born in Carnoustie, Scotland (d. 2006)
- Oct 22 Christopher Lloyd, American Emmy Award-winning actor (Taxi - "Reverend Jim"; Back to the Future films), born in Stamford, Connecticut
- Oct 22 Derek Jacobi, British Tony, BAFTA, and Tony Award-winning stage and screen actor and director (I, Claudius; Much Ado About Nothing; Dead Again), born in London, England
- Oct 23 John Heinz, American businessman and Republican politician (Senator from Pennsylvania, 1977-1991), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
- Oct 23 Jordan Christopher, American actor (Secrets of Midland Heights), born in Youngstown, Ohio
- Oct 24 Fred E. Finn, American pianist (Mickie Finn's), born in San Francisco, California
- Oct 25 Robert Webster, American diver (Olympic gold 1960, 64), born in Berkeley, California
- Oct 26 Bernadette Lafont, French actress (Perils of Gwendoline), born in Nimes, France (d. 2013)
- Oct 26 Charles Stenholm, American politician (Rep-D-Texas, 1979-2005), born in Stamford, Texas
- Oct 27 Elliot del Borgo, American music educator (SUNY/Crane School of Music, 1966-95) and composer (1980 Winter Olympics), born in Port Chester, New York (d. 2013)
- Oct 27 Maurice Hinchey, American politician (Rep-D-New York), born in NYC, New York
- Oct 28 Anne Perry [Juliet Marion Hulme], English-born crime writer (convicted of murder as a child as filmed in "Heavenly Creatures"), born in London, England (d. 2023) [1]
- Oct 28 David Dimbleby, English TV presenter and political commentator, born in Surrey, England
- Oct 28 Peter Carlstein, South African cricketer (South African Test batsman 1958-64), born in Klerksdorp, South Africa
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (84 years old)
Oct 29 President of Liberia (2006-2018) and the first elected female head of state in Africa, born in Monrovia, Liberia
- Oct 29 Peter Stampfel, American musician and songwriter (The Holy Modal Rounders), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Oct 29 Ralph Bakshi, Krymchak-American animator and film maker (Fritz the Cat; Lord of the Rings (1978); Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures), born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine
- Oct 29 Wilbert McClure, American boxer (Olympic gold light middleweight 1960), born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2020)
- Oct 30 Ed Lauter, American actor (The Artist, The Number 23), born in Long Beach, New York (d. 2013)
Famous Weddings
Louis Armstrong
Oct 11 American jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong (37) weds longtime girlfriend Alpha Smith; divorce in 1942
Famous Deaths
- Oct 2 Alexandru Averescu, Romanian soldier and politician (b. 1859)
- Oct 3 Viktor Kosenko, Russian-Ukrainian pianist, composer (Moldavian Poem), and educator, dies of kidney cancer at 41
- Oct 5 Sister Faustina [Helena Kowalska], Polish Roman Catholic saint, nun and mystic, dies of suspected tuberculosis at 33
- Oct 10 Lord Hawke [Martin Hawke], English cricket batsman (5 Tests; Yorkshire CCC, Cambridge Uni CC, MCC), dies at 78
- Oct 12 Hugh Massie, Australian cricket batsman and captain (9 Tests; NSW), dies at 84
- Oct 13 E. C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye), dies at 43
- Oct 18 Karl Kautsky, Austrian philosopher and Marxist theorist (Socialist journal Neue Zeit), dies at 83
- Oct 22 May Irwin, Canadian comedienne and singer (Hot Time in the Old Town), dies at 76
- Oct 24 Ernst Barlach, German writer and artist, dies at 68
- Oct 25 Alfonsina Storni, Argentine poet (La inquietud del rosal), dies at 46
- Oct 27 Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (Revaluations), dies at 57
