1311 | * | The Council of Vienne was convened, called by Clement V. During its three sessions, the council suppressed the Knights Templars (the principal military-religious order of the Middle Ages). | Ref: 5 |
1649 | * | The American colony of Maine passed legislation granting religious freedom to all its citizens, on condition that those of contrary religious persuasions behave acceptably. | Ref: 5 |
1691 | * | (Salem Witch Trials) Villagers vow to drive the new minister, Samuel Parris, out of Salem and stop contributing to his salary. | Ref: 87 |
1701 | * | Yale Univesrsity is founded as The Collegiate School of Kilingworth, Connecticut by Congregationalists who consider Harvard too liberal. | Ref: 2 |
1789 | * | In Philadelphia, as the second general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church closed, a church constitution had been adopted. Canons of the new denomination were ratified and a revised version of the "Book of Common Prayer" was authorized. | Ref: 5 |
1804 | * | Simon Kenton is elected Brigadier General of the Third Brigade of the First Division of the Ohio militia. | Ref: 58 |
1829 | * | The Tremont Hotel opened in Boston. It was called the first modern hotel in America. Each of the Tremont's luxurious 170 rooms went for $2 a day and included four meals! | Ref: 4 |
1834 | * | Houses of Parliament burn down in London. | Ref: 10 |
1836 | * | Samuel Houston sworn in as first president of the Republic of Texas having been elected 9/5 . | Ref: 10 |
1841 | * | Queens University in Kingston is chartered. | Ref: 5 |
1846 | * | Donner Party: The Party reaches Truckee Lake (present-day Reno). | Ref: 27 |
1849 | * | Avery College establishes in Allegheny, PA. | Ref: 5 |
1859 | * | John Brown leads a group of 21 followers on a military raid of the Federal arsenal of Harpers Ferry, located in present-day West Virginia. | Ref: 3 |
1867 | * | Alaska adopts the Gregorian calendar, crosses intl date line. | Ref: 5 |
1869 |   | A hotel in Boston becomes the 1st to have indoor plumbing | Ref: 5 |
1869 | * | Australian bushranger and folk hero Edward "Ned" Kelly, is charged with robbery and violence. Sergeant Whelan stated that the prisoner had robbed Ah Fook of ten shillings and threatened to beat him to death two days earlier. Fourteen year old Kelly was remanded, without bail and locked up. Ref |   |
1884 |   | At Meridian Conference in Washington D.C. 25 nations agree to make Greenwich 'the home of time.' | Ref: 10 |
1901 | * | President Theodore Roosevelt incites controversy by inviting black leader Booker T. Washington to the White House. | Ref: 2 |
1907 | * | Run on Knickerbocker Trust Company by thousands of frightened depositors starts Panic of 1907. | Ref: 10 |
1910 | * | Dr. Crippin convicted of murdering his wife. | Ref: 10 |
1916 | * | Margaret Sanger and Ethel Byrne open the first U.S. birth control clinic in New York, but it was shut down ten days later and the women were imprisoned. | Ref: 70 |
1925 | * | Texas School Board prohibits teaching of evolution. | Ref: 5 |
1934 |   | Mao Tse-tung decides to abandon his base in Kiangsi due to attacks from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. With his pregnant wife and about 30,000 Red Army troops, he sets out on the "Long March." | Ref: 2 |
1940 | * | Lottery for first US WW II draftees held; #158 drawn 1st. | Ref: 5 |
1940 | * | Benjamin O. Davis becomes the U.S. Army's first African American Brigadier General. | Ref: 2 |
1940 | * | Warsaw Ghetto established. | Ref: 5 |
1943 | * | Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly officially opened the city's new subway system during a ceremony at the State and Madison street station. | Ref: 5 |
1943 | * | Jews in Rome rounded up, with over 1,000 sent to Auschwitz. | Ref: 35 |
1945 | * | UN's Food & Agriculture Organization comes into existence. | Ref: 5 |
1945 | * | Oppenheimer resigns as director of Los Alamos, accepting a post at Caltech. | Ref: 91 |
1952 | * | Woolworth's at Powell & Market (SF) opens. | Ref: 5 |
1956 | * | (US Supreme Court Justice) William J Brennan Jr becomes a Supreme Court Justice. | Ref: 5 |
1956 | * | 11,000 carat emerald found in northern Transvaal, South Africa by Charles Kempt and J. Botes. | Ref: 10 |
1957 | * | Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visit Williamsburg Virginia. | Ref: 5 |
1962 | * | (US Supreme Court Justice) Byron R White becomes a Supreme Court Justice. | Ref: 5 |
1962 | * | The Cuban missile crisis began as President Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba. | Ref: 70 |
1964 | * | Brezhnev & Kosygin replace Krushchev as head of Russia. | Ref: 5 |
1964 | * | China's first atomic bomb was exploded, becoming the world's fifth nuclear power. | Ref: 70 |
1964 | * | Harold Wilson of the Labor Party assumed office as prime minister of Great Britain, succeeding Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home. | Ref: 6 |
1970 | * | Anwar Sadat is elected president of Egypt, succeeding the late Gamal Abdel Nasser. | Ref: 70 |
1971 | * | Amphitheater in McLaren Park is dedicated in SF. | Ref: 5 |
1973 | * | Maynard Jackson elected mayor of Atlanta. | Ref: 5 |
1973 | * | Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize; Tho declined the award. | Ref: 70 |
1975 | * | Juan Carlos proclaimed Emperor of Spain. | Ref: 10 |
1978 | * | Archbishop Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope since Hadrian VI (1522-3). | Ref: 70 |
1982 | * | Shultz warns US will withdraw from UN if they vote to exclude Israel. | Ref: 5 |
1984 | * | Bishop Desmond Tutu, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “his role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.” | Ref: 4 |
1985 | * | Intel introduces 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip. | Ref: 5 |
1985 | * | A body washed ashore in Syria was identified as Leon Klinghoffer, slain in hijacking of Achille Lauro | Ref: 62 |
1986 |   | Armand Hammer returns to US with Jewish refusenik David Goldfarb. | Ref: 5 |
1986 | * | US govt closes down due to budget problems. | Ref: 5 |
1987 | * | 175-kph winds cause blackout in London, much of southern England. | Ref: 5 |
1987 | * | A 58-and-a-half-hour drama in Midland, TX, ended happily as rescuers freed Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl trapped in an abandoned well. | Ref: 6 |
1991 | * | US Supreme Court begins to hear Joseph Doherty case. | Ref: 5 |
1995 | * | A vast throng of black men gathered in Washington for the "Million Man March" led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. | Ref: 70 |
1996 | * | The world ended today according to the prediction of Irish Archbishop James Ussher. | Ref: 10 |
1998 |   | British police arrested former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London for questioning about allegations that he had murdered Spanish citizens during his years in power. | Ref: 70 |
1998 | * | David Trimble and John Hume were named recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the Northern Ireland peace accord. | Ref: 70 |
2001 | * | Twelve Senate offices were closed and hundreds of staffers were tested for anthrax. | Ref: 70 |
2002 | * | Ana Belen Montes, 46, former senior analyst for Cuban affairs for the Defense Intelligence Agency is sentenced to 25 years in prison for spying for Cuba by UD District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina. (Columbus Dispatch, p A7, 10/17/2002) |   |
2002 | * | Arthur Anderson LLP, Enron's one-time auditor, is sentenced to five years probation and fined $500,000 for obstruction of justice for its handling of Enron Corporation financial documentation to thwart a federal probe of the energy company's finances. (Columbus Dispatch, p E1, 10/17/2002) |   |
2002 | * | Turks and Caicos Islands abolishes death penalty; Now no one on British soil can be sentenced to death. | Ref: 10 |
2002 | * | The White House announced that North Korea had disclosed it had a nuclear weapons program. | Ref: 70 |
2003 | * | Less than a year after President Bush announces a nationwide smallpox vaccination plan to counter potential bio-terrorism attacks, the plan "ceases". Issues of cardiac complications, liability and compensation contribute to the number of less than 40,000 vaccinated of a planned 450,000. (USA Today, p 1A, 10/16/2003) | Ref: 13 |
1805 | * | Lewis & Clark: Having raced down the Clearwater, then the Snake rivers, they reach the Columbia. The river teems with salmon – Clark estimates 10,000 pounds of salmon drying in one village – but the men want meat to eat, so they buy dogs from the Indians. | Ref: 65 |
1846 | * | Dentist (he never attended dental or medical school) William Morton uses ether as an anesthetic for the first time on a patient at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Morton administered the anesthetic to Gilbert Abbott, a printer who had come to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of a vascular tumor on his jaw. Ref |   |
1848 | * | First US homeopathic medical college opens in Pennsylvania. | Ref: 5 |
1908 | * | The first airplane flight in England is made at Farnsborough, by Samuel Cody, a U.S. citizen. | Ref: 2 |
1909 | * | A year and a day before Blanche Scott, Elise Deroche becomes first woman to make solo flight. | Ref: 10 |
1928 | * | The frosted electric light bulb was patented by Marvin Pipkin. | Ref: 4 |
1948 | * | Xerox introduces its copier 10 years after it was invented. | Ref: 10 |
1969 | * | Soyuz 6 returns to Earth. | Ref: 5 |
1976 | * | Soyuz 23 returns to Earth. | Ref: 5 |
1982 | * | Mt Palomar Observatory first to detect Halley's comet on 13th return. | Ref: 5 |
1984 | * | A baboon heart is transplanted into 15-day-old Baby Fae--the first transplant of the kind--at Loma Linda University Medical Center, CA. Baby Fae lives until November 15. | Ref: 2 |
1985 | * | Challenger vehicle moves to the launch pad for STS 61A mission. | Ref: 5 |
1999 | * | A NY Air National Guard plane rescued Dr. Jerri Nielsen from a South Pole research center after she'd spent five months isolated by the Antarctic winter, which forced her to treat herself for a breast lump. | Ref: 70 |
1775 | * | Portland, Maine burned by British. | Ref: 5 |
1781 | * | Cornwallis tries to escape across the York River but was halted by a sudden storm. |   |
1781 | * | Washington takes Yorktown. | Ref: 5 |
1813 | * | Napoleon's major defeat at Battle of Leipzig by Austria, Prussia, Russian & Swedes. | Ref: 10 |
1849 | * | British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras. | Ref: 5 |
1861 | * | Confederacy starts selling postage stamps. | Ref: 5 |
1863 | * | President Lincoln appoints Gen. Grant to command all operations in the western theater. |   |
1940 | * | In convoy SC-7 in the North Atlantic, submarine U-124 torpedoes and sinks the merchant ship Trevisa south of Iceland, en route to Aberdeen, Scotland. 7 are killed. |   |
1941 | * | The Germans take Odessa. | Ref: 36 |
1941 | * | Germany advances within 60 miles (96 K) of Moscow. | Ref: 5 |
1944 | * | The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division takes Woensdrecht at the entrance to South Beveland. |   |
1973 |   | Israeli General Ariel Sharon crosses the Suez Canal and begins to encircle two Egyptian armies. | Ref: 2 |
1990 | * | US forces reach 200,000 in the Persian Gulf. | Ref: 5 |
2002 | * | President George W. Bush signed a congressional resolution authorizing war against Iraq. | Ref: 70 |
1909 | * | The first seesaw World Series ended , after each team -- Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Detroit Tigers -- had won alternately until game seven. Pittsburgh pitcher Babe Adams came through with a 6-hit, 8-0 win over Detroit. It was his third complete-game victory and gave the Pirates their first world championship. | Ref: 4 |
1910 | * | Ban Johnson, American League president, declares Tiger outfielder Ty Cobb the league's batting champ after questioning Nap Lajoie's suspicious eight-hit performance in a doubleheader against the Browns. | Ref: 1 |
1912 | * | Giant center fielder Fred Snodgrass's error in the 10th inning leads to the Red Sox scoring two runs en route to a 3-2 World Series deciding victory. | Ref: 1 |
1921 | * | Jim Conzelman takes over as coach of Rock Island Independents from Frank Coughlin-only mid-game coaching change in NFL history. | Ref: 5 |
1942 | * | Natl Boxing Assn freezes titles of those serving in armed services. | Ref: 5 |
1949 | * | Brooklyn does not renew Branch Rickey's contract as president of the Dodgers. | Ref: 1 |
1960 | * | In the first structural change since the turn of the century, the National League votes to admit Houston and NY into the Senior Circuit. | Ref: 1 |
1962 | * | Yanks (20th championship) beat SF Giants 4 games to 3 in 59th World Series (NY Yankees appear in 12 & win 9 of last 14 World Series). | Ref: 5 |
1968 | * | Milwaukee Bucks play their first game losing 89-84 to Chicago Bulls. | Ref: 5 |
1968 | * | Jim Dorey sets Toronto Maple Leaf penalty records (48 mins on 9 penalties in a game & 44 minutes on 7 penalties in a period). | Ref: 5 |
1968 | * | During Olympics Tommie Smith & John Carlos give black power salute. | Ref: 5 |
1969 | * | A 100-1 shot at the beginning of the season, the New York Mets win their first World Series baseball championship, upsetting the Orioles, 4 games to 1. | Ref: 1 |
1969 | * | New York Mets Donn Clendenon and Al Weis power home runs while Jerry Koosman tosses a five-hitter as the Mets win their first World Championship with a 5-3 victory over the Orioles before 57,397 delirious fans at Shea. | Ref: 86 |
1976 | * | Tony Perez from the Reds is the 1st DH in World Series history. |   |
1976 | * | Toronto Maple Leaf Lanny McDonald scores a hat trick in 2 min 54 sec. | Ref: 5 |
1982 | * | Devils first road victory 6-5 over Penguins. | Ref: 5 |
1983 | * | The Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 1 in the World Series.The Phillies were led by a group of veterans nicknamed The Wheeze Kids: Pete Rose (age 42), Joe Morgan (40), Tony Perez (41) and Steve Carlton (38). | Ref: 4 |
1985 | * | In Game 6 of the NLCS, Cardinal first baseman Jack Clark's dramatic come-from-behind ninth inning HR with two outs and two on stuns a sold-out Dodger Stadium. St. Louis wins the game, 7-5 and captures the National League flag. | Ref: 1 |
1987 | * | WBA, WBC & IBF undisputed, as they say, World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson stopped Tyrell Biggs (TKO) in the seventh round at Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, NJ. | Ref: 4 |
1988 | * | Orel Hirsheiser, first to pitch shutout in playoff & world series (World Series #85). | Ref: 5 |
1990 | * | In Game 1 of the World Series, Oakland's ten-game post-season winning streak ends as the Reds beat the A's, 7-0. Reds outfielder Eric Davis becomes the 22nd player to hit a homer in his first Fall Classic at-bat. | Ref: 1 |
1992 | * | Colorado Rockies' Club officials, civic leaders and other dignitaries break ground on the future site of Coors Field. | Ref: 86 |
1996 | * | The Colorado Rockies name Clint Hurdle, minor league roving hitting instructor since 1993, batting coach. | Ref: 86 |
1997 | * | Boxer Mike Tyson is ordered to pay boxer Mitch Green $45,000 even though a jury ruled the former heavyweight champion was provoked into a Harlem street fight in 1988. | Ref: 98 |
2000 | * | Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning and his doctors announce he has a kidney disorder. (USA Today, p 1C, 11/25/2003) | Ref: 13 |
2000 | * | The Mets win their fourth National League Pennant by beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1. | Ref: 86 |
2003 | * | The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5, in the 7th game of the ALCS, on Aaron Boone's solo home run in the bottom of the 11th inning at Yankee Stadium. (USA Today, p 1C, 10/17/2003) | Ref: 13 |
1847 |   | Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" published in England. | Ref: 10 |
1883 | * | Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York at Broadway & 39th with Gounod's "Faust.” | Ref: 10 |
1893 | * | Song which later would become "Happy Birthday to You" first published by Hill Sisters in Kentucky. | Ref: 10 |
1923 | * | "Alice's Wonderland" distribution deal signed; the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio is born.   |
1925 | * | First weekly radio broadcasts from Britain to continent. | Ref: 10 |
1938 | * | Billy the Kid, a ballet by Aaron Copland, opens in Chicago. | Ref: 2 |
1939 |   | Radio listeners welcomed Right to Happiness on the NBC Blue network. The 15-minute radio drama turned out to be one of the longest-running radio shows of its kind. It moved over to CBS in 1941, then back to NBC in 1942. Fourteen years later Right to Happiness returned to CBS where it stayed until its last days in 1960. The show had a theme song, Song of the Soul, and what seemed like a cast of thousands. It just took a lot of different radio actors to play the continuing roles over a 21-year period. | Ref: 4 |
1941 | * | "Gordo" comic strip (by Gus Arriola) first appears in newspapers. | Ref: 5 |
1941 | * | Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard was recorded by the Will Bradley Orchestra on Columbia. Ray McKinley was featured. | Ref: 4 |
1944 |   | The Robe, by Lloyd Douglas, was published this day. Nine years later the novel was made into a movie and captured three Oscars. It is seen annually (around the Easter holiday) on TV. | Ref: 4 |
1945 |   | Barry Fitzgerald starred as Judge Barnard Fitz in His Honor, the Barber, which debuted on NBC radio. | Ref: 4 |
1955 |   | Upon the death of Ruth Crowley, Mrs. Jules `Eppie' Lederer assumes the role of the advice columnist under the pen name, Ann Landers. Initially, the column was syndicated in 26 newspapers. died June 22, 2002 | Ref: 4 |
1972 | * | John C. Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival called it a career ... and the group disbanded. Fogerty would continue in a solo career with big hits including, Centerfield and The Old Man Down the Road. | Ref: 4 |
1976 | * | Memphis, TN disc jockey Rick Dees and his ‘Cast of Idiots’ made it all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with the immortal Disco Duck (Part 1). Dees is still around, but not as a recording artist. He’s a DJ in Los Angeles and is hosting several varieties of the Weekly Top 40 show, syndicated around the world. | Ref: 4 |
1976 | * | Stevie Wonder’s album, Songs in the Key of Life wound up at number one in the U.S. It turned out to be no fluke. With greats, such as Sir Duke, Isn’t She Lovely and I Wish, the double-album stayed at #1 for 14 weeks. Other tracks: Love’s in Need of Love Today, Have a Talk with God, Village Ghetto Land, Contusion, Knocks Me Off My Feet, Pastime Paradise, Summer Soft, Ordinary Pain, Saturn, Ebony Eyes, Joy Inside My Tears, Black Man, Ngiculela - Es Una Historia/I Am S inging, If It’s Magic, As, Another Star, All Day Sucker, Easy Goin’ Evening (My Mama’s Call). | Ref: 4 |
1982 |   | Citywide animation strike is defeated and producers send most Saturday morning cartoons to be done overseas. | Ref: 73 |
1986 | * | Chuck Berry celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert in his home town of St. Louis, Missouri (at the Fox Theatre). The show was organized by Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones) and the concert was used in a documentary titled, Hail! Hail! Rock ’N’ Roll, an overview of Berry’s career. | Ref: 4 |
1992 | * | Sinead O’Connor was booed off the stage at a show honoring Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden (famous for booing folks off the stage), NY. The crowd was acting in disapproval of O’Connor’s tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live October 3, 1992. | Ref: 4 |
1430 |   | James II of Scotland is born. | Ref: 68 |
1708 | * | Albrecht von Haller, Switzerlan, experimental physiology (Acad of Science), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1752 | * | Birth of Johann G. Eichhorn, German Old Testament scholar. Eichhorn was a pioneer in "higher criticism," which evaluated Scripture through literary analysis and historical evidence, rather than by the unquestioned authority of systematized religious tradition. | Ref: 5 |
1758 | * | Noah Webster lexicographer (Webster's Dictionary), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1792 | * | Francisco Moraz n (L) president of Central America (1830-40), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1797 | * | Lord Cardigan, leader of the famed Light Brigade, is born. | Ref: 2 |
1827 | * | Arnold B"cklin Switzerland, landscape/allegory painter, is born. | Ref: 5 |
1851 | * | James Ten Eyck champion rower/coach (Ten Eyck Trophy namesake), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1854 | * | Playwrite (Picture of Dorian Gray) Oscar (Fingal O’Flahertie Wills) Wilde is born in Dublin Ireland. | Ref: 70 |
1863 | * | Sir Austen Chamberlain British Foreign Secretary (Nobel 1925), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1886 | * | David Ben-Gurion Plonsk Poland, first PM of Israel (1948-53, 55), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1888 | * | Eugene (Gladstone) O'Neill NYC, dramatist (Desire Under the Elms-Nobel 1936), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1890 | * | Paul Strand NYC, photographer (Native Land-1942), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1890 | * | Michael Collins, Irish revolutionary leader and statesman, is born. | Ref: 70 |
1898 | * | Arthur H Dean lawyer/advisor to FDR, is born. | Ref: 5 |
1898 | * | (US Supreme Court Justice) William Orville Douglas, American associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1939-75), is born. | Ref: 70 |
1900 | * | Goose (Leon Allen) Goslin Baseball Hall of Famer: Washington Nationals [World Series: 1924, 1925, 1933], St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1934, 1935/all-star: 1936]; drove in 100 or more runs on eleven occasions, hit .300 or better eleven times; career: .316 average, 2735 hits, 37 more in World Series competition; is born. | Ref: 4 |
1900 | * | Lloyd Corrigan SF, actor (Papa Dodger-Willy, Prof McKillup-Hank), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1903 | * | Ford Lee Buck Washington, American jazz musician | Ref: 70 |
1905 | * | Rex Bell Chicago, cowboy (Cowboys & Injuns), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1906 | * | Cleanth Brooks, Kentucky-born writer and educator, is born. | Ref: 2 |
1906 | * | George Martin Lott Jr tennis champ (1931 US Open runner-up), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1908 | * | Enver Hoxha post-war leader of Albania (1944-85), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1913 | * | Alice Pearce NYC, comedienne/actress (Gladys Kravitz-Bewitched), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1919 | * | Kathleen Winsor, writer Forever Amber, is born. | Ref: 2 |
1921 | * | Linda Darnell Dallas, TX, actress (Unfaithfully Yours, 2nd Chance), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1921 | * | Michael Conrad Washington Hgts NY, actor (Delvecchio, Hill St Blues), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1922 | * | Max Bygraves London, actor (Tom Brown's School Days), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1923 | * | Linda Darnell actress: Dakota Incident, Blackbeard the Pirate, Anna and the King of Siam, Forever Amber, Buffalo Bill, The Mark of Zorro; is born. | Ref: 4 |
1923 | * | Bert Kaempfert musician: Wonderland by Night, Red Roses for a Blue Lady, Three O’Clock in the Morning, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1925 | * | Angela Lansbury London England, actress (Jessica-Murder She Wrote), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1927 | * | Gunter (Wilhelm) Grass novelist: Dog Years, The Tin Drum; won 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1927 | * | Lee Montague London England, actor (Uncle Sasha-Holocaust), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1930 | * | Dan Pagis, Romanian-born Israeli poet, is born. | Ref: 2 |
1931 | * | Charles W Colson presidential adviser, Watergate figure, is born. | Ref: 5 |
1932 | * | Heavyweight boxing champion Ingemar Johansson is born in Gothenburg, Sweden. | Ref: 4 |
1932 | * | Henry Lewis LA CA, conductor/bass (LA Philharmonic 1955-59), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1937 | * | Tony Anthony Clarksburg WV, actor (Treasure of 4 Crowns), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1940 | * | Dave DeBusschere Detroit, NBA foward (NY Knick)/last ABA commissioner, is born. | Ref: 5 |
1940 | * | Barry Corbin actor: Northern Exposure, Boone, The Chase, Urban Cowboy, Who’s Harry Crumb, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1941 | * | Tim (James Timothy) McCarver baseball: catcher: SL Cardinals [World Series: 1964, 1967, 1968/all-star: 1966, 1967], Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox; broadcaster: NY Mets, ABC Sports, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1941 | * | Mel Counts basketball: Oregon State Univ.; U.S. Olympic Basketbal Gold Medal Winner [1964], is born. | Ref: 4 |
1942 | * | Dave Lovelady musician: drums: group: The Fourmost: Hello Little Girl, I’m in Love, A Little Loving, Baby I Need Your Loving, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1943 | * | C.F. (Fred) Turner musician: group: Bachman-Turner Overdrive: Takin’ Care of Business, Let It Ride, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Looking Out for Number One, Hey You, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1944 | * | Johnny Washbrook Toronto, actor (Ken-My Friend Flicka), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1945 | * | D.D. (Dwight Douglas) Lewis football: Dallas Cowboys linebacker: Super Bowl V, VI, X, XII, XIII, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1946 | * | Suzanne Somers (Mahoney) San Bruno CA, actress (3's Company, Step by Step), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1947 | * | Director (of Airplane!, Naked Gun series, Ruthless People, Top Secret!, Police Squad!, Help Wanted!) David Zucker is born. | Ref: 4 |
1947 | * | Bob Weir guitarist (Grateful Dead-Uncle Joe's Band), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1948 | * | Richard Caster football: Washington Redskins tight end: Super Bowl XVII, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1949 | * | Bob Collyard hockey: NHL: St. Louis Blues, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1951 | * | Daniel Gerroll London, actor (Big Business), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1952 | * | Cal Peterson football: Dallas Cowboys linebacker: Super Bowl X, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1953 | * | Susan Pedersen US, 4 X 100m medley swimmer (Olympic-gold-1968), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1953 | * | Tony Carey musician: keyboards: group: Rainbow: LPs: Rainbow Rising, Long Live Rock ’n’ Roll, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1953 | * | Mike Sojourner basketball: Univ. of Utah; Atlanta Hawks, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1955 | * | Ellen Dolan IA, actress (Guiding Light, Margo Hughes-ATWT), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1958 | * | Tim Robbins actor, director: The Shawshank Redemption, Bull Durham, Short Cuts, Hudsucker Proxy, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1959 | * | Gary Kemp musician: guitar: group: Spandau Ballet: To Cut a Long Story Short, The Freeze, Musclebound, Chant No. 1, True, Gold, Only When You Leave; brother of musician Martin Kemp, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1962 | * | Flea (Michael Balzary) musician: bass guitar: group: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1962 | * | Manute Bol NBA center (Golden State Warriors), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1969 | * | Wendy Wilson singer: group: Wilson Phillips: daughter of Beach Boys singer, Brian Wilson, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1975 | * | Kellie Martin actress: Matinee, Troop Beverly Hills, Life Goes On, Christy, is born. | Ref: 4 |
1978 | * | Abel Talamantez TX, singer (Menudo-Cannonball), is born. | Ref: 5 |
1383 |   | King Ferdinand I Portugal dies. | Ref: 10 |
1555 | * | The Protestant martyrs Bishop Hugh Latimer and Bishop Nicholas Ridley are burned at the stake for heresy in England. | Ref: 2 |
1591 | * | Pope Gregory XIV dies. | Ref: 69 |
1783 | * | Mark Kenton, Simon Kenton's father, dies en route to Kentucky near the New Store (now Elizabeth). | Ref: 58 |
1791 |   | Grigory Potemkin dies. | Ref: 10 |
1793 | * | Queen Marie Antoinette is beheaded by guillotine at age 37 during the French Revolution. | Ref: 2 |
1793 | * | John Hunter, English surgeon and founder of pathological anatomy, dies at age 65. | Ref: 70 |
1806 |   | Thomas Sheraton dies. | Ref: 10 |
1812 | * | Death of Henry Martyn, Anglican missionary to Persia. During his short life of 31 years, he translated the New Testament into Hindustani, later into Arabic and Persian. He died at sea, while returning to England. | Ref: 5 |
1849 | * | George Washington Williams Penns, first major black historian, dies. | Ref: 5 |
1876 | * | Race riot at Cainhoy SC (5 whites & 1 black killed). | Ref: 5 |
1906 |   | Paul Cézanne dies. | Ref: 10 |
1926 |   | Troop ship sinks in Yangtze River, killing 1,200. | Ref: 5 |
1931 | * | Trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd chops first. | Ref: 5 |
1942 | * | Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills some 40,000 south of Calcutta India. | Ref: 5 |
1946 | * | Arthur Seyss-Inquart Austrian chancellor (1930s), dies at 54. | Ref: 5 |
1946 | * | Hermann Göering, German Nazi commander, commits suicide at age 53, two hours before the scheduled execution of the first group of ten major Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. During his imprisonment, a (now repentant) Hans Frank states, "A thousand years will pass and the guilt of Germany will not be erased." Frank and the others are hanged and the bodies are brought to Dachau and burned (the final use of the crematories there) with the ashes then scattered into a river. | Ref: 35 |
1946 | * | Wilhelm Frick, German statesman; Hitler's minister of the interior, is executed at age 69. | Ref: 5 |
1946 | * | Joachim von Ribbentrop, German foreign minister under the Nazi regime (1933-45), is hanged at age 53. | Ref: 70 |
1946 | * | Ten Nazi war criminals condemned during the Nuremberg trials were hanged. | Ref: 70 |
1951 | * | Liaquat Ali Khan PM of Pakistan, assassinated by Said Akbar. | Ref: 5 |
1959 | * | George Marshall, U.S. Secretary of State [1947]; designer of Marshall Plan; Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff during WWII, dies at age 78. | Ref: 4 |
1969 |   | Leonard Chess dies. | Ref: 10 |
1972 | * | Leo G Carroll actor (Topper, Man From Uncle), dies at 80. | Ref: 5 |
1973 | * | Gene Krupa, American jazz drummer, dies at age 64. | Ref: 70 |
1975 |   | Arnold Toynbee dies. | Ref: 10 |
1977 | * | Milt (Milton W.) Raskin pianist, composer: Twenty Mule Train [Death Valley Days], Exotic Percussion [Kapu], Look Out Up There [w/Pete Rugolo], I Never Wanna Look Into Those Eyes [w/Johnny Mercer], Mileka; arranger: Naked City, The Fugitive, The Agony and the Ecstacy, Lawrence of Arabia; dies. | Ref: 4 |
1978 | * | Dan Dailey singer, dancer, actor: When My Baby Smiles at Me, State Fair, There’s No Business like Show Business; dies at age 63. | Ref: 4 |
1979 | * | Johan Borgen, Norwegian novelist, dramatist, essayist and short-story writer, dies at age 77. | Ref: 70 |
1981 | * | Moshe Dayan, Israeli general/minister of Defense, dies at age 66. | Ref: 70 |
1982 |   | Mario Del Monaco dies. | Ref: 10 |
1983 | * | George Liberace musician: violinist, conductor; administrator of Liberace Museum; brother of pianist/entertainer Liberace; dies at age 72. | Ref: 4 |
1984 | * | Ken Carpenter TV announcer (Lux Video Theater), dies at 84. | Ref: 5 |
1984 | * | Peggy Ann Garner actress, dies at 53 of cancer. | Ref: 5 |
1985 | * | Claude Stroud actor (Hobart-Ted Knight Show, Duke), dies at 78. | Ref: 5 |
1987 | * | Dana Suesse songwriter (You Ought to be in Pictures), dies at 75. | Ref: 5 |
1989 | * | Cornel (Cornelius Louis) Wilde actor: A Song to Remember, Sharks’ Treasure, Norseman, Omar Khayyam, The Greatest Show on Earth, Forever Amber; dies. | Ref: 4 |
1990 | * | Art Blakey musician: drums, bandleader: Messengers, Jazz Messengers; composer [w/Benny Golson]: film score: Des Femmes Disparaissente; dies of cancer at age 71. | Ref: 4 |
1991 | * | George Jo Hennard, 35, crashes a pickup truck into a restaurant in Killeen, TX, and opened fire, killing 23 people before taking his own life. | Ref: 70 |
1992 | * | Shirley Booth (Thelma Booth Ford) Academy Award-winning actress: Come Back Little Sheba [1952]; Hot Spell, The Matchmaker; Emmy Award-winner [1962]: Hazel ; A Touch of Grace; dies. | Ref: 5 |
1996 | * | 84 are killed at a soccer match in Guatemala. (Ref: Sports Illustrated, p. 15, 5/21/2001) |   |
1997 | * | James A. Michener novelist: Tales of the South Pacific, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Journey, Hawaii, Iberia, Centennial, Mexico; dies in Austin, TX, at age 90. | Ref: 4 |
1999 | * | Ella Mae Morse singer: Cow Cow Boogie, Shoo Shoo Baby, House of Blue Lights, The Blacksmith Blues; first artist to record for Capitol Records; dies. | Ref: 2 |
2000 | * | Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son were killed in a plane crash south of St. Louis while en route to a rally for Carnahan's U.S. Senate campaign. | Ref: 70 |
2001 | * | Jazz vocalist Etta Jones died in NY at age 72. | Ref: 70 |
2003 | * | A 6.1 earthquakes strikes Dayao County in Yannan province in China at 8:28PM killing three. (XDG, p 6B, 10/18/2003) | Ref: 83 |