- 1415 John IV of Burgundy becomes Duke of Brabant and Limburg, upon his father's death
Music History
1577 Pope Gregory XIII asks renewal of ecclesiastical hymns
- 1596 Spanish fleet sails from Lisbon to Ireland
Dirk Hartog Discovers Australia
1616 Dutch East India Company ship "The Eendracht" discovers Dirk-Hartog Island, Australia
Historic Event
1760 George III becomes King of Great Britain
Historic Event
1780 John Hancock becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts
- 1812 US frigate United States captures British vessel Macedonian
- 1828 St Katharine Docks opens in London, England
- 1829 Eastern State Penitentiary opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the world's 1st prison to entirely use solitary confinement system intended for rehabilitation; designed by Robert Strickland, it closed in 1971, and is now a museum [1]
- 1854 Prince Menshikov of Crimea occupies British base at Balaclava
The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale
1854 The infamous "Charge of the Light Brigade" during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War results in over 100 killed
- 1861 First Battle of Springfield [Zagonyi's Charge], fought in Springfield, Missouri, Union victory (US Civil War)
- 1861 Telegraph message sent from St Louis to San Francisco
- 1861 Toronto Stock Exchange created
- 1864 Battle of Marais Des Cygnes River, Kansas (Mine Creek)
- 1870 Pimlico Race Course opens in Baltimore
- 1870 Postcards first used in USA
Music Premiere
1875 The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist
- 1884 1st "World Championship" Baseball Series, Polo Grounds, NYC: Providence Grays (NL) beat NY Mets (American Association), 12-2 in 6 innings for 3 game sweep; game abandoned because of bitter cold
Music Premiere
1885 Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his 4th Symphony in e, Op. 98, in Meiningen, Germany
- 1891 1st International 6 day bike race (NY Madison Square Garden) ends
- 1893 Battle of Shangani, Matabeleland: Dr Jameson beats Ndebeles
- 1900 Great Britain annexes the former Boer South African Republic, renaming it the Transvaal Colony
- 1901 Joseph Chamberlain, British Colonial Affairs Secretary, makes an anti-German speech in Edinburgh; when word reaches Germany leads to widespread agitation against the British and breakdown of negotiations for Anglo-German alliance
Theater Premiere
1902 Maxim Gorky's play "The Lower Depths" premieres in Moscow
- 1902 Santa Maria, Guatemala hit by Earthquake, killing an estimated 6,000 people
- 1905 1st College Football Crab Bowl Classic: Navy beats Maryland 17-0 in Annapolis
Historic Event
1906 Georges Clémenceau succeeds Ferdinand Sarien as Prime Minister of France
- 1906 US inventor Lee de Forest patents "Audion", a 3-diode amplification valve which proved a pioneering development in radio & broadcasting
- 1907 Frederik of Oaths disbands mental home colony Walden
Sports History
1909 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Perth: Anthony Wilding of New Zealand wins his 2nd Australasian title; beats Ernie Parker of Australia 6–1, 7–5, 6–2
Historic Publication
1923 Senate committee publishes 1st report on Teapot Dome scandal
Historic Event
1929 Former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall convicted of accepting $100,000 bribe in the Teapot scandal - 1st US Cabinet member to go to jail
- 1930 1st football game in Atlantic City Convention Center
- 1930 1st scheduled transcontinental air service began
Historic Event
1932 Benito Mussolini promises to remain dictator for 30 years
Sports History
1937 Casey Stengel signs to manage Boston Bees
- 1938 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".
- 1938 Japanese troops occupies Hankou & Wuhan
- 1939 William Saroyan's "Time of Your Life" premieres in NYC
- 1940 Benjamin O Davis Sr. becomes 1st African American general in US Army
- 1940 Vernon Duke and John Latouche's musical "Cabin In The Sky" opens at the Martin Beck Theatre, NYC; runs for 156 performances
- 1941 16,000 Jews massacred in Odessa, Ukraine
- 1941 Germany attacks Moscow
Historic Event
1941 Winston Churchill routes "Forces South" to SE Asia
- 1942 3rd day of battle at El Alamein: British offensive
- 1942 Battle of Henderson Field Guadalcanal begins
Historic Event
1945 Japanese surrender Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek
- 1947 Manning Sherwin and Harold Purcell's musical "Under the Counter" closes at Shubert Theater, NYC, after 27 performances
- 1947 Sam Breadon sells Cards to Robert Hannegan & Fred Saigh for $4M
- 1948 Special Council of Annulment convicts writer Friedrich Weinreb for collaboration with the Nazis
- 1950 Dutch NSB leader C van Gelderen sentenced to life
Theater Premiere
1950 Jean Anouilh's play "La Répétition ou l'Amour puni" premieres in Paris at the Théâtre Marigny
NFL Record
1953 Cleveland Browns' QB Otto Graham sets club record with 4 fumbles
- 1953 Coal mine in Seraing Belgium explodes, 26 die
Music Release
1953 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 10th Symphony
- 1953 KIEM TV channel 3 in Eureka, CA (NBC/CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1955 Austria resumed its sovereignty after departure of last Allied occupation forces, for 1st time since German occupation of 1938
Sports History
1955 Branch Rickey steps down as GM of the Pirates
Murder of Interest
1957 Cosa Nostra crime boss Albert Anastasia is murdered in a barber's chair in New York City, probably by fellow mobster Joe Gallo
Nobel Prize
1962 American author John Steinbeck awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
Historic Event
1962 US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson demands USSR UN rep Valerian Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over"
- 1963 Anti-Kennedy "WANTED FOR TREASON" pamphlets scattered in Dallas
- 1963 The Beatles begin their 1st full foreign tour in Karlstad, Sweden, performing twice at a secondary school auditorium
- 1964 "The Wrong Way Run", Viking Jim Marshall runs 66 yards in wrong direction for a safety (NFL's #1 blooper)
- 1964 Dutchman Anton Geesink is 1st non-Japanese Olympic judo gold medal winner
Sports History
1964 English driver John Surtees finishes 2nd behind American Dan Gurney in season ending Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to clinch his first F1 World Drivers Championship; edges Graham Hill by 1 point
TV Show Appearance
1964 The Rolling Stones make their 1st appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show"; they perform a cover of Chuck Berry's “Around & Around,” and their own hit "Time Is On My Side" [1]
- 1964 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1965 The Rolling Stones release music single "Get Off of My Cloud"
- 1966 6 youths sentenced in "Johnson murderer!" in Amsterdam
Music Concert
1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience play their first UK gig as a private showcase at The Scotch of St. James in London
- 1968 American swimmer Claudia Kolb wraps up the women's individual medley double in Mexico City, winning the 400m I/M in Olympic record 5:08.5; she also won the 200m I/M in OR 2:24.7
- 1968 Chicago recognizes Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable as its 1st settler
- 1968 Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská wins the uneven bars and vault gold medals at the Mexico City Olympics; her 6th & 7th career gold medals and her 4th at these Games
- 1968 East German swimmer Roland Matthes wins the 200m backstroke gold medal in Olympic record 2:09.6 at the Mexico City Games; wraps up backstroke double
- 1968 Longest Olympic field hockey game, The Netherlands beats Spain 1-0 in 2h25m (6 OT)
- 1968 US men's basketball team beats Yugoslavia 65-50 to win the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics; 7th straight basketball title for the Americans
Music History
1968 Yoko Ono announces she is having John Lennon's baby; she later suffers a miscarriage
- 1970 Austrian driver Jochen Rindt wins F1 World Drivers Championship by 5 points from Jacky Ickx after Mexican GP; only season World Championship awarded posthumously, after Rindt's death in Italian GP practice at Monza
- 1971 A man dies two days after being shot during an Irish Republican Army attack on the British Army in Belfast
- 1971 Belgium & People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations
- 1971 General Meeting of UN agrees to admit People's Republic of China
- 1971 United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People's Republic of China
Sports History
1972 Eddy Merckx (Belgium) covers 30 miles, 1,258 yards in 1 hr
- 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Kenneth J Arrow & John R Hicks
- 1973 Chris Wills wins 1st National hang-gliding championship
- 1973 Cubs trade Ferguson Jenkins to Rangers for Bill Madlock & Vic Harris
Sports History
1973 SF Giants trade Willie McCovey to San Diego Padres for pitcher Mike Caldwell
- 1974 Dmitri Shostakovich' 15th String Quartet premieres in Leningrad
- 1974 US Air Force fires 1st ICBM
- 1974 Wings release single "Junior's Farm"
Album Release
1975 Columbia Records releases "Still Crazy After All These Years", the fourth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon; it features the title track and the hits "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "My Little Town", and wins 2 Grammy Awards
- 1975 Denver Nuggets 1st game at McNichols Sports Arena beat St Louis Spirits
- 1975 USSR's Venera 10 makes day-side Venus landing
- 1976 5th Enterprise, approach & lands test (ALT) flight
- 1976 Governor Wallace grants full pardon to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of 9 Scottsboro Boys who were convicted in 1931 rape
- 1977 Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
Film Release
1978 "Halloween", directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released
- 1978 Israeli government approves "in principle", a draft compromise peace
Sports History
1978 San Diego Padres pitcher Gaylord Perry wins NL Cy Young, 1st to do so in both leagues (AL, 1972)
- 1979 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Boxing Title Fight
1980 American Mike Weaver KOs local favourite Gerrie Coetzee in 13 rounds in Sun City, South Africa for WBA heavyweight boxing title
#1 in the Charts
1980 Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" album goes #1 for 3 weeks & her single "Woman In Love," goes #1 for 3 weeks
- 1981 200,000 demonstrate in Brussel against cruise missile
Sports History
1981 George Steinbrenner scuffles with 2 fans in a hotel elevator
New York City Marathon
1981 New York City Marathon: defending champion Alberto Salazar retains crown in 2:08:13; Allison Roe of New Zealand takes out women's race in 2:25:29
- 1982 David Hookes scores Cricket century in 34 balls 43 mins, SA v Victoria
- 1983 US invades Grenada, a country 1/2,000 its population (US Wins!)
- 1984 "Give My Regards to Broad Street" premieres (Gotham Theater-NYC)
- 1984 King Boudouin opens Museum for Modern Art in Brussels
- 1984 Rangers beat Devils 11-2
- 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1984 West German Chancellor Rainer Barzel resigns due to corruption
- 1985 Kosmos 1700 communications satellite placed in geostationary orbit
- 1986 International Red Cross ousted from South Africa
- 1986 Michael Sergio Parachutes into Shea Stadium during game 6 of WS
- 1986 Trailing 5-3 with 2 out & no one on in bottom of 10th, NY rallies to win Game 6 of the World Series, 6-5, Bill Buckner misplays a ball
- 1987 Baseball World Series: Minnesota Twins beat St Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at HHH Metrodome for 4-3 series win and franchise first in Minneapolis; MVP: Twins pitcher Frank Viola
- 1988 ABC News reports on potbellied pygmy pigs' popularity as pets
- 1988 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1990 "40-Hour Week" 9th studio album by Alabama is re-released (original release 1985)
- 1990 "Les Miserables" opens again at Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia
Boxing Title Fight
1990 Evander Holyfield KOs Buster Douglas in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1992 Rene Lachemann hired as Fla Marlins 1st manager
- 1993 Airbus A310 of Air Nigeria hijacked, 1 dead
- 1993 Canada Liberal Party and Bloc Québécois wins parliamentary election
- 1993 Daryll Cullinan hits unbeaten 337 for Transvaal against Northern Transvaal, South African 1st-class cricket record score
Album Release
1994 Reprise Records releases "Turbulent Indigo", Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 15th studio album; wins Grammy Award for Best Pop Album
- 1994 Susan Smith claims her 2 kids were carjacked (she actually killed them)
Knighthood
1995 British pop-rock singer Cliff Richard receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, - 1st rock star to be knighted
Music Premiere
1995 Henry Mancini, Leslie Bricusse, and Blake Edwards' musical adaptation of the film "Victor/Victoria", starring Julie Andrews, opens at Marquis Theater, NYC, runs for 738 performances; Andrews declined Tony Award nomination because she felt other cast and crew should have been recognized
- 1996 Frank, brother of Yank manager Joe Torre, receives a heart transplant
- 1997 After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
- 2000 A team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford discover Orrorin tugenensis, one of the earliest species on the human family tree that lived about 6 million years ago, in the Tugen Hills, Kenya
- 2001 Windows XP first becomes available
- 2003 Baseball World Series: Florida beats New York Yankees, 2-0 in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium for Marlins second title; MVP: Florida pitcher Josh Beckett
- 2003 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Santa Anita Racetrack; winners: Pleasantly Perfect, Action This Day, Adoration, Johar, High Chaparral, Islington, Halfbridled, Six Perfections, Cajun Beat
Historic Event
2004 Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8
- 2005 Then longest Baseball World Series game in time (5 hours, 41 mins) and tied longest in innings (14, tied with Game 2, 1916 WS and Game 1, 2015 WS); Chicago White Sox beat Houston Astros, 7-5 game 3 at Minute Maid Park, Houston
- 2007 The first Airbus A380 passenger flight, operating for Singapore Airlines, with flight number SQ 380, flying scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
- 2008 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Santa Anita Racetrack; Day 2 winners: Muhannak, Desert Code, Albertus Maximus, Goldikova, Midshipman, Donativum, Midnight Lute, Conduit, Raven's Pass
- 2009 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 4 games to 2
- 2009 The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.
Album Release
2010 "Speak Now" 3rd studio album by Taylor Swift is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2011)
- 2012 Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Cuba and Haiti killing 65 people and causing over $80 million in damage
- 2012 The double dip recession in the UK economy ends with growth of 1.0% in GDP in the third quarter of 2012, with help from the London Olympic Games
- 2013 74 Boko Harem members killed in a coordinated assault in Borno State, Nigeria
Sports History
2015 British Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins US F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas to clinch his second consecutive World Drivers Championship
- 2016 4 killed on a theme park ride at Dreamworld, in Queensland, Australia
- 2016 Paul Beatty becomes the 1st American to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel "The Sellout"
Historic Event
2017 Chinese Premier Xi Jinping unveils his new ruling council in the Great Hall of the People, none of the five are young enough to succeed him
- 2017 First fossil of a ichthyosaur (marine reptile, 152 million years old) found in India. Reports published in "Plos One" science journal.
