Events
October
22
794
– Emperor Kanmu relocates the Japanese capital
to Heiankyo (now Kyoto).
1383 – The 1383-1385 Crisis in Portugal:
King Fernando dies without a male heir to
the Portuguese throne, sparking a period
of civil war and disorder.
1575 – Foundation of Aguascalientes.
1633 – Battle of southern Fujian sea: The
Ming dynasty defeats the Dutch East India
Company.
1707 – Scilly naval disaster: four British
Royal Navy ships run aground near the Isles
of Scilly because of faulty navigation.
Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and thousands
of sailors drown.
1730 – Construction of the Ladoga Canal
is completed.
1746 – The College of New Jersey (later
renamed Princeton University) receives its
charter.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American
defenders of Fort Mercer on the Delaware
River repulse repeated Hessian attacks in
the Battle of Red Bank.
1784 – Russia founds a colony on Kodiak
Island, Alaska.
1790 – Warriors of the Miami tribe under
Chief Little Turtle defeat United States
troops under General Josiah Harmar at the
site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana,
in the Northwest Indian War.
1797 – One thousand meters (3,200 feet)
above Paris, André-Jacques Garnerin makes
the first recorded parachute jump.
1836 – Sam Houston is inaugurated as the
first President of the Republic of Texas.
1844 – The Great Anticipation: Millerites,
followers of William Miller, anticipate
the end of the world in conjunction with
the Second Advent of Christ. The following
day became known as the Great Disappointment.
1859 – Spain declares war on Morocco.
1866 – A plebiscite ratifies the annexion
of Veneto and Mantua to Italy, occurred
three days before, on October 19.
1875 – First telegraphic connection in Argentina.
1877 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland
kills 207 miners.
1878 – The first rugby match under floodlights
takes place in Salford, between Broughton
and Swinton.
1879 – Using a filament of carbonized thread,
Thomas Edison tests the first practical
electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted
13½ hours before burning out).
1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New
York City opens with a performance of Gounod's
Faust.
1895 – In Paris an express train overruns
a buffer stop and crosses more than 30 metres
of concourse before plummeting through a
window at Gare Montparnasse.
1907 – Panic of 1907: A run on the stock
of the Knickerbocker Trust Company sets
events in motion that will lead to a depression.
1910 – Dr. Crippen is convicted at the Old
Bailey of poisoning his wife and is subsequently
hanged at Pentonville Prison in London.
1924 – Toastmasters International is founded.
1926 – J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches
magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in
Montreal.
1927 – Nikola Tesla exposed his six (6)
new inventions including motor with onephase
electricity
1928 – Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity is founded
at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Campus.
1934 – In East Liverpool, Ohio, Federal
Bureau of Investigation agents shoot and
kill notorious bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd.
1941 – World War II: French resistance member
Guy Môquet and 29 other hostages are executed
by the Germans in retaliation for the death
of a German officer.
1943 – World War II: in the Second firestorm
raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts
an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing
10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.
1957 – Vietnam War: First United States
casualties in Vietnam.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: US President
John F. Kennedy, after internal counsel
from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that
American reconnaissance planes have discovered
Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that
he has ordered a naval "quarantine"
of the Communist nation.
1963 – A BAC One-Eleven prototype airliner
crashes in UK with the loss of all on board.
1964 – Jean-Paul Sartre is awarded the Nobel
Prize for Literature, but turns down the
honor.
1964 – Canada: A Multi-Party Parliamentary
Committee selects the design which becomes
the new official Flag of Canada.
1966 – The Supremes become the first all-female
music group to attain a No. 1 selling album
(The Supremes A' Go-Go).
1966 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 12.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 7 safely splashes
down in the Atlantic Ocean after orbiting
the Earth 163 times.
1972 – Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger
and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van
Thieu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire
that had been worked out between Americans
and North Vietnamese in Paris.
1975 – The Soviet unmanned space mission
Venera 9 lands on Venus.
1976 – Red Dye No. 4 is banned by the US
Food and Drug Administration after it is
discovered that it causes tumors in the
bladders of dogs. The dye is still used
in Canada.
1981 – The United States Federal Labor Relations
Authority votes to decertify the Professional
Air Traffic Controllers Organization for
its strike the previous August.
1983 – Two correctional officers are killed
by inmates at the United States Penitentiary
in Marion, Illinois. The incident inspires
the Supermax model of prisons.
1999 – Maurice Papon, an official in the
Vichy France government during World War
II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
2005 – Tropical Storm Alpha forms in the
Atlantic Basin, making the 2005 Atlantic
Hurricane Season the most active Atlantic
hurricane season on record with 22 named
storms.
2006 – A Panama Canal expansion proposal
is approved by 77.8% of voters in a National
referendum held in Panama.
2007 – Raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base
is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos.
All except one died in this attack. Eight
Sri Lankan Air Force planes are destroyed
and 10 damaged.
2008 – India launches its first unmanned
lunar mission Chandrayaan-1.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
Abercius of Hieropolis
Bertharius
Donatus of Fiesole
John Paul II
Mary Salome
October 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Labour Day can fall,
while October 28 is the latest; celebrated
on the fourth Monday in October (New Zealand)
Earliest day on which Make a Difference
Day can fall, while October 28 is the latest;
celebrated on the fourth Saturday in October
(United States)
Fechner Day, celebrated by Psychophysicists
International Stuttering Awareness Day (International)
Jidai Matsuri (Kyoto)
For details, contact Datacentre
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