Today's Historical Events
- 533 Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.
Event of Interest
1520 King Henry VIII of England orders bowling lanes at Whitehall
Henry VIII
Event of Interest
1522 Emperor Karel I names Hernán Cortés governor of Mexico
Hernán Cortés
- 1552 Khanate of Kazan is conquered by troops of Ivan Grozny.
- 1581 Commissioned by Catherine De Medici, the 1st ballet "Ballet Comique de la Reine" is staged in Paris
- 1582 Many Catholic countries switch to Gregorian calendar, skip 10 days
- 1598 Spanish general strategist Bernardino de Mendoza occupies fort Rhine
- 1641 Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve claims Montreal
- 1654 Prince Willem III appointed viceroy of Overijssel
- 1655 Jews of Lublin are massacred
- 1660 Asser Levy granted butcher's license (kosher meat) in New Amsterdam
- 1674 Torsåker witch trials begin, largest witch trials in Sweden, 71 beheaded and burned
- 1705 English fleet under Lord Peterborough occupies Barcelona
- 1724 Cornelis Steenoven is 1st archbishop of Old Catholic church in Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 1756 Saxon army surrenders to Prussia
Event of Interest
1764 Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
Event of Interest
1789 1st presidental tour-George Washington in New England
George Washington
Napoléon Bonaparte
Event of Interest
1827 Charles Darwin admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge
Charles Darwin
- 1846 Dr William Thomas Green Morton 1st public use of ether
Event of Interest
1860 11-year-old Grace Bedell writes to Abraham Lincoln telling him to grow a beard
Abraham Lincoln
- 1863 Cliff House opens in San Francisco, 1st of many on the site
- 1864 Confederate troops occupy Glasgow, Missouri
- 1866 Great fire in Quebec destroys 2,500 houses
- 1877 45th Congress (1877-79) convenes
- 1878 Edison Electric Light Company incorporated
- 1880 Cologne Cathedral, Germany completed, 633 years after it was begun
- 1880 Mexican soldiers kill Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.
- 1881 1st American fishing magazine, American Angler published
- 1883 Supreme Court declares Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional
- 1885 Hoss Radbourne pitches his 60th win of season
- 1886 Modest Mussorgsky's musical fantasy "Night on Bald Mountain" premieres in St. Petersburg's Kononov Hall, Russia
Event of Interest
1888 German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche decides to write his autobiography "Ecce Homo" on his 44th birthday
Friedrich Nietzsche
- 1889 Amsterdam Central Station officially opens
- 1890 Alabama Penny Savings Bank organizes in Birmingham
- 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus arrested accused of espionage in France
- 1897 Aaron and Samuel Bloch carry 1st Mail Pouch
- 1897 King Leopold II takes Belgian crown
- 1899 Cincinnati closes season with 16-1 & 19-3 victories over Cleve Spiders
- 1904 The Russians are driven back by the Japanese in the Battle of Shaho; both sides suffer high casualties: Japanese (16,000) and Russians (60,000)
Event of Interest
1905 Claude Debussy's "La Mer" premieres
Claude Debussy
- 1905 Union workers at NVV rejects safety demands
- 1912 Red Sox Tris Speaker's makes only world series unassisted double play, from the outfield
- 1913 Train crash in Liverpool during "Black Week"
- 1914 ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers) founded
- 1914 Battle of Warsaw, begins (ends Oct 21)
- 1914 Clayton Anti-trust Act passed (union & strike rights)
- 1917 Chicago White Sox beat NY Giants, 4 games to 2 in 14th World Series
Execution
Event of Interest
1924 US President Calvin Coolidge declares Statue of Liberty a national monument
Calvin Coolidge
Historic Publication
1924 André Breton publishes his "Surrealist Manifesto" with Éditions du Sagittaire in Paris
André Breton
Event of Interest
1928 German dirigible "Graf Zeppelin" lands in Lakehurst, NJ
Hugo Eckener
Contract of Interest
1928 Walter Johnson signs a 3-year contract to manage the Senators
Walter Johnson
Historic Publication
1937 Ernest Hemingway novel "To Have & Have Not" published
Ernest Hemingway
- 1937 Rather than accept any trade offers, the Yanks release Tony Lazzeri
- 1938 Robert Sherwoods "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" premieres in NYC
- 1939 LaGuardia Airport opens in NYC
- 1939 Yeshiva of Mir closes after 124 years
- 1940 -16] Heavy German air raid on London, 400 killed
- 1940 London's Waterloo Station bombed by German luftwaffe
Film Release
1940 "The Great Dictator", a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin released
Charlie Chaplin
- 1941 1st mass deportation of German Jews to Eastern Europe
Event of Interest
1941 Hideki Tojo appointed Prime Minister of Imperial Japan
Hideki Tojo
- 1941 Jews caught outside Nazi Ghetto walls in occupied Poland could be put to death
- 1942 German 6th Army occupies Tractorenfabriek, 3,000 Germans die
- 1944 The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes over the power in Hungary.
- 1945 Baseball Attendance hits record 10.28 million (Tigers 1.28 is highest)
- 1946 Smallest World Series share since 1918 (Cards $3,748, Red Sox $2,140)
- 1946 St Louis Cards beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3 in 43rd World Series
- 1946 Enos Slaughter scores from 1st on a single in World Series
- 1948 China's Red army occupies Chinchov
- 1949 Administration of territory of Manipur taken over by Indian government
- 1949 Tripura accedes to Indian union
- 1951 Egyptian parliament accept denounces Suez Canal Treaty
- 1951 Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes synthesizes the first oral contraceptive
Television Debut
1951 "I Love Lucy", starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, debuts on CBS
Desi Arnaz
Lucille Ball
- 1952 Arthur Laurent's "Time of the Cuckoo" premieres in NYC
Historic Publication
1952 "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams is published by Harper & Brothers
E. B. White
- 1953 John Patrick's "Teahouse of the August Moon" premieres in New York
- 1953 KOIN TV channel 6 in Portland, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WJNL (now WFAT) TV channel 19 in Johnstown, PA (IND) begins
- 1954 Hurricane Hazel makes landfall in the US in North Carolina as a category 4 hurricane, 195 die in US and Canada
- 1954 KLTV TV channel 7 in Tyler-Longview, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1956 Pyotr Bolotnikov runs world record 10k (28:42.8)
- 1956 William J. Brennan, Jr. is appointed to US Supreme Court
- 1956 Yankees Enos Slaughter scores from 1st on a single in World Series
- 1956 First plane to land safely on water - Pan Am Flight 6 San Francisco to Honolulu, all 24 passengers and 7 crew survive
- 1957 Giants trade Minneapolis franchise to Red Sox for SF Seals-franchises only, not the players
- 1958 Tunisia drops diplomatic relations with Egypt
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1959 "Untouchables" premieres
- 1959 KNDO TV channel 23 in Yakima, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1960 "Laughs & Other Events" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 8 performances
Event of Interest
1961 LPGA Championship, Stardust CC: Mickey Wright convincingly wins her 3rd LPGA title by 9 strokes from Louise Suggs
Mickey Wright
Louise Suggs
Event of Interest
1963 Ludwig Erhard succeeds Konrad Adenauer as Chancellor of West Germany
Konrad Adenauer
- 1964 Craig Breedlove sets auto speed record of 846.97 kph
- 1964 St Louis Cardinals beat NY Yankees, 4 games to 3 in 61st World Series
- 1964 NY Yankees appears in 14 & win 9 of last 16 World Series
- 1964 American Al Oerter wins his third of 4 consecutive Olympic men's discus titles at the Tokyo Olympics; beats Czech Ludvík Daněk by 0.08m
- 1964 American Don Schollander swims a world record 4:12.2 to win the 400m freestyle gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; second of Schollander's 4 gold medals at the Games
- 1964 American sprinter Bob Hayes equals world record 10.0s to beat Cuba's Enrique Figuerola by 0.2s and win the men's 100m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
- 1964 Soviet rower Vyacheslav Ivanov wins his third consecutive Olympic men's single sculls gold medal at the Tokyo Games; also the reigning World and European champion
- 1964 Australian swimmer Ian O'Brien sets world record 2:27.8 to beat Soviet Georgy Prokopenko by 0.4s and win men's 200m breaststroke gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
- 1964 US women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Sharon Stouder, Donna de Varona, Lillian Watson & Kathy Ellis swims world record 4:03.8 to beat Australia by 3.1s and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
- 1965 Dodgers & Sandy Koufax win 7th game of 62nd World Series vs Twins
- 1965 WEMT (now WVII) TV channel 7 in Bangor, ME (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1966 Australia bans Troggs' "I Can't Control Myself" as "terribly obscene"
Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1966 Black Panther Party created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale
- 1968 AL expansion draft, KC pick Roger Nelson & Pilots pick Don Mincher 1st
- 1968 Al Oerter of the US wins the men's discus in Olympic record 64.78m at the Mexico City Games; Oerter's unprecedented 4th consecutive Olympic discus title
- 1968 The Nationalist Party of Northern Ireland (NPNI) withdraws from its role as 'official' opposition within the Northern Ireland parliament at Stormont
- 1968 Australian Ralph Doubell runs a world record 1:44.40 to beat Kenyan Wilson Kiprugut and win the men's 800m at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1968 British athlete David Hemery sets a world record 48.12s to beat Gerhard Hennige of West Germany and take the gold medal in the men's 400m hurdles at the Mexico City Olympics
- 1968 American sprinter Wyomia Tyus wins her second consecutive Olympic 100m title with a world record 11.08s; beats team mate Barbara Ferrell by 0.08s for the gold medal at the Mexico City Games
- 1969 Bank of America World Headquarters (555 California) dedicated
- 1969 Madison Square Garden TV Network begins (Rangers vs North Stars)
- 1969 NY Met Ron Swoboda's spectacular diving catch of sinking liner with runners at 1st & 3rd in 9th, Mets win in 10th in World Series game
- 1969 Oriole Earl Weaver becomes 1st manager ejected in a World Series
- 1969 Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war
Music Awards
1969 3rd Country Music Association Award: Johnny Cash & Tammy Wynette wins
Johnny Cash
Tammy Wynette
Election of Interest
1970 Anwar Sadat elected 3rd President of Egypt, succeeding Gamal Abdel Nasser
Anwar Sadat
- 1971 The start of the 2,500-year celebration of Iran, celebrating the birth of Persia
- 1972 61st Davis Cup: USA beats Romania in Bucharest (3-2)
- 1972 Omni in Atlanta opens - Hawks beat NY Knicks 109-101
- 1973 7th Country Music Association Award: Roy Clark wins
- 1973 Tanks attack Thailand demonstrating students, 300 killed
- 1974 National Guard mobilizes to restore order in Boston school busing
- 1974 Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Paul J Flory (macro molecules)
- 1974 Washington Capitals 1st NHL tie, playing LA Kings to 1-1 tie
- 1975 Iceland moves intl boundary from 50 to 200 miles
- 1976 1st debate of major-ticket VP nominees Mondale (D) vs Dole (R)
Music Single
1976 Ringo Starr releases single "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll"
Ringo Starr
- 1977 Arkansas' Steve Little kicks a record tying 67 yard field goal
- 1977 Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life" goes #1 & stays #1 for 10 weeks
- 1977 Don Ritchie runs world record 100 mile (11:30:51)
- 1977 "Serpentine Fire" single released by Earth, Wind & Fire (Billboard Song of the Year 1978)
- 1978 Silvia Bertolaccini wins LPGA Civitan Golf Open
- 1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1979 1st Monday night game from NYC, Jets beat Vikings 14-7 (Shea Stad)
- 1979 Chinese premier Hwa Kwofeng visits Paris
- 1979 Military coup in El Salvador: President Carlos Romero flees
Event of Interest
1979 NY Knicks retire 2nd number, # 10, Walt Frazier
Walt Frazier
Event of Interest
1980 George Brett is forced out of World Series with hemorrhoids
George Brett
- 1980 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Lawrence R Klein
- 1981 Professional cheerleader Krazy George Henderson leads what is thought to be the first audience wave in Oakland, California.
- 1981 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Oakland Athletics, 3 games to 0
- 1983 Black Hawks & Maple Leafs combine for fastest 5 goals (84 seconds)
- 1983 Columbia beats Yale 21-18 in football, will lose next 44 games
- 1983 US Marine sharpshooters kill 5 snipers at Beirut International Airport
- 1983 Nelson Piquet of Brazil finishes 3rd in the season ending South African Grand Prix at Kyalami to clinch his second World Formula 1 Drivers title; wins by 2 points from Alain Prost
- 1984 Central Intelligence Agency Information Act passes
- 1984 Centrum party expels 2nd Member of parliament Janmaat due to fraud
- 1985 Nobel prize for economics awarded to Franco Modigliani
- 1985 Shuttle Columbia carries Spacelab into orbit
- 1985 Shelley Taylor of Australia makes fastest swim ever around Manhattan Island, doing it in 6 hours 12 minutes 29 seconds
- 1986 Longest post season game, Mets beat Astros 7-6 in 16 & win NL pennant
- 1986 MLB National League Championship: New York Mets beat Houston Astros, 4 games to 2
- 1986 MLB American League Championship: Boston Red Sox beat California Angels, 4 games to 3
- 1987 "Late Nite Comic" opens at Ritz Theater NYC for 4 performances
- 1987 6th Belgium government of Martens falls
- 1987 Coup in Burkina Faso, president Sankara dies
- 1987 Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" premieres in NYC
- 1987 NFL Players Association orders an end to 24 day strike; union fails to achieve demands short-term with no collective bargaining agreement in place
- 1987 The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.
- 1988 Amnesty International's Global Concert Tour ends in Buenos Aires
- 1988 NCAA record rushing yardage (768 yards-Oklahoma)
- 1988 With 2 outs in bottom of 9th, an injured Kirk Gibson hits dramatic 2 run HR to give Dodgers a 5-4 win in 1st game of World Series
Event of Interest
1989 American radio and television evangelist Billy Graham is given the 1,900th star on Hollywood Boulevard, the first clergyman to be granted a star
Billy Graham
Event of Interest
1989 South African President F. W. de Klerk frees ANC Founder Walter Sisulu and four other political prisoners
F. W. de Klerk
Event of Interest
1989 Wayne Gretzky passes Gordie Howes as NHL's all time top scorer
Wayne Gretzky
Nobel Prize
1990 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev wins Nobel Peace Prize
Mikhail Gorbachev
- 1991 Clarence Thomas is confirmed as Supreme Court Justice (52-48)
- 1992 Charles Taylor launches an offensive against Monrovia Liberia
- 1992 Howard Stern radio show begins broadcasting on WLUP-AM, Chicago
- 1992 NYC Subway motorman Robert Ray convicted of manslaughter in death of 5 riders, when he fell asleep drunk while in control of train
- 1993 Amstel brewery on Curacao produces 1,000,000,000th bottle
Nobel Prize
1993 Nelson Mandela and South African President F. W. de Klerk awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Nelson Mandela
F. W. de Klerk
- 1994 Botswana President Ketumile Masires BDP wins parliamentary election
- 1994 President Jean-Baptiste Aristide returns to Haiti
- 1995 Annika Sörenstam wins LPGA World Championship of Women's Golf
- 1995 Carolina Panthers win 1st game ever beating NY Jets 26-15
- 1997 Britain's Andy Green sets jet-powered car record (763.035 mph)
- 1997 Former rep Dan Rostenkowski released from custody for mail fraud
Event of Interest
1997 NY jury awards boxer Mitch Green $45,000 in civil lawsuit against Mike Tyson, for street brawl in 1988
Mike Tyson
Television Debut
2000 Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" debuts on HBO
Larry David
- 2001 NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
- 2001 The first tanker loading of the new $2.5-billion Kazakh-Russia Pipeline takes place
- 2003 China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.
- 2003 The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi collides with a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
- 2003 MLB National League Championship: Florida Marlins beat Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 3
- 2005 Iraqi constitution ratification vote
- 2005 Riot in Toledo, Ohio breaks out during a National Socialist/Neo-Nazi protest; over 100 are arrested.
- 2007 Fox Business Network (FBN), American financial cable network is launched
- 2007 17 Activists in Aotearoa New Zealand arrested in the country's first post 9/11 anti-terrorism raids across the country.
- 2007 MLB National League Championship: Colorado Rockies beat Arizona Diamondbacks, 4 games to 0
- 2008 MLB National League Championship: Philadelphia Phillies beat Los Angeles Dodgers, 4 games to 1
- 2011 Global protests break out in 951 cities in 82 countries
- 2011 Legoland Florida (the world's largest Legoland theme park) opens in Winter Haven, Florida.
- 2011 MLB American League Championship: Texas Rangers beat Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 2
- 2012 Hilary Mantel wins the 2012 Man Booker Prize for her novel "Bring Up the Bodies"
Music Single
2013 Dove Cameron releases a single, "Better In Stereo"
Dove Cameron
Event of Interest
2013 Walmart announces that Doug McMillon, head of their International Division, will become its next CEO
Doug McMillon
- 2014 MLB American League Championship: Kansas City Royals beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 0
- 2017 500 wildfires occur in Portugal and Northern Spain fanned by winds from Hurricane Ophelia, killing at least 35
- 2017 Actress Alyssa Milano tweeting “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’" prompts flood of replies across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
- 2017 60 Minutes and The Washington Post publish story detailing how US Congress passed bill sponsered by Tom Marino hindering fight against opioid crisis
- 2017 Austrian legislative elections: Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) win most seats (62), led by Sebastian Kurz (31)
- 2018 American retailer Sears files for bankruptcy
- 2018 At least 180,000 migrants driven out of Anglo and back into the Democratic Republic of Congo
- 2018 Indian minister and editor MJ Akbar files a defamation case after being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in #MeToo case
Articles on Events in October
The Great Stand on the Ugra River
On one side of the Ugra River stood the Mongol Golden Horde, on the other, Ivan III, Grand Prince of the rising Muscovy Principality. At stake, everything.
October 8, 1480
Grim History of London's Speakers' Corner
Nowhere in England is the principal of free speech embodied more than at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park. But this right was won through death and protest.
October 14, 1855
Hurricane on the Way? Don't Worry
A cosy assurance from a BBC weather forecaster for viewers not to worry about an impending storm has gone down as the most spectacular mis-forecast in history.
October 15, 1987
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