Events

• 1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

• 1016 – The Danes defeat the Saxons in the Battle of Ashingdon.

• 1081 – The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.

• 1210 – Pope Innocent III excommunicates German leader Otto IV.

• 1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroyed the town of Basel, Switzerland.

• 1386 – Opening of the University of Heidelberg

• 1561 – Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima – Takeda Shingen defeats Uesugi Kenshin in the climax of their ongoing conflicts.

• 1648 – Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization.

• 1748 – Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.

• 1767 – Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed.

• 1775 – African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery.

• 1851 – Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

• 1860 – The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.

• 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

• 1898 – United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.

• 1912 – The First Balkan War begins.

• 1914 – The Schoenstatt Movement is founded in Germany.

• 1921 – The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the RSFSR.

• 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

• 1925 – The Grand Ole Opry opens in Nashville, Tennessee.

• 1929 – Women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.

• 1936 – Adolf Hitler announces the Four Year Economic Plan to the German people. The plan details the rebuilding of the German military from 1936 to 1940.

• 1944 – Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.

• 1944 – Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.

• 1944 – Adolf Hitler orders the public funeral procession of Nazi field Marshall Erwin Rommel, commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps

• 1945 – The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

• 1945 – A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, staged a coup d'état against then president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.

• 1954 – Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.

• 1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes for its first season after a six-month run.

• 1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

• 1968 – The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.

• 1968 – Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90 m in the long jump at the Mexico City games.

• 1977 – German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.

• 1989 – East German leader Erich Honecker resigns.

• 1991 – Azerbaijan declares independence from USSR.

• 2003 – Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.

• 2007 – Karachi bombings: attempted assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Births

• 1127 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1192)

• 1405 – Pope Pius II (d. 1464)

• 1517 – Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese Jesuit in Brazil (d. 1570)

• 1547 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish humanist (d. 1606)

• 1569 – Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (d. 1625)

• 1595 – Edward Winslow, Plymouth Colony founder (d. 1655)

• 1634 – Luca Giordano, Italian artist (d. 1705)

• 1653 – Abraham van Riebeeck, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1713)

• 1662 – Matthew Henry, English non-conformist minister (d. 1714)

• 1668 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (d. 1694)

• 1679 – Ann Putnam, Jr., American accuser in the Salem Witch Trials (d. 1716)

• 1701 – Charles le Beau, French historian (d. 1778)

• 1706 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (d. 1785)

• 1741 – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and author (d. 1803)

• 1777 – Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (d. 1811)

• 1785 – Thomas Love Peacock, English satirist (d. 1866)

• 1831 – Emperor Friedrich III of Germany (d. 1888)

• 1854 – Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)

• 1859 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1941)

• 1865 – Arie de Jong, Dutch linguist (d. 1957)

• 1865 – Logan Pearsall Smith, American essayist and critic (d. 1946)

• 1868 – Ernst Didring, Swedish author (d. 1931)

• 1870 – Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Japanese scholar (d. 1966)

• 1873 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1951)

• 1882 – Lucien Petit-Breton, Argentine-French cyclist (d. 1917)

• 1893 – Georges Ohsawa, Japanese founder of Macrobiotics (d. 1966)

• 1894 – H. L. Davis, American author (d. 1960)

• 1897 – Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist (d. 1980)

• 1898 – Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (d. 1981)

• 1902 – Miriam Hopkins, American actress (d. 1972)

• 1902 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist (d. 1980)

• 1903 – Lina Radke, German athlete (d. 1983)

• 1904 – A. J. Liebling, American journalist (d. 1963)

• 1905 – Jan Gies, Dutch resistance fighter (d. 1993)

• 1905 – Félix Houphouët-Boigny, first President of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 1993)

• 1906 – James Brooks, American painter (d. 1992)

• 1909 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and legal theorist (d. 2004)

• 1914 – Raymond Lambert, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1997)

• 1915 – Victor Sen Yung, American actor (d. 1980)

• 1918 – Bobby Troup, American musician (d. 1999)

• 1919 – Ric Nordman, Canadian politician (d. 1996)

• 1919 – Anita O'Day, American singer (d. 2006)

• 1919 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2000)

• 1920 – Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and Minister for Culture of Greece (d. 1994)

• 1921 – Jesse Helms, American politician (d. 2008)

• 1924 – Hugh Allan "Buddy" MacMaster, Canadian musician

• 1925 – Ramiz Alia, political leader of Albania

• 1926 – Chuck Berry, American musician

• 1926 – Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991)

• 1927 – George C. Scott, American actor (d. 1999)

• 1928 – Keith Jackson, American football commentator

• 1929 – Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua

• 1931 – Chris Albertson, American jazz historian

• 1932 – Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian politician

• 1933 – Forrest Gregg, American football player

• 1934 – Calvin Lockhart, Bahamian actor (d. 2007)

• 1934 – Inger Stevens, Swedish actress (d. 1970)

• 1934 – Chuck Swindoll, American evangelist

• 1935 – Peter Boyle, American actor (d. 2006)

• 1938 – Dawn Wells, American actress

• 1939 – Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, and commentator

• 1939 – Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)

• 1939 – Flavio Cotti, member of the Swiss Federal Council

• 1940 – Cynthia Weil, American songwriter

• 1942 – Larry Pickering, Australian newspaper cartoonist

• 1943 – Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish politician

• 1944 – Peter Tosh, Jamaican musician (d. 1987)

• 1945 – Chris Shays, Former member of the United States Congress from Connecticut

• 1945 – Huell Howser, American TV host

• 1945 – Yıldo, Turkish famous showman and football player

• 1946 – James Robert Baker, American novelist, screenwriter

• 1946 – Howard Shore, Canadian film composer

• 1946 – Frank Beamer, American football coach Virginia Tech Hokies football

• 1947 – Job Cohen, Dutch politician, mayor of Amsterdam

• 1947 – Joe Morton, American actor

• 1947 – Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)

• 1947 – Paul Chuckle, British comedian

• 1948 – Ntozake Shange, American author

• 1948 – Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher

• 1949 – Joe Egan, British musician (Stealers Wheel)

• 1949 – George Hendrick, baseball player

• 1949 – Gary Richrath, American musician (REO Speedwagon)

• 1950 – Om Puri, Indian actor

• 1950 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright (d. 2006)

• 1950 – Sheila White, English actress

• 1951 – Mike Antonovich, American ice hockey player and executive

• 1951 – Terry McMillan, American author

• 1951 – Pam Dawber, American actress

• 1952 – Patrick Morrow, Canadian mountaineer, first to complete the Seven Summits

• 1952 – Bảo Ninh, Vietnamese novelist

• 1952 – Jerry Royster, American baseball player

• 1954 – Liz Burch, Australian actress

• 1954 – Arliss Howard, American actor

• 1955 – Timmy Mallett, British TV presenter

• 1955 – David Twohy, American movie director and screenwriter

• 1955 – Rita Verdonk, Dutch politician

• 1955 – Vanessa Briscoe Hay, American singer and songwriter (Pylon (band) & Supercluster)

• 1956 – Martina Navrátilová, Czech-born tennis player

• 1956 – Craig Bartlett, American animator

• 1956 – Jim Talent, American politician

• 1957 – Catherine Ringer, French singer and songwriter (Les Rita Mitsouko)

• 1958 – Corinne Bohrer, American actress

• 1958 – Thomas Hearns, American boxer

• 1958 – Kjell Samuelsson, National Hockey League defenseman

• 1959 – Kirby Chambliss, Aerobatic pilot and Red Bull Air Racer

• 1959 – Milčo Mančevski, Macedonian film director and screenwriter

• 1959 – John Nord, former American pro wrestler

• 1959 – Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, American sports talk show host

• 1959 – Steve Swayne, Dartmouth Professor

• 1960 – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian actor

• 1960 – Erin Moran, American actress

• 1961 – Wynton Marsalis, American jazz musician

• 1961 – Rick Moody, American author

• 1962 – Vincent Spano, American actor

• 1964 – Dan Lilker, American musician, bassist for Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, and Brutal Truth

• 1964 – Charles Stross, British speculative-fiction author

• 1965 – Curtis Stigers, American jazz vocalist and saxophonist.

• 1965 – Zakir Naik, Indian Islamic speaker and doctor.

• 1966 – Slavi Trifonov, Bulgarian showman

• 1969 – Nelson Vivas, Argentine former footballer

• 1970 – José Padilla, American former gang member and alleged supporter of terrorism

• 1970 – Doug Mirabelli, American baseball player

• 1972 – Alex Tagliani, Quebec racing driver

• 1973 – Michalis Kapsis, Greek footballer

• 1974 – Robbie Savage, Welsh footballer

• 1974 – Peter Svensson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)

• 1974 – Candy Lo, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress

• 1975 – Alex Cora, Puerto Rican baseball player

• 1976 – Zhou Xun, Chinese actress and singer

• 1977 – Ryan Nelsen, New Zealand footballer

• 1977 – David Vuillemin, Pro Motocross Rider

• 1978 – Wesley Jonathan, American actor

• 1978 – Mike Tindall, English rugby union player

• 1978 – Jyothika Saravanan, Indian actress popular in Tamil

• 1978 – Priyanka Trivedi, Indian actress

• 1978 – Jake Farrow, American actor

• 1980 – Josh Gracin, American singer

• 1981 – Greg Warren, American football player

• 1982 – Ne-Yo, American R&B singer

• 1982 – Thierry Amiel, French singer

• 1984 – Lindsey Vonn, American alpine skier

• 1984 – Freida Pinto, Indian actress and model

• 1985 – Derrick Tribbett, American musician (Twisted Method)

• 1987 – Zac Efron, American actor

• 1987 – Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model

• 1990 – Carly Schroeder, American actress

• 1991 – Tyler Posey, American actor

• 1991 – Tyler Posey, American actor

• 1998 – Julia Wróblewska, Polish actress

• 2001 – Annelise Manojlovic, English actress

Deaths

• 1035 – Sancho III of Navarre

• 1101 – Hugh of Vermandois, son of Henry I of France (b. 1053)

• 1141 – Margrave Leopold IV of Austria

• 1382 – James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (b. 1331)

• 1417 – Pope Gregory XII

• 1503 – Pope Pius III (b. 1439)

• 1541 – Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland (b. 1489)

• 1545 – John Taverner, English composer

• 1558 – Maria of Austria, wife of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (b. 1505)

• 1564 – Johannes Acronius Frisius, German physician and mathematician (b. 1520)

• 1570 – Manoel da Nóbrega, Portuguese Jesuit in Brazil (b. 1517)

• 1604 – Igram van Achelen, Dutch statesman (b. 1528)

• 1646 – Isaac Jogues, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1607)

• 1667 – Fasilides, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1603)

• 1678 – Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (b. 1593)

• 1739 – Antônio José da Silva, Brazilian-born dramatist (b. 1705)

• 1744 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, close friend of Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1660)

• 1770 – John Manners, Marquess of Granby, British soldier (b. 1721)

• 1775 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1715)

• 1817 – Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, French composer (b. 1763)

• 1871 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (b. 1791)

• 1865 – Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)

• 1886 – Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (b. 1796)

• 1889 – Antonio Meucci, Italian inventor (b. 1808)

• 1892 – William W. Chapman, American politician (b. 1808)

• 1893 – Charles Gounod, French composer (b. 1818)

• 1911 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist (b. 1857)

• 1921 – King Ludwig III of Bavaria (b. 1845)

• 1931 – Thomas Edison, American inventor (b. 1847)

• 1932 – Ioannis Chrysafis, Greek gymnast (b. 1873)

• 1941 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7^th President of Portugal (b. 1860)

• 1942 – Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (b. 1862)

• 1948 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)

• 1959 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)

• 1961 – Tsuru Aoki, Japanese-born American actress (b. 1892)

• 1965 – Henry Travers, British actor (b. 1874),

• 1966 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (b. 1878)

• 1966 – Sebastian S. Kresge, American merchant (Kmart) (b. 1867)

• 1973 – Margaret Caroline Anderson, American magazine publisher (b. 1886)

• 1973 – Walt Kelly, American cartoonist, (Pogo) (b. 1913)

• 1973 – Leo Strauss, German-American philosopher (b. 1899)

• 1975 – Al Lettieri, American actor (b. 1928)

• 1976 – Kavi Samrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Telugu writer (b. 1895)

• 1977 – Red Army Faction Stammheim Prison suicides

• 1978 – Ramón Mercader, Assassin of Leon Trotsky (b. 1914)

• 1982 – Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (b. 1885)

• 1982 – Dwain Esper, American film director (b. 1892)

• 1982 – Pierre Mendès-France, French politician (b. 1907)

• 1982 – John Robarts, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario (b. 1917)

• 1983 – Willie Jones, baseball player (b. 1925)

• 1983 – Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish anarchist (b. 1897)

• 1984 – Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (b. 1957)

• 1984 – Henri Michaux, French painter and poet (b. 1899)

• 2000 – Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)

• 2000 – Gwen Verdon, American dancer and actress (b. 1925)

• 2001 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (b. 1922)

• 2002 – Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut (b. 1932)

• 2002 – Roman Tam, Hong Kong singer (b. 1950)

• 2003 – Preston Smith, Governor of Texas (b. 1912)

• 2003 – Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Spanish writer (b. 1939)

• 2004 – Veerappan, Indian bandit and smuggler (b. 1945)

• 2005 – John Hollis, British actor (b. 1931)

• 2005 – Johnny Haynes, English footballer (b. 1934)

• 2005 – Bill King, American sports broadcaster (b. 1927)

• 2006 – Mario Francesco Cardinal Pompedda (b. 1929)

• 2006 – Anna Russell, English music satirist (b. 1911)

• 2007 – Alan Coren, English writer and satirist (b. 1938)

• 2007 – William J. Crowe, American admiral and ambassador (b. 1925)

• 2007 – Vincent DeDomenico, American entrepreneur (b. 1915)

• 2007 – Lucky Dube, South African musician (b. 1964)

• 2008 – Dee Dee Warwick, American soul singer (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

• French Republican Calendar – Piment (Chili Pepper) Day, twenty-seventh day in the Month of Vendémiaire

• October 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• R.C. Church, Anglican communion, et alii – Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist

• Saint Justus of Beauvais

• United States : Alaska: Alaska Day