Events
of the day
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
