- 939 Battle at Andernach: King Otto & Hermann of Zwaben beat Eberhard of France & Giselbert of Lutherans
- 976 Hisham II appointed kalief of Cordoba
- 1134 Storm flood ravages Zeeland county
Historic Discovery
1535 Jacques Cartier discovers Mount Royal (Montreal)
- 1540 Venice and Turkey signs peace
Victory in Battle
1552 Conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible.
Historic Event
1614 French King Louis XIII declared an adult at 13
Bill of Rights
1789 George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification
- 1792 Baptist Missionary Society forms in London
- 1795 Tula (leader slave uprising) sentence to death in Curacao
- 1799 Duke of York & Russians capture Alkmaar in Netherlands
- 1804 Britain mobilizes to protect against French invasion
- 1833 NY Anti-Slavery Society organized
- 1835 Battle of Gonzales fought between Texan settlers and Mexican forces. First engagement of the Texas revolution
Historic Expedition
1836 After 5 years at sea Charles Darwin returns to England aboard the HMS Beagle
- 1851 The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass(a contraption built to test the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they mate) is demonstrated but proves to be a fake.
- 1853 Austrian law forbids Jews from owning land
- 1861 Former US VP John C Breckinridge flees Kentucky
- 1864 Battle of Saltville, Virginia
- 1866 J Osterhoudt patents tin can with key opener
- 1870 Italy annexes Rome & Papal States; Rome made Italian capital
Historic Event
1871 US Mormon leader Brigham Young arrested for bigamy
- 1872 Morgan State University founded
Historic Event
1872 Phileas Fogg sets out on his journey as depicted in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
- 1876 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Bob Martin wins when fellow Scot Davie Strath refuses to take part in a playoff after pair finish on 176
- 1889 1st Pan American conference (Washington, D.C.)
- 1889 In Colorado, Nicholas Creede strikes it rich in silver during the last great silver boom of the American Old West.
- 1893 Cheniere Caminada hurricane (Great October Storm) - 3rd worst hurricane in US history kills 1,800 in Louisiana (one of the 1st to be classified as a category 4 storm)
- 1895 1st cartoon comic strip is printed in a newspaper
- 1899 Orange Free state mobilizes
- 1901 First Royal Navy submarine launched at Barrow-in-Furness
Historic Publication
1902 Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is published by Frederick Warne & Co. in London
- 1904 German General Lothar von Trotha issues order to exterminate Herero people of Namidia, first genocide of the 20th Century, will kill 65,000 Herero and 100,000 of the Nama tribe
- 1904 White Sox left-hander Doc White's streak of 45 consecutive MLB scoreless innings is snapped by the New York Highlanders in Chicago; White Sox win, 7-1 at South Side Park III
Boxing Title Fight
1906 Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs American challenger 'Fireman' Jim Flynn in 15 rounds to retain his title in Los Angeles, California
- 1908 Cleveland Naps and future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Addie Joss hurls a classic perfect game, beating Ed Walsh and the Chicago White Sox, 1-0
- 1909 First Rugby Union match is played at the English RFU owned Twickenham ground; Harlequins beat Richmond, 14-10
- 1910 1st 2 aircraft collision (Milan Italy)
- 1910 Henry Wijnmalen flies to 2,800m altitude (world record)
- 1916 Pitching in his 3rd start in 5 days, Philadelphia Phillies right hander Grover Cleveland Alexander records his 20th century MLB record 16th shutout of year, a 2-0 win v Boston Braves
- 1916 Zoological Society of San Diego founded, in San Diego, California
- 1919 1st edition "Volkskrant" (People's newspaper) published in Neth
Historic Event
1919 US President Woodrow Wilson has a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed
- 1920 Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates play first and only MLB triple header in the 20th century; Reds win the first two games, 13-4 and 7-3; Pirates avoid the sweep in the finale, 6-0
- 1920 The Chinese sign an agreement with the Russo-Asiatic Bank, largely French and Russian controlled, which will oversee the Chinese Eastern Railway, but give local supervision to China
- 1921 Chicago White Sox backstop Ray Schalk becomes the first and only MLB catcher to make a putout at all bases; White Sox beat Indians 7-4
Music History
1925 Josephine Baker first performs in Paris in La Revue Nègre at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
- 1932 New York Yankees win their 12th consecutive World Series game and sweep the Fall Classic for the third time; Bronx Bombers bang out 19 hits as they rout Chicago Cubs, 13-6 at Wrigley Field
- 1932 Washington Redskins (as Boston Braves) play franchise's debut NFL game; lose 14-0 to Brooklyn Dodgers at Braves Field
Theater Premiere
1933 Eugene O'Neill's comedy play "Ah, Wilderness!" premieres in NYC
- 1935 NY Hayden Planetarium, 4th in US, opens
- 1936 1st alcohol power plant forms, Atchison, Kansas
- 1936 Amsterdam's Calvinist Churches reject Nazism
- 1936 French franc devalued, relatively late and after Britain (1931) and the US (1933)
- 1936 New York Yankees score Baseball World Series record 18 runs in an 18-4 rout of rival NY Giants in Game 2 at the Polo Grounds; Yankees win series 4-2
Baseball Record
1938 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller strikes out record 18 Detroit Tigers; his Cleveland Indians still lose 4-1 at Cleveland Stadium
- 1938 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
- 1939 Revival of Sidney Howard's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1924 stage drama "They Knew What They Wanted", opens at the Empire Theatre, NYC; runs for 24 performances
- 1940 17 German aircraft shot down over England
- 1940 British Council receives Royal Charter
- 1940 British liner Empress, loaded with refugees for Canada, sunk
- 1941 6 Paris synagogues are bombed by Gestapo
- 1941 Germans launch attack on Moscow
- 1942 RMS Queen Mary, carrying thousands of US troops, slices cruiser HMS Curacao in half, killing 239
- 1943 Japanese troops leave Kolombangara, Solomon Island
- 1943 New York Yankees sweep 14th MLB doubleheader of year, beating St. Louis Browns, 5-1 & 7-6 at Yankee Stadium
- 1944 Polish resistance fighters capitulate in the Warsaw Uprising, with some 250,000 people killed
- 1944 US B-17's drops pamphlets on Walcheren
- 1946 1st network soap opera "Faraway Hill" begins broadcasting on DuMont Television Network
- 1947 Henry Duffy's musical "Music in My Heart", based on life and work of Piotr Tchaikovsky, opens at Adelphi Theater, NYC; runs for 124 performances
Baseball Record
1947 New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra hits the first pinch-hit home run in Baseball World Series history off Ralph Branca in the 7th inning of a 9-8 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 3
- 1947 Revised International Telecommunication Convention adopted
- 1948 "Finian's Rainbow" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 725 performances
- 1949 For first time in 41 years pennant races in both MLB leagues are decided on the final day of the season; (AL) Yankees upend rival Boston Red Sox, 5-3; (NL) Dodgers beat the Phillies, 9-7 for 97-57 record; Cardinals 96-58
- 1949 USSR recognizes People's Republic of China
Historic Publication
1950 1st strip of Charlie Brown, "Li'l Folks", later "Peanuts", by Charles M. Schulz published in seven nationwide papers
- 1950 Bob Shaw of Chicago Cardinals sets NFL record with 5 TD receptions in 55-13 win against Baltimore Colts; Cardinals quarterback Jim Hardy tosses 6 touchdown passes
- 1951 1st Netherland TV broadcast (Toverspiegel)
Music History
1953 Victor Borge's one-man show "Comedy in Music" opens at John Golden Theatre, NYC; runs for 849 performances, a Guinness world record
- 1954 8th NHL All-Star Game, Detroit Olympia, Detroit, MI: All-Stars tie Detroit Red Wings, 2-2
- 1954 Baseball World Series: New York Giants beat Cleveland, 7-4 at Cleveland Stadium to sweep Indians, 4-0; MVP: Giants outfielder Dusty Rhodes
- 1954 Don Liddle beats Bob Lemon 7-4 as the New York Giants complete an unlikely World Series sweep of the powerful Cleveland Indians; Cleveland season record of 111-43 sets American League mark for regular season wins
- 1954 Former French possession of Chandernagore made part of West Bengal, India
- 1955 "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" premieres on CBS television in the US
- 1955 9th NHL All-Star Game, Detroit Olympia, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat All-Stars, 3-1
- 1955 Chiva Stoica becomes premier of Romania
- 1955 WHTN (now WOWK) TV ch 13 in Huntington-Charleston, WV (CBS) begins
- 1956 1st atomic power clock exhibited-NYC
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957 "The Bridge on the River Kwai", directed by David Lean and starring William Holden and Alec Guinness, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1958)
- 1957 New volcanic island appears off Fayal Island Azores
- 1957 New York Yankees appear in their 25th Baseball World Series; beat Milwaukee Braves, 3-1 in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium; lose series, 4-3
- 1958 Guinea (French Guinea) gains independence from France (National Day)
- 1958 Musical show "Valmouth" 1st produced in London
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1959 Rod Serling's anthology series "The Twilight Zone" premieres on CBS-TV
Golf Tournament
1960 Mickey Wright becomes first player in LPGA Tour history to average fewer than 74 strokes per round to win the Vare Trophy after a season average of 73.25; first of 5 consecutive Vare Trophies for Wright
- 1961 American medical drama series "Ben Casey", starring Vince Edwards and Sam Jaffe, premieres on ABC-TV
- 1961 USSR performs 250 kilo-ton nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR
- 1961 WETA TV channel 26 in Washington, D.C. (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1961 WHRO TV channel 15 in Hampton-Norfolk, Vitginia (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1962 San Francisco Giants beat rival LA Dodgers, 8-7 in 4 hours 18 minutes in Game 2 NL tie-break series; longest 9-inning game in MLB history; Giants win series, 2-1
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
Baseball Record
1963 LA Dodgers' Sandy Koufax strikes out World Series record 15 NY Yankees in Game 1 of the Baseball World Series at Yankee Stadium; Dodgers win, 5-2 and sweep series, 4-0
Historic Event
1963 West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer condemns western grain shipments to USSR
Baseball Record
1964 Philadelphia's Alex Johnson-Bobby Wine-Tony Taylor-Vic Power combine for Phillies' 3rd triple play of the season (tying MLB record) in 4-3 win v Cincinnati Reds
- 1965 Mel Stottlemyre wins game #20
- 1966 Australian Robert 'Nat' Young puts on a dominating performance to win the World Surfing Championship at Ocean Beach, San Diego; Joyce Hoffman of Capistrano Beach, California takes women's title
- 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax wins his 27th game of the season, 6-3 v Philadelphia Phillies; clinches Dodgers 3rd National League pennant in 4 years
- 1967 All Grateful Dead members arrested by narcotic agents for possession of marijuana in San Francisco, California
- 1967 Groundbreaking begins on Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia
Historic Event
1967 Thurgood Marshall sworn in as 1st black Supreme Court Justice
- 1968 1st London performance of "Promises, Promises" presented
Sports History
1968 1st time, 2 soon-to-be-named MVPs oppose each other Cards Bob Gibson beat Tigers Denny McLain 4-0
- 1968 Mexico City police fire on protesting students, 300-500 killed
- 1968 Redwood National Park established to preserve the tallest trees on earth, by an act of US Congress with 58,000 acres (later extended) [1]
- 1968 Republic Guinea forms (day of republic)
- 1968 St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson establishes a new Baseball World Series mark by striking out 17 batters as the Cardinals beat Detroit, 4-0 in Game 1 of the Fall Classic
- 1969 Seattle Pilots' last game in Seattle; crash to 98th season loss, 3-1 to Oakland in front of just 5,473; move to Milwaukee as the Brewers next season
- 1969 US performs underground nuclear test at Amchitka Island Aleutians
- 1970 14 members of the Wichita State University Football team as well as 17 administrators and supporters are killed in a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains
Sports History
1970 Detroit general manager Jim Campbell gives controversial Billy Martin a 2-year deal (1971-72) to manage the Tigers at a well above MLB average annual salary of $65,000
- 1971 Homing pigeon averages a record 133kph in an 1100km race in Australia
- 1972 "From Israel with Love" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 8 performances
- 1972 Aeroflot Il-18 crashes near Black Sea resort of Sochi, kills 105
- 1972 Bill Stoneman of Montreal pitches his 2nd no-hitter, beating Mets, 7-0
- 1972 Danish population votes for membership of the European Common Market
- 1972 Montreal Expos' pitcher Bill Stoneman no-hits the New York Mets, 7 - 0 at Parc Jarry; first MLB no-hitter ever pitched in Canada
- 1972 Ron Johnson becomes 1st NY Giant to score 4 TDs (vs Philadelphia)
Baseball Record
1974 Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron hits his final home run as a member of the Atlanta Braves, in a 13-0 drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds; Aaron's 733rd career HR on his last NL at bat
- 1975 Four Ulster Volunteer Force members killed after a bomb they are carrying prematurely explodes in Farrenlester, near Coleraine
- 1975 The Ulster Volunteer Force kill 7 civilians in a series of attacks across Northern Ireland; 6 were Catholic civilians and 1 was a Protestant civilian
- 1976 "Let My People Come" closes at Morosco Theater NYC after 106 performances
Sports History
1977 Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda finishes 4th in the US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; Englishman James Hunt wins the race
Baseball Record
1977 Dusty Baker hits his 30th homer of the season against Astros' J.R. Richard; Dodgers become the first team in MLB history to have 4 players hit 30 or more HRs; joins Steve Garvey (33), Reggie Smith (32) and Ron Cey (30)
- 1977 Pakistani general Zia ul-Haq bans all opposition
Baseball Record
1978 NY Yankees win 3rd straight AL East title beating Boston Red Sox, 5-4 in a dramatic single playoff game; Ron Guidry wins #25 aided by Bucky Dent's 3-run homer
- 1978 Syrian & Palestinians shoot in East Beirut, 1,300 killed
Papal Visit
1979 Pope John Paul II visits New York City, and at the U.N. denounces all concentration camps and torture
Boxing Title Fight
1980 38 year old Muhammad Ali comes out of 2-year retirement to challenge undefeated world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; Ali pounded unmercifully for 10 rounds before corner throws in towel
- 1980 Michael Myers (D-Pa), is 1st rep expelled in over 100 years (ABSCAM)
- 1981 17 year old gelding Behavin Jerry, the oldest winning racehorse in modern times, sets record for most career starts by a thoroughbred, 307
- 1981 Ali Chamenei elected president of Iran
- 1982 Bomb attack in Tehran, kills 60, injures 700
Historic Event
1982 The Portland Building, designed by Michael Graves, considered the 1st postmodern building is opened in Portland Oregon
- 1983 Carl Yastrezemski's last at bat
- 1983 Green Bay Packers erupt for NFL record 49 points in the first half (35 in the second quarter) to clobber the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 55-14 at Tampa Stadium
- 1983 Wide receiver Art Monk begins NFL streak of 183 consecutive games with a reception in the Washington Redskins' 37-35 win over the LA Raiders
- 1984 3 cosmonauts return after a record 237 days in orbit
- 1984 Due to a strike by MLB umpires, first 4 NLCS games played with replacement umpires; Game 1: Chicago Cubs beat SD Padres, 13-0
- 1984 Papa John's Pizza is founded by John Schnatter in Jeffersonville, Indiana; it would go on to become the fourth-largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States
- 1984 Richard Miller becomes 1st (former) FBI agent to be charged with espionage
- 1985 A Mayor Richard Caliguiri led coalition of public and private groups committed to keeping the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates in town for at least 5 years reach agreement to buy the baseball team for $22 million
- 1985 Detroit 1st baseman Darrell Evans hits home run #40 in Tigers' 4-2 win over Toronto Blue Jays; first to record 40 x HRs in a MLB season in both Leagues
- 1986 Astros starter Mike Scott finishes MLB regular season with 306 strikeouts with 8 in a 2-1 win in San Francisco; 3rd NL pitcher to reach 300 in a season
Baseball Record
1986 New York Mets' Dwight Gooden becomes first pitcher to collect 200 strikeouts in each of his first 3 seasons when he records 7 in 8-2 win v Pittsburgh Pirates
Assassination Attempt
1986 Sikhs attempt to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Olympic Gold
1988 Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, wins super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats American Riddick Bowe by 2nd round TKO
- 1988 Gelindo Bordin of Italy wins the men's marathon in 2:10:32 at the Seoul Olympics; beats world champion Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya by 15 seconds
- 1988 In a season ending 7-5 win in St. Louis, NY Mets' outfielder Kevin McReynolds establishes a MLB record swiping 21 bases without being caught stealing during the season
Sports History
1988 Mike Tyson wrecks furniture in his mansion in Bernardsville, NJ, during a domestic dispute
- 1988 Minnesota Twins total 3,030,672 in attendance at Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome; first AL club ever to break 3 million in a MLB season
- 1988 New Zealand horseman Mark Todd wins individual eventing gold medal aboard Charisma at the Seoul Olympics; his 2nd consecutive gold after winning in 1984
- 1988 Pakistan's Supreme Court orders free elections
- 1988 South Korean light middleweight boxer Park Si-hun is controversially awarded the Seoul Olympic gold medal after appearing well beaten by future 4 weight class world champion Roy Jones Jr
- 1989 TV true life drama "A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story" premieres on NBC in the US
- 1990 "Michael Feinstein in Concert" opens at Golden NYC for 30 performances
- 1990 Chinese plane explodes, about 100 die
- 1990 Radio Berlin International's final transmission (links to Deutsche Welles of West Germany); final song is "The End" by Doors
- 1990 US Senate votes 90-9 to confirm David Souter's appointment to Supreme Court
- 1990 WW2 Allied nations cede any remaining rights as occupiers of Germany
Contract of Interest
1991 NHL #1 draft pick Eric Lindros rejects Quebec Nordiques' offer of a 10 year, $50m contract
Sports History
1991 Steffi Graf beats Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-2 in the Volkswagen Cup in Leipzig to become the youngest woman to win 500 professional tennis matches
- 1991 Toronto Blue Jays clinch AL East title with a 6-5 win v California Angels; become first sport franchise in history to draw 4 million fans in one season
- 1992 The Carandiru Massacre takes place after a riot in the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil
- 1992 VP Itamar Franco becomes President of Brazil
- 1994 "Show Boat" opens at Gershwin Theater NYC
- 1994 Pakistan cricket batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq & Mushtaq Ahmed put on 57 runs in 8 overs for highest last-wicket partnership ever to win a Test, as the home team beats Australia by 1 wicket in the 1st Test in Karachi