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Today October 18th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
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.
1685 – Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, which has protected French Protestants.
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.
1908 – Belgium annexes the Congo Free State.
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.
1944 – Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
1944 – Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.
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 etát against then president Isaías Medina Angarita, who was 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 two black athletes for giving a black power salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
1968 – Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90m in the long jump at the Mexico City games. This becomes the longest unbroken track and field record in history, standing for 23 years, and is later named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sporting moments of the 20th century.
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 executed and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide. The West German government states that it would never again negotiate with terrorists.
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 – After 8 years in exile, Benazir Bhutto returns to her homeland Pakistan. The same night, suicide attackers blow themselves up near Bhutto s convoy, killing over 100 in the cheering crowd, including 20 police officers. Bhutto escaped uninjured.
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)
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)
1900 – 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)
1906 – James Brooks, American painter (d. 1992)
1909 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and legal theorist (d. 2004)
1913 – Robert Gilruth, American aviation and space pioneer (d. 2000)
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 political activist (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)
1937 – Cynthia Weil, American songwriter
1938 – Dawn Wells, American actress
1939 – Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, and commentator
1939 – Lee Harvey Oswald, purported American assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
1939 – Flavio Cotti, member of the Swiss Federal Council
1942 – Larry Pickering, Australian newspaper cartoonist
1943 – Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish politician
1945 – Chris Shays, Member of the United States Congress from Connecticut
1945 – Huell Howser, American TV host
1945 – Yildo, 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
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 – B?o 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 – Doug Isaacson, Alaskan 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 – Milco Mancevski, 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.
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
1972 – Jake Farrow, actor
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 – Azlea Antistia, American pornographic actress
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
1979 – Ne-Yo, R&B singer
1984 – Lindsey Vonn, American alpine skier
1987 – Zac Efron, American actor
1987 – Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model
1990 – Carly Schroeder, American actress
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)
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, 7th 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 – 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
1977 – Andreas Baader (b. 1943)
1977 – Gudrun Ensslin (b. 1940)
1977 – Jan-Carl Raspe (b. 1944)
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
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