- 835 All Saints Day made compulsory by Pope Gregory IV throughout Frankish Kingdom
- 996 First recorded use of modern name for Austria in the 'Ostarrîchi Document'
- 1179 Phillip II crowned King of France aged 14 at Reims, with his father Louis VII in ill health
- 1248 Earl Willem II of Holland crowned as RC German emperor
Black Death
1348 The Black Death reaches London on or about this date
Historic Event
1512 Michelangelo's paintings on ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican first exhibited
- 1570 All Saints Flood, tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland; killing more than 1,000 people.
Historic Event
1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" first presented
- 1611 Shakespeare's romantic comedy play "Tempest" is first presented
- 1612 (22 October O.S.) Time of Troubles in Russia: Moscow, Kitai-gorod, is captured by Russian troops under command of Dmitry Pozharsky
- 1623 Fire at Plymouth, Massachusetts, destroys several buildings
Historic Event
1628 French King Louis XIII occupies La Rochelle
- 1683 The English crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
- 1721 Prince Eugenius of Savoye unveals statue of himself
- 1755 Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Portugal
- 1765 Stamp Act goes into effect in British colonies
- 1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California
- 1784 Maryland grants citizenship to Lafayette and his descendants
- 1787 First free school in NYC (African Free School) opens
Historic Event
1800 John Adams becomes the first US President to live in the White House
- 1802 Delegates meet at Chillicothe, Ohio, to form a state constitutional convention.
Historic Event
1814 Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France, in the Napoleonic Wars
WHSmith: a Retail Giant Born From a Widow's Might
1848 WHSmith opens its 1st railway bookstall, at Euston Station in London, England
Historic Event
1861 General George McClellan made general in chief of Union armies
- 1863 -8] Averell's Raid (on)to Lewisburg, West Virginia
- 1863 Fortifications built on Angel Island (San Francisco Bay) by troops
- 1865 Zutphen-Fishing Dutch railway opens
- 1869 Deli Me forms T B V tobacco in Sumatra
- 1870 US Weather Bureau begins operations (24 locations)
- 1876 King Willem III opens North Sea Canal (Amsterdam-IJmuiden)
- 1876 New Zealand's provincial government system is dissolved.
- 1877 Dutch government of Heemskerk-Van Lynden resigns
- 1878 Edward Scripps & John Sweeney found Penny Press (Cleveland Press)
- 1884 Gaelic Athletic Association is established in a meeting at Hayes' Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary; Clare teacher Michael Cusack is credited as founder; objective to promote Irish sport & games
Historic Event
1894 Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia after the death of his father, Tsar Alexander III
- 1896 First bare-breasted women (Zulu) to appear in National Geographic Magazine
- 1897 Italian football club Juventus F.C. is founded by students in Turin as Sport-Club Juventus
- 1901 Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male collegiate fraternity is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, VA.
- 1902 France and Italy sign an Entente under which Italy agrees to remain neutral if France is attacked; this is France's attempt to neutralize the Triple Entente
Theater Premiere
1904 George Bernard Shaw's comedy play "John Bull's Other Island" premieres in London
Historic Publication
1910 First issue of "Crisis" published by editor W.E.B. Du Bois
Italo-Turkish War
1911 The first aerial bomb is dropped by an Italian pilot on Turkish troops in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War
- 1913 Notre Dame upsets Army, 35-13 in the colleges' inaugural football game; quarterback Gus Dorais (14 of 17 passes, 243 yards, 2 TDs) and receiver Knute Rockne use forward pass effectively
Historic Event
1913 Less than a week after the US non-intervention promise, President Woodrow Wilson demands that Mexican dictator Huerta resigns
Historic Event
1914 Paul von Hindenburg named marshal of the Eastern front
- 1915 Parris Island is officially designated a US Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
- 1916 Paul Miliukov delivers in the Russian State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government
- 1916 Broadway theatre owner and producer Harry H. Frazee and Hugh Ward buy MLB club the Boston Red Sox for approximately $700,000 from Joseph Lannin
- 1918 102 die in a NYC BMT subway derailment at Malbone Street Brooklyn
- 1918 Yugoslav battleship Viribus Unitis sunk by Italians
Historic Event
1919 British Admiral David Beatty becomes First Sea Lord
Historic Event
1920 Eugene O'Neill's "Emperor Jones" premieres in NYC
- 1920 Eugene O'Neill's drama "Emperor Jones" opens at Provincetown Playhouse, NYC; runs for 204 performances
- 1920 American fishing schooner 'Esperanto' defeats Canadian yacht 'Delawana' in the first International Fishing Schooner Championship Races off Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 1921 National Birth Control League & Voluntary Parenthood League merge as American Birth Control League
Historic Event
1922 Queen Wilhelmina opens Dutch Historical Maritime museum in Amsterdam
End of the Ottoman Empire
1922 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk takes Constantinople from Mehmed VI, proclaiming the Republic of Turkey and bringing an end to the Ottoman Empire
- 1922 In an all-American bout, Mickey Walker upsets defending champion Jack Britton in a 15-round points decision at Madison Square Garden, NYC; wins world welterweight boxing crown
- 1923 Bruno E Lucander forms Aero E/Y (Finnair)
- 1924 Boston Bruins officially join the NHL, becoming the first United States based team to enter the League; Montreal Maroons also join NHL, but only last until 1938
- 1925 VARA, Vereniging van Workers Radio Amateurs forms in Amsterdam
- 1926 US Air Commerce Act passes
- 1928 1st celebration of Authors' Day
The Age of Zeppelins
1928 Graf Zeppelin sets airship distance record of 6384 km
Appointment of Interest
1932 Wernher von Braun named head of German liquid-fuel rocket program
Theater Premiere
1935 T. S. Eliot's play "Murder in the Cathedral" premieres in London
Historic Event
1936 Benito Mussolini describes alliance between Italy and Germany as an "axis"
- 1936 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (then Cowboys' Turtle Association) is established after disagreement with rodeo promoter W.T. Johnson, who finally gives in to cowboys' pay demands
Execution
1937 Stalinists execute by shooting Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan's Lutheran community (including three women).
- 1938 German colonel-general Gerd von Runstedt retires
Sports History
1938 NL batting champion Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds is named National League MVP; first catcher to win award; Boston Red Sox 1st baseman Jimmie Foxx takes AL award
- 1938 Seabiscuit, with George Woolf aboard, beats 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral by 3 lengths in Pimlico track record time to win $15,000 in what is regarded as one of the greatest match races in horse racing history
- 1939 First animal conceived by artificial insemination (rabbit) displayed
- 1939 First jet plane, Heinkel He 178, demonstrated to German Air Ministry
Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 Japanese naval staff offiicers Suzuki & Maejima arrive at Pearl Harbor
Famous Photo
1941 Ansel Adams shoots 'Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico', one of his most famous photographs
- 1942 10th day of battle at El Alamein
- 1942 John H Johnson publishes 1st issue of Negro Digest
- 1943 Dim-out ban lifted in San Francisco Bay area
- 1943 US troops land on Bougainville Island on Solomon Island
- 1944 Mary Coyle Chase's "Harvey" premieres in NYC
- 1944 Zeeuws & Flanders liberated
- 1944 World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.
- 1945 First issue of Ebony magazine published by John H Johnson
- 1946 Charles S Johnson becomes 1st black president of Fisk University
- 1946 First Basketball Association of America game; New York Knicks beat Toronto Huskies, 68-66 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto
- 1946 WABC becomes WCBS radio in NYC
- 1946 WEAF radio changes call letters to WNBC (NYC)
- 1946 West German state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) created
- 1946 Karol Wojtyla is ordained to Catholic priesthood
- 1947 "Medium & The Telephone" closes at Barrymore NYC after 211 performances
- 1947 First Aloha Week Parade held in Hawaii
- 1947 UN trusteeship for Nauru granted to Australia, NZ & UK
- 1948 Mao's Red army conquers Mukden, Manchuria
- 1950 82°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in Nov
Assassination Attempt
1950 Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry Truman at Blair House in Washington D.C.; attack thwarted by White House Police, including Officer Leslie Coffelt who was killed in the line of duty [1]
- 1951 1st H Bomb test, code named "Ivy Mike", detonates on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the north Pacific Ocean
Music History
1951 Johnny Mercer's "Top Banana" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 356 performances
- 1951 US performs 1st atomic explosion witnessed by troops, Nevada Test Site, New Mexico
Sports History
1951 Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella wins first of his 3 National League MVP awards
- 1951 Jet magazine founded by John H Johnson
Historic Event
1952 "Ivy Mike", the first thermonuclear weapon to utilize the H-bomb design of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, is detonated in the Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean
- 1953 Czech long distance runner Emile Zatopek sets world 10,000m record 29:01.6 & 6 mile mark 28:08.4 in Stara Boleslav, Czech Republic
- 1953 KCEN TV channel 6 in Temple-Waco, TX (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KMGH TV channel 7 in Denver, CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WHEC TV channel 10 in Rochester, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 Herb Thomas, driving his own No. 92 Hudson Hornet wraps up the NASCAR Grand National Championship with 14th-place in 100-mile finale at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway; Thomas first repeat champion of the series
Election of Interest
1954 General Fulgencio Batista elected President of Cuba
Historic Event
1954 US Senate admonishes Joseph McCarthy because of his slander campaigns
- 1954 The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence against France.
- 1954 Lee Petty with 32 top-10 finishes from 34 races wins NASCAR Grand National Championship by 283 points from Herb Thomas; Petty fails to finish season ending Wilkes 160
- 1955 Time bomb aboard United DC-6 kills 44 above Longmont, Colorado
- 1956 Karnataka (then known as Mysore State) is formed from the merge of Kannada-speaking regions in India
- 1956 Delhi becomes a union territory of India
- 1956 Indian state of Madhya Pradesh is formed
- 1956 Indian states of Punjab, Patiala and most of the East Punjab States Union merge as the Punjab State
- 1956 Nagy government of Hungary withdraws from Warsaw Pact
Nobel Prize
1956 Nobel for physics awarded to William Shockley, Walter H. Brattain and John Bardeen
- 1956 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Laetamur admodum
- 1956 Kerala state is formed in India
- 1957 KVII TV channel 7 in Amarillo, Texas (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 KXGN TV channel 5 in Glendive, Montana (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 WICZ TV channel 40 in Binghamton, New York (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 Mackinac Straits Bridge, Michigan, world longest suspension bridge between anchorages opens
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test
Sports History
1959 Montreal Canadiens’ goal tender Jacques Plante becomes first NHL net-minder to wear a fibreglass protective face mask
- 1959 Patrice Lumumba arrested in Belgian Congo
- 1959 WOV-AM in NYC changes call letters to WADO
- 1960 Benelux treaty goes into effect
- 1962 Greece enters European Common Market
- 1962 KYVE TV channel 47 in Yakima, WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
- 1962 USSR launches Mars 1; radio contact lost before arrival at Mars
- 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1962 WNYC TV channel 31 in New York, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1962 WZZM TV channel 13 in Grand Rapids, MI (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1964 Houston Oilers quarterback George Blanda attempts an AFL record 68 passes (37 completions) in 24-10 loss v Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium
- 1964 Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson passes for 435 yards and 6 TDs in 49-39 win over Denver Broncos at Municipal Stadium
- 1964 Vietcong-assault on airport Bien Hoa at Saigon
- 1964 Cleveland running back Jim Brown runs for 149 yards in Browns' 30-17 win at Pittsburgh to become the first NFL player to exceed 10,000 yards career rushing
- 1965 1st concert at Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco
- 1965 Ernie Terrell retains WBA heavyweight boxing title; beats Canadian George Chuvalo in 15 round points decision in Toronto
- 1965 Trackless trolley plunged into Nile River drowning 74 (Cairo Egypt)
- 1966 Indian Haryana state created from Punjab; Chandigarh terr created
- 1966 NFL awards a franchise to New Orleans; name "Saints" alludes to November 1, All Saints Day in Catholic faith
Sports History
1966 LA Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax becomes first 3-time winner of Cy Young Award; unanimous winner for 2nd straight year; final year only 1 award given for pitchers in both major leagues
- 1966 William Dana in X-15 reaches 93 km
Film Release
1967 "Cool Hand Luke", starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, and Strother Martin, is released
Music History
1968 Noël Coward's "Sweet Potato" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 36 performances
Sports History
1968 Detroit pitcher Denny McLain is named unanimous AL Cy Young Award winner after finishing MLB season, 31-6 for World Series winning Tigers
- 1969 The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album goes #1 in US & stays #1 for 11 weeks
- 1970 First NFL regular season New York Giants-Jets game; Giants win 22-10 at Shea Stadium
- 1970 Fire at Club Cinq-Sept Discotheque in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France, kills 146, as all emergency exits were padlocked
- 1970 KGTF TV channel 12 in Agana, GU (PBS) begins broadcasting
Historic Event
1971 Eisenhower dollar put into circulation
- 1972 1st gay theme TV movie - "That Certain Summer"
- 1972 Germaoin Gagnon scores 1st Islander hat trick
- 1973 Jerry Livingston and Mack David's musical "Molly", starring Kaye Ballard, opens at Alvin Theater, NYC; runs for 68 performances
- 1973 Indian state of Mysore is renamed Karnataka to represent all the regions within Karunadu
- 1974 Fire kills 189 in less than 25 min (Sao Paulo Brazil)
- 1974 UN affirms independence of Cyprus
- 1976 "Don't Step on My Olive Branch" opens at Playhouse NYC for 16 performances
- 1976 Britain gives Gilbert Island (Kiribati) self rule
- 1976 W German Generals Krupinski and Franke admit to having been Nazis
Historic Event
1977 US President Jimmy Carter raises the minimum wage from $2.30 to $3.35 an hour, effective from 1st Jan 1981
- 1977 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1979 Bolivia military coup under General Busch, President Guevara flees
- 1979 US Federal government proposes making a $1.5 billion loan to Chrysler
- 1979 Tanker Burmah Agate off Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 10.7 m gallons of oil, in US's worst oil spill disaster
- 1980 USSR performs nuclear test
- 1981 1st Class US Mail raised from 18 cents to 20 cents
- 1981 Antigua & Barbuda gains independence from Britain (National Day)
Sports History
1981 Darrell Waltrip wins his 4th straight NASCAR Cup race, the American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway; ties Richard Petty record 1967; 12th win of season; goes on to win Winston Cup crown
