- 1071 William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and poet (d. 1126)
- 1197 Emperor Juntoku of Japan (d. 1242)
- 1592 Gustaf Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (d. 1657)
- 1688 Nadir Shah of Persia (d. 1747)
- 1689 King John V of Portugal (d. 1750)
- 1701 Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1756)
- 1729 Johann Reinhold Forster, German botanist (d. 1798)
- 1766 Hans CE Freiherr von Gagern, German advisor to Dutch king
- 1790 Jan Ackersdijk, Dutch political economist
- 1807 Magnus Huss, Swedish Physician who coined the word alcoholism and was the first to define it as a disease
- 1809 Volney E. Howard, American politician (d. 1889)
- 1810 Henry Bohlen, German-American Brigadier General (Union Army), Bremen, Germany (d. 1862)
- 1818 Leconte de Lisle, writer
Collis P. Huntington
1821 Collis P. Huntington, American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad), born in Harwinton, Connecticut (d. 1900)
Collis P. Huntington
- 1843 Stephen Babcock, Oneida County New York, American Agricultural Chemist (Babcock test and father of scientific dairying)
Louis Riel
1844 Louis Riel, Canadian politician, founder of the province of Manitoba and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies, born in Red River Colony, Rupert's Land, British North America (d. 1885)
Louis Riel
- 1847 Jacobus Herculas [Uncle Koos] de la Rey, South African politician
- 1865 Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (d. 1943)
- 1870 Ivan Bunin, Russian poet/novelist (Gentleman from San Francisco-Nobel 1933)
- 1870 Alfred Douglas, English partner of Oscar Wilde (d. 1945)
- 1873 Gustaf John Ramstedt, Finland-Swedish linguist and diplomat (d. 1950)
- 1876 Karl B Adam, German theologist (Christ our Brother)
- 1881 Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1883 Adolf A Joffe, Russian revolutionary/writer (Brest-Litovsk)
- 1886 Erik Bergman, Lutheran pastor (d. 1970)
- 1887 John Reed, journalist who reported on Mexican, Russian revolutions
- 1896 Charles Glen King, American biochemist and pioneer of nutrition research who isolated vitamin C, born in Entiat, Washington (d. 1988)
- 1898 Damaso Alonso, Spanish poet (Hijos de la ira)
- 1900 Edward Stettinius Jr. 48th US Secretary of State (1944-45) and diplomat, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1949)
- 1902 Frank Spedding, Canadian Chemist whose uranium extraction process helped make possible the first atomic bomb, born in Hamilton, Ontario
- 1903 George Beadle, US biologist (Nobel 1958)
- 1905 Karl Jansky, Czech, discoverer (cosmic radio emissions in 1932)
- 1906 Sidney Kingsley, US playwright (One in White, Darkness at Noon)
- 1907 Henriette Wyeth, 1st lady of american art
- 1908 Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologist/antifascist
- 1909 Litz Pisk, movement teacher
- 1913 Hans-Peter Tschudi, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 2002)
Robert Capa
1913 Robert Capa, Hungarian war photographer and photojournalist, born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (d. 1954)
Robert Capa
- 1915 Harry Hickox, Big Springs Tx, (Herb-Please Don't Eat the Daisies)
- 1916 Michael F Howard, British Major-General (Gold Stick to the Queen)
- 1919 Doris Lessing, Iranian novelist (Adore, Memoirs of a Survivor, Golden Notebook), born in Kermanshah, Iran (d. 2013)
- 1919 Kathleen Ankers, American scenic designer (d. 2001)
- 1920 Timothy Leary, Harvard prof (LSD taker)
- 1921 Georges Brassens, French poet/cabaret singer
- 1921 Alexander Kronrod, Russian mathematician (d. 1986)
- 1922 Thomas Titus Nkobi, South African ANC-leader (Alexandra-bus boycott 1957), born in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe (d. 1994)
- 1922 John H Chafee, (Sen-R-Rhode Island, 1976- )
- 1922 John Weidner, war hero, born in Brussels, Belgium
- 1925 Robert Rauschenberg, American painter (Gloria), born in Port Arthur, Texas (d. 2008)
- 1926 Jan A de Jonge, Dutch historian
- 1927 Helenard J "Allan" Hendrickse, leader of South African Labour Party
- 1927 Ray Stern, mother of radio personality Howard Stern
- 1929 Lev Yashin, Soviet-Russian football goalkeeper (Soviet Union 1954-1967)
- 1933 Donald Herod Peterson, Winona Mississippi, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 6)
- 1936 John Blashford-Snell, British Army officer (founded Operation Raleigh), born in Hereford, England
- 1936 Neville E Alexander, South african (10 years in Robbeneiland Jail)
- 1939 Joaquim Chissano, president of Mozambique (1986- )
- 1946 Richard Loncraine, director (Missionary, Deep Cover, Bellman & True)
- 1946 Kelvin MacKenzie, British media tycoon
- 1947 Edward F Feighan, (Rep-D-OH, 1983- )
- 1947 Raymond Bachand, French-Canadian politician and businessman
- 1947 Haley Barbour, American politician, governor of Mississippi
- 1948 Lynette Fromme, American who attempted to assassinate US President Gerald Ford
- 1949 Vasilios Magginas, Greek politician
- 1949 Glenn Ford, American freed death row inmate (wrongly spent 30 years in prison), born in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2015)
- 1953 Roy Ristie, Suriname/Neth radio host (Apintie, Kankantrie)
- 1954 Carla Dunlap, bodybuilder (Pumping Iron 2), born in Newark, New Jersey
- 1959 Arto Salminen, Finnish writer (d. 2005)
October in History
![The Tragedy of Aberfan]()
The Tragedy of Aberfan
One hundred and sixteen young children died on this day when an avalanche of coal tip waste and debris thundered down a hillside and engulfed their school.
October 21, 1966![Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent]()
Jumping Jacques Makes First Parachute Descent
Daredevil André-Jacques Garnerin took to the sky in a hydrogen balloon on this day and after cutting himself adrift performed the first ‘parachute’ descent.
October 22, 1797![Test of Time for the Date of Creation]()
Test of Time for the Date of Creation
The assertion by a 17th Century bishop that the universe was created on this day in the year 4004 BC was put to the test in a famous trial in the United States.
October 23, 4004 BC![The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale]()
The Charge of the Light Brigade, a Brave and Foolish Tale
The Charge of the Light Brigade is infamous as an act of bravery in the face all insurmountable odds. An event immortalized in poetry by Alfred Tennyson.
October 25, 1854
