September 17th
 

1394 ~ King Charles VI of France orders all Jews expelled from France.

1743 ~ Birthday of Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist.

1787 ~ The text of the United States Constitution was agreed in Philadelphia, PA.

1900 ~ Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeated Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.

1908 ~ Death of Lt. Thomas Selfridge, first to die in an airplane crash. Orville Wright was the pilot.

1929 ~ Birthday of Sir Stirling Moss, Formula One racer.

1939 ~ The Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland during the Polish Defence War of 1939.

1978 ~ The Camp David Accords were signed by Israeli and Egyptian representitives.

1980 ~ Death of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, former president of Nicaragua.



Today is the feast day of Hildegard of Bingen

September 18th
 

1709 ~ Birthday of Samuel Johnson, Essayist, Critic, Poet.

1819 ~ Birthday of Leon Foucault, Physicist.

1851 ~ New York Times began publishing.

1905 ~ Birthday of Greta Garbo, Actress.

1927 ~ Columbia Broadcasting System went on the air.

1943 ~ The Jewish rebels were massacred at Sobibor.

1961 ~ Death of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations.

1970 ~ Death of Jimi Hendrix, Rock Musician.

1971 ~ Birthday of Lance Armstrong, Cyclist Extraordinaire.

1990 ~ Liechtenstein became member of the UN

September 19th
 

1737 ~ Birthday of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Declaration of Independence Signer, US Senator.

1900 ~ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid committed their first robbery together.

1909 ~ Birthday of Ferry Porsche, automobile pioneer.

1927 ~ Death of Isadora Duncan, considered mother of modern dance.

1935 ~ Death of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, rocket scientist, physicist.

1941 ~ Birthday of Mama Cass Elliott, musician.

1945 ~ Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London.

1955 ~ Juan Peron was deposed in Argentina.

1983 ~ Saint Kitts and Nevis gains independence from Great Britain.

1989 ~ A terrorist bomb explodes in a UTA DC-10 above Niger killing 171.

September 20th
 

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan began his voyage around the world.

1797 ~ The USS Constitution was launched in Boston, Massachusetts.

1842 ~ Birthday of Sir James Dewar, Chemist.

1878 ~ Birthday of Upton Sinclair, Writer, Politician.

1908 ~ Death of Pablo de Sarasate, Violinist.

1928 ~ Birthday of Doctor Joyce Brothers, psychologist, advice columnist.

1946 ~ First Cannes Film Festival.

1948 ~ Birthday of George R. R. Martin, Science Fiction Writer.

1973 ~ Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match.

2000 ~ After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr took a day off.

2004....BIBI'sspacebarquitspacing

September 21st
 

1756 ~ Birthday of John MacAdam, road builder.

1780 ~ Benedict Arnold gave the British the plans to West Point.

1866 ~ Birthday of H. G. Wells, science fiction author.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gustav Holst, Composer.

1896 ~ British force under Horatio Kitchener took Dongola in the Sudan.

1906 ~ Birthday of Aristotle Onassis, shipping tycoon.

1937 ~ J. R. R. Tolkien published “The Hobbit”.

1947 ~ Birthday of Stephen King, Author.

1964 ~ Malta became independent from the United Kingdom.

2003 ~ Galileo mission was terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere.

September 22nd
 

1784 ~ Russia established a colony at Kodiak, Alaska.

1791 ~ Birthday of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1828 ~ Death of Shaka Zulu, Zulu leader.

1869 ~ Richard Wagner's opera “Das Rheingold” opened in Munich.

1949 ~ Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon.

1960 ~ Mali gained independence from France.

1980 ~ Iraq invaded Iran.

1997 ~ Bentalha massacre in Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.

1999 ~ Death of George C. Scott, Actor.

2001 ~ Death of Isaac Stern, Violinist.

September 23rd
 

63 B.C. ~ Birthday of Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor.

1779 ~ USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, won a battle against the British warships Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the coast of England.

1806 ~ Discovery of Neptune by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

1884 ~ Herman Hollerith patented his mechanical adding machine.

1916 ~ Birthday of Aldo Moro, Italian politician murdered by terrorists.

1920 ~ Birthday of Mickey Rooney, actor.

1930 ~ Birthday of Ray Charles, U.S. R&B and jazz musician, singer.

1932 ~ The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd renamed Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

1949 ~ Birthday of Bruce Springsteen, singer, songwriter.

1999 ~ NASA announced that it lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.

September 24th
 

622 ~ Muhammad completed his hegira from Mecca to Medina

1664 ~ Netherlands surrendered New Amsterdam to England.

1755 ~ Birthday of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court.

1890 ~ As a pre-condition to Utah being admitted to the United States, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – the Mormons - officially renounced polygamy.

1896 ~ Birthday of F Scott Fitzgerald, Novelist.

1908 ~ The first Ford Model T built.

1936 ~ Birthday of Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets.

1957 ~ President Dwight Eisenhower sent National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce desegregation.

1991 ~ Death of Dr. Seuss, Writer.

1993 ~ Broderbund released the computer game “Myst”.

September 26th
 

1066 ~ Battle of Stamford Bridge, which marked the end of the Viking era.

1513 ~ Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean.

1683 ~ Birthday of Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer.

1890 ~ Yosemite National Park established in California.

1897 ~ Birthday of William Faulkner, Novelist.

1903 ~ Birthday of Mark Rothko, Painter.

1906 ~ Birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer.

1932 ~ Birthday of Glenn Gould, Pianist.

1981 ~ Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as the 102nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the first woman to hold the office.

1996 ~ The last of the Magdalen Asylums was closed in Ireland.

Today-2004

BIBI "finally" bought a new keyboard!!!

September 26th
 

1687 ~ The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from the Venetian forces besieging the Ottoman Turks.

1777 ~ British troops occupied Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.

1820 ~ Death of Daniel Boone, American icon.

1888 ~ Birthday of T. S. Eliot, Poet.

1898 ~ Birthday of George Gershwin, Composer.

1945 ~ Death of Béla Bartók, Composer.

1948 ~ Birthday of Olivia Newton-John, Singer.

1950 ~ United Nations troops recaptured Seoul from the North Koreans.

1957 ~ Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story opened on Broadway.

1983 ~ Australia II, first non-American winner, won the “Americas Cup”.

September 27th
 

1389 ~ Birthday of Cosimo de Medici, Florentine ruler.

1540 ~ Jesuit Order received its charter from Pope Paul III.

1722 ~ Birthday of Samuel Adams, Patriot & Brewer.

1840 ~ Birthday of Thomas Nast, political cartoonist.

1917 ~ Death of Edgar Degas, Impressionist painter.

1921 ~ Death of Engelbert Humperdinck, Composer.

1940 ~ The Tripartite Pact signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.

1986 ~ Cliff Burton, bassist for Metallica, died after being crushed by the band's tour bus during their European tour.

1996 ~ In Afghanistan, the Taliban captured the capital city Kabul. They then dragged former leader Mohammad Najibullah out of the U.N. compound and hanged him from a traffic light pole.

2002 ~ East Timor joins the United Nations.

September 28th
 

1066 ~ William the Conqueror invaded England, landing at Pevensey, Sussex.

1781 ~ American forces backed by a French fleet began the siege of Yorktown Heights, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.

1841 ~ Birthday of Georges Clemenceau, French politician.

1915 ~ Birthday of Ethel Rosenberg, Spy.

1925 ~ Birthday of Seymour Cray, Computer Scientist.

1939 ~ Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a division of Poland after their invasion during World War II.

1953 ~ Death of Edwin Hubble, Astronomer.

1958 ~ France ratifies a new constitution; the Fifth Republic (and current) of France was formed.

1988 ~ Death of Charles Addams, Cartoonist, creator of “The Adams Family”.

2000 ~ Death of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada

September 29th
 

61 BC ~ Pompey the Great celebrated his third triumph, for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars.

1547 ~ Birthday of Miguel de Cervantes, Author.

1758 ~ Birthday of Horatio Nelson, British admiral.

1901 ~ Birthday of Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist.

1938 ~ Appeasement: Britain and France, Nazi Germany and Italy signed the Munich Agreement allowing Germany to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

1944 ~ Soviet forces invaded Yugoslavia.

1954 ~ CERN opened for business.

1960 ~ Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupted a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

1978 ~ Death of Pope John Paul, who reigned just 33 days.

2004 ~ The asteroid 4179 Toutatis is projected to pass within 4 lunar distances of Earth.

September 30th
 

1882 ~ Birthday of Hans Geiger, German physicist.

1895 ~ Madagascar became a French protectorate.

1913 ~ Death of Rudolf Diesel, German inventor.

1924 ~ Birthday of Truman Capote, Author.

1947 ~ World Series, featuring New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, was televised for the first time.

1954 ~ The submarine USS Nautilus was commissioned as the first nuclear reactor powered vessel.

1960 ~ The last episode of "The Howdy Doody Show" aired.

1980 ~ Ethernet specifications published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.

1982 ~ ”Cheers” premiered.

1991 ~ President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was forced from office.

October 1st
 

1800 ~ Spain cedes Louisiana to France via Treaty of San Ildefonso.

1865 ~ Birthday of Paul Dukas, Composer.

1881 ~ Birthday of William Boeing, Engineer.

1903 ~ Birthday of Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist.

1918 ~ Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence capture Damascus.

1924 ~ Birthday of Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States.

1949 ~ The People's Republic of China is declared by Mao Zedong.

1977 ~ Soccer star Pelé retired.

1985 ~ Death of E.B. White, Author.

1988 ~ Mikhail Gorbachev named head of the Supreme Soviet.

October 2nd
 

1187 ~ Saladin captured Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.

1800 ~ Birthday of Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising.

1836 ~ Charles Darwin returned to England after a 5-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle collecting data he will later use to develop his theory of evolution.

1852 ~ Birthday of William Ramsay, Scottish chemist.

1869 ~ Birthday of Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian political leader.

1890 ~ Birthday of Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor.

1927 ~ Death of Svante Arrhenius, Swedish scientist.

1935 ~ Italy invades Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

1950 ~ The comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is first published in US newspapers.

1967 ~ Thurgood Marshall sworn in as the first African-American justice of United States Supreme Court.

October 3rd
 

1283 ~ David ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, becomes the first man executed by drawing and quartering.

1712 ~ Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.

1873 ~ Birthday of Emily Post, etiquette advisor.

1900 ~ Birthday of Thomas Wolfe, author.

1916 ~ Birthday of James Herriot, veterinarian, author.

1925 ~ Birthday of Gore Vidal, author.

1929 ~ The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1967 ~ Death of Woody Guthrie, folk musician.

1990 ~ The re-unification of Germany. East Germany ceases to exist.

1995 ~ O. J. Simpson found not guilty of murder.

October 4th
 

1830 ~ Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands.

1880 ~ Birthday of Damon Runyon, Writer.

1883 ~ First run of the Orient Express.

1903 ~ Birthday of John Vincent Atanasoff, one of the inventors of the digital electronic computer.

1924 ~ Birthday of Charlton Heston, Actor.

1941 ~ Birthday of Anne Rice, horror/fantasy writer.

1943 ~ Birthday of H. Rap Brown, civil rights activist.

1957 ~ Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

1991 ~ The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature.

1993 ~ At the climax of the Russian constitutional crisis, Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered the army to begin storming the Russian parliament building.


Holidays: Australian Labour Day

October 5th

1713 ~ Birthday of Denis Diderot, philosopher.

1813 ~ Death of Tecumseh, American Indian leader.

1882 ~ Birthday of Robert Goddard, rocket scientist.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation.

1908 ~ Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

1936 ~ Birthday of Václav Havel, playwright, president of the Czech Republic.

1944 ~ Canadian Air Force pilots shot down the first German Jet fighter over France.

1962 ~ The Beatles released their first hit, "Love Me Do," in Britain.

1972 ~ Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

2000 ~ Mass demonstrations in Belgrade lead to the resignation of Slobodan Milosevic.

October 6th
 

1600 ~ Jacopo Peri's “Euridice”, the earliest surviving opera, premiered in Florence.

1846 ~ Birthday of George Westinghouse, Engineer & Inventor.

1887 ~ Birthday of Le Corbusier, Swiss architect.

1892 ~ Death of Alfred Tennyson, British poet laureate.

1908 ~ Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1914 ~ Birthday of Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the “Kon-Tiki” expedition.

1927 ~ Opening of “The Jazz Singer”, first talking movie.

1948 ~ Birthday of Gerry Adams, Irish politician.

1981 ~ Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated.

1995 ~ The first extrasolar planet was discovered orbiting 51 Pegasi, in the constellation of Pegasus.

October 7th
 

1571 ~ Ottoman Empire defeated at the battle of Lepanto.

1849 ~ Death of Edgar Allan Poe, American writer.

1885 ~ Birthday of Niels Bohr, Physicist

1886 ~ Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.

1900 ~ Birthday of Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS.

1908 ~ Crete revolts against the Ottoman Empire and aligns with Greece.

1931 ~ Birthday of Desmond Tutu, South African archbishop and anti-apartheid activist.

1955 ~ Birthday of Yo-Yo Ma, Cellist.

1985 ~ “Achille Lauro” hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.

2003 ~ California governor Gray Davis is recalled from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

October 8th
 

451 ~ At Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor, the first session of the Council of Chalcedon began.

1871 ~ The Great Chicago Fire destroyed about 17,450 buildings, killed about 250 people and left another 90,000 homeless.

1895 ~ Birthday of Juan Perón, former president of Argentina.

1918 ~ World War I - In the Argonne Forest in France, United States Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.

1920 ~ Birthday of Frank Herbert, Science Fiction writer

1949 ~ Birthday of Sigourney Weaver, Actress.

1967 ~ Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.

1967 ~ Death of Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1982 ~ Poland bans Solidarity.

1992 ~ Death of Willy Brandt, German politician.

October 9th
 

1446 ~ The Hangul alphabet is created in Korea.

1585 ~ Birthday of Heinrich Schütz, Composer.

1776 ~ Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.

1835 ~ Birthday of Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer.

1859 ~ Birthday of Alfred Dreyfus, French military officer.

1940 ~ Birthday of John Lennon, Musician & Songwriter.

1942 ~ Statute of Westminster Adoption Act formalizes Australian autonomy.

1970 ~ The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.

1974 ~ Death of Oskar Schindler, businessman.

1989 ~ In Leipzig, East Germany protesters demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms.

October 10th
 

680 ~ Death of Husayn bin Ali, grandson of Muhammad.

732 ~ Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks Charles Martel and his men, defeated a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe.

1813 ~ Birthday of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer.

1845 ~ In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opened with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.

1875 ~ Death of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Novelist & Poet.

1917 ~ Birthday of Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist.

1966 ~ Simon and Garfunkel released the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

1970 ~ In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte became the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

1985 ~ United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercepted an Egyptian plane carrying the “Achille Lauro” cruise ship hijackers and forced it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they were arrested.

1985 ~ Death of Yul Brynner, Actor and Orson Welles, Director & Actor.

Today's date: Oct. 10, 2004

On this date in 1835 Gail Borden, of condensed milk fame, began publishing the weekly newspaper "Telegraph and Texas Register" at San Felipe de Austin. It was the only newspaper in existence in Texas at the time of independence.

October 11th
 

1779 ~ Death of Casimir Pulaski, Polish fighter for American independence.

1809 ~ Death of Meriwether Lewis, explorer.

1844 ~ Birthday of Henry Heinz, food manufacturer.

1896 ~ Death of Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer.

1899 ~ Boer War: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State began.

1919 ~ Birthday of Art Blakey, jazz drummer.

1931 ~ Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt was presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop an atomic bomb program.

1961 ~ Death of Chico Marx, comedian. One of the Marx Brothers.

1975 ~ “Saturday Night Live” premiered. George Carlin is the guest host.

1986 ~ Cold War: US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.

October 12th
 

1307 ~ All Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair, to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy.

1792 ~ In Washington, DC, the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) laid.

1812 ~ War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights - United States forces are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock.

1925 ~ Birthday of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the UK.

1945 ~ Death of Milton S. Hershey, founder of Hershey Chocolate Company.

1946 ~ France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic.

1959 ~ Birthday of Marie Osmond, Singer & Actress.

1974 ~ Death of Ed Sullivan, television personality.

1977 ~ Four Palestinians hijacked a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demanded release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.

1982 ~ Birthday of Ian Thorpe, swimmer.

October 13th
 

1492 ~ Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia.

1609 ~ "Three Blind Mice" published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft.

1817 ~ Birthday of Bahá'u'lláh, prophet founder of the Bahá'í Faith

1822 ~ Brazil becomes formally independent of Portugal.

1870 ~ Death of Robert E. Lee, United States Civil War general (Confederate).

1872 ~ Birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer.

1935 ~ Birthday of Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer.

1968 ~ Summer Olympics open in Mexico City, Mexico.

1997 ~ Death of John Denver, singer.

2000 ~ In Aden, Yemen, the “USS Cole” is badly damaged by two suicide bombers , killing 17 crewmembers and wounding at least 39.

October 14th
 

1066 ~ Battle of Hastings - The Norman invasion forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army and kill King Harold II of England.

1882 ~ Birthday of Eamon de Valera, Irish politician and patriot.

1894 ~ Birthday of E. E. Cummings, American poet.

1926 ~ ”Winnie-the-Pooh”, by A.A. Milne, was published.

1940 ~ Birthday of Cliff Richard, British rock singer.

1944 ~ World War II: Given the choice between a public treason trial and a certain death by firing squad or suicide with honor, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel chose the latter.

1947 ~ Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.

1962 ~ Cuban Missile Crisis began: A U-2 flight over Cuba took photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed.

1964 ~ American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1994 ~ PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (Palestine), Foreign Minister Shimon Peres (Israel) and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel) shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

October 15th
 

70 BC ~ Birthday of Virgil, Roman poet.

1582 ~ Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year was followed directly by October 15, skipping over 10 days. Other countries follow at various later dates.

1764 ~ While visiting Rome, Edward Gibbon observed a group of barefoot friars singing vespers in the ruined Temple of Jupiter, a sight which inspired him to begin work on a history that will be published as “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”

1844 ~ Birthday of Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher.

1881 ~ Birthday of P. G. Wodehouse, British comic novelist.

1908 ~ Birthday of John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist.

1917 ~ World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari was executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.

1951 ~ Television sitcom “I Love Lucy” premiered starring comedian Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz.

1964 ~ Death of Cole Porter, Composer.

1970 ~ 35 construction workers died when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapsed.

October 16th
 

1793 ~ Marie Antoinette was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.

1854 ~ Birthday of Oscar Wilde, Irish writer.

1859 ~ John Brown lead raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

1886 ~ Birthday of David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel.

1925 ~ Birthday of Angela Lansbury, actress

1934 ~ Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong began their Long March.

1970 ~ Anwar Sadat elected President of Egypt.

1981 ~ Death of Moshe Dayan, Israeli general.

1978 ~ Karol Józef Wojtyła became Pope John Paul II.

2004 ~ Ramadan begins at the sighting of the moon.

October 17th
 

1469 ~ Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. Their marriage lead to the unification of Aragon and Castile in a single country, Spain.

1781 ~ General Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia.

1888 ~ Thomas Edison filed a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).

1912 ~ Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.

1915 ~ Birthday of Arthur Miller, Playwright.

1937 ~ Huey, Dewey and Louie, Donald Duck's three almost identical nephews, first appeared in a newspaper comic strip.

1956 ~ Birthday of Mae Jemison, Astronaut.

1970 ~ Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labor Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

1972 ~ Birthday of Eminem, rap music performer.

1979 ~ Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

October 18th
 

1900 ~ Death of John Taverner, Composer.

1851 ~ "Moby-Dick", a novel by Herman Melville, was first published as "The Whale".

1871 ~ Death of Charles Babbage, mathematician and inventor of computing machines.

1908 ~ Death of Charles Gounod, composer.

1919 ~ Birthday of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada.

1922 ~ The British Broadcasting Company was founded by a consortium to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

1926 ~ Birthday of Chuck Berry, Musician.

1931 ~ Death of Thomas Edison, inventor.

1939 ~ Birthday of Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassin.

1977 ~ German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of the Lufthansa airplane by the Red Army Faction (RAF) came to an end when Schleyer was executed and various RAF members committed suicide. The German government stated that it would never again negotiate with terrorists.

October 19th
 

1453 ~ The French recapture of Bordeaux brought the Hundred Years War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil.

1745 ~ Death of Jonathan Swift, Author.

1873 ~ Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.

1912 ~ Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

1914 ~ First Battle of Ypres began.

1931 ~ Birthday of John Le Carré, Novelist.

1943 ~ Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.

1950 ~ Death of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Poet.

1985 ~ The first Blockbuster Video store opened in Dallas, Texas.

2003 ~ Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

October 20th
 

1632 ~ Birthday of Sir Christopher Wren, Architect.

1740 ~ Maria Theresa took the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refused to honor the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession began.

1803 ~ United States Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

1882 ~ Birthday of Bela Lugosi, Actor.

1891 ~ Birthday of Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya.

1931 ~ Birthday of Mickey Mantle, baseball star.

1944 ~ The Soviet army captured Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia.

1947 ~ The House Un-American Activities Committee began its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood.

1973 ~ The Sydney Opera House opened.

1984 ~ Death of Paul Dirac, Physicist.

October 21st
 

1772 ~ Birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Poet.

1805 ~ Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar - British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated a combined French and Spanish off the coast of Spain.

1833 ~ Birthday of Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and benefactor of the Nobel Prize.

1879 ~ Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tested the first practical electric light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out).

1912 ~ Birthday of Sir Georg Solti, Conductor.

1917 ~ Birthday of Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz Musician.

1929 ~ Birthday of Ursula K. Le Guin, Science Fiction Author.

1944 ~ The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

1966 ~ A coal tip fell on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.

1994 ~ North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States signed an agreement that required North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

October 22nd
 

1797 ~ 3,200 feet above Paris, Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the first recorded parachute jump.

1811 ~ Birthday of Franz Liszt, Composer.

1836 ~ Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first President of the Republic of Texas.

1844 ~ Birthday of Sarah Bernhardt, Actress.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Cezanne, Painter.

1920 ~ Birthday of Timothy Leary, writer, drug guru.

1943 ~ Birthday of Catherine Deneuve, Actress.

1943 ~ Kassel: The RAF delivered the second firestorm air raid on this city of 236,000 people, killing 10,000, leaving 150,000 homeless.

1962 ~ Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy announced that American spy planes had discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he had ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation.

1966 ~ The Supremes become the first all-female music group to attain a No. 1 selling album.

October 23rd
 

4004 BC ~ The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.

1723 ~ War of Jenkins' Ear started: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.

1892 ~ Birthday of Gummo Marx, actor, comedian, Marx Brothers.

1915 ~ Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women marched up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.

1935 ~ Birthday of Chi Chi Rodriguez, golf champion.

1940 ~ Birthday of Pelé, Football Player Extraordinaire.

1942 ~ World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein started - At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.

1942 ~ Birthday of Michael Crichton, writer.

1958 ~ Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters “The Smurfs”.

1998 ~ Death of Dr. Barnett Slepian, physician.