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Today October 30th 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
637 – Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Rashidun Caliphate after the Battle of Iron bridge.
758 – Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates.
1137 – Battle of Rignano between Ranulf of Apulia and Roger II of Sicily.
1270 – The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (brother to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1340 – Battle of Rio Salado.
1470 – Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats the Yorkists in battle.
1485 – Henry VII of England is crowned.
1501 – Ballet of Chestnuts – a banquet held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace where fifty prostitutes or courtesans were in attendance for the entertainment of the guests.
1502 – Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut for the second time.
1831 – In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
1863 – Danish Prince Wilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes.
1864 – Second war of Schleswig ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.
1864 – Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at Last Chance Gulch.
1894 – Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.
1905 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia s first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.
1918 – The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.
1920 – The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
1922 – Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.
1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain s first television transmitter.
1929 – The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.
1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells s The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
1941 – World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
1941 – 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.
1944 – Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
1945 – Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.
1947 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.
1950 – Pope Pius XII witnesses The Miracle of the Sun while at the Vatican.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.
1960 – Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise. Nikita Kruschev announces that the scientists had planned to make it 100 megatons, but had reduced the yield to reduce fallout over the Soviet Union.
1961 – Because of violations of Lenin s precepts, it is decreed that Joseph Stalin s body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin s tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.
1965 – Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions was found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
1970 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
1972 – A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois kills 45 and injures 332.
1973 – The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time.
1974 – The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.
1975 – Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain s acting head of state, taking over for the country s ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.
1980 – El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969 s Football War before the International Court of Justice.
1983 – The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
1987 – In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
1988 – Philip Morris buys Kraft Foods for U.S. $13.1 billion.
1991 – The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.
1995 – Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote was 50.6% to 49.4%).
2000 – The last Multics machine is shut down.
2002 – British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
Births
1218 – Emperor Chukyo of Japan (d. 1234)
1513 – Jacques Amyot, French writer (d. 1593)
1624 – Paul Pellisson, French writer (d. 1693)
1668 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, queen in Prussia (d. 1705)
1735 – John Adams, President of the United States (d. 1826)
1751 – Richard Sheridan, Irish playwright (d. 1816)
1762 – André Chénier, French writer (d. 1794)
1786 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer (d. 1871)
1799 – Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal (d. 1885)
1821 – Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian writer (d. 1881)
1839 – Alfred Sisley, Anglo-French artist (d. 1899)
1844 – Harvey W. Wiley, American chemist (d. 1930)
1847 – Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist (d. 1897)
1857 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist (d. 1904)
1861 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
1871 – Paul Valéry, French poet (d. 1945)
1871 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (d. 1949)
1873 – Francisco I. Madero, President of Mexico (d. 1913)
1881 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (d. 1941)
1882 – William Halsey, Jr, American admiral (d. 1959)
1882 – Günther von Kluge, German field marshal (d. 1944)
1885 – Ezra Pound, American poet (d. 1972)
1886 – Zoe Akins, American playwright (d. 1958)
1887 – Sukumar Ray, Bengali Writer (d. 1923)
1888 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek Olympic champion (d. 1913)
1893 – Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (d. 1972)
1893 – Roland Freisler, German Nazi politician (d. 1945)
1894 – Jean Rostand, French biologist (d. 1977)
1895 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (declined) (d. 1964)
1895 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1896 – Ruth Gordon, American actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet (d. 1928)
1897 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (d. 1928)
1898 – Bill Terry, baseball player (d. 1989)
1900 – Ragnar Granit Finnish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1906 – Alexander Gode, German-American linguist (d. 1970)
1906 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver and one-time F1 world champion (d. 1966)
1907 – Sol Tax, American anthropologist (d. 1995)
1908 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (d. 1963)
1908 – Patsy Montana, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 1996)
1909 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist (d. 1966)
1911 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (d. 2005)
1914 – Richard E Holz, American composer (d. 1986)
1914 – Anna Wing, English actress
1915 – Fred Friendly, American journalist (d. 1998)
1916 – Leon Day, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1917 – Bobby Bragan, American baseball player
1917 – Nikolai Vasilievich Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal (d. 1994)
1917 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
1922 – Jane White, American actress and singer
1926 – Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver
1927 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1928 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
1930 – Nestor Almendros, Spanish cinematographer (d. 1992)
1930 – Clifford Brown, American musician (d. 1956)
1931 – Vince Callahan, American politician
1932 – Louis Malle, French film director (d. 1995)
1932 – Barun De, Indian historian
1934 – Frans Brüggen, Dutch musician
1935 – Agota Kristof, Hungarian writer
1935 – Michael Winner, British film director
1935 – Jim Perry, American baseball player
1935 – Robert Caro, American biographer
1936 – Polina Astakhova, Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2005)
1937 – Claude Lelouch, French film director
1939 – Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, Nobel laureate
1939 – Grace Slick, American singer (Jefferson Airplane)
1939 – Edward Holland, Jr., American singer
1940 – Ed Lauter, American actor
1941 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel laureate
1941 – Otis Williams, American singer
1943 – Joanna Shimkus, Canadian actress
1945 – Henry Winkler, American actor
1946 – Chris Slade, Welsh drummer (Asia)
1947 – Timothy B. Schmit, American musician (Eagles)
1948 – Rusty Goffe, British actor
1951 – Harry Hamlin, American actor
1953 – Charles Martin Smith, American actor
1954 – Mario Testino, Peruvian-born English fashion photographer
1956 – Juliet Stevenson, English actress
1957 – Kevin Pollak, American actor
1957 – Andy Archer, Scottish dramatist
1958 – Joe Delaney, American football player (d. 1983)
1958 – Stefan Dennis, Australian actor
1958 – Ramona d Viola, American cyclist
1960 – Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
1961 – Scott Garrelts, American baseball player
1962 – Courtney Walsh, Jamaican West Indies cricketer
1963 – Michael Beach, American actor
1963 – Kristina Wagner, American actress
1964 – Howard Lederer, American poker player
1964 – Humayun Kabir Dhali, Bangladeshi Writer & Journalist
1966 – Scott Innes, American voice actor
1967 – Brad Aitken, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
1968 – Jack Plotnick, American actor
1969 – Masanori Hikichi, Japanese composer
1970 – Maja Tatic, Bosnia singer
1970 – Tory Belleci, American TV Mythbuster
1970 – Nia Long, American actress
1970 – Ekaterini Voggoli, Greek discus thrower
1970 – Ben Bailey, American host of the game show Cash Cab
1971 – Ahn Jae Wook, South Korean actor and singer
1971 – Suzan van der Wielen, Dutch hockey-international
1973 – Adam Edge Copeland, Canadian wrestler
1973 – Silvia Corzo, Colombian newscaster
1973 – Michael Oakes, English footballer
1975 – Ian D Sa, Guitarist/Vocalist for Canadian rock band Billy Talent
1975 – Maria Thayer, American actress
1976 – Stern John, Trinidadian footballer
1976 – Maurice Taylor, American Basketball Player
1977 – Jason Adelman, American actor
1977 – Eefke Mulder, Dutch hockey-international
1978 – Martin Dossett, American football player
1978 – Amanda Swafford, American model
1979 – Jason Bartlett, American baseball player
1979 – Yukie Nakama, Japanese actress
1980 – Sarah Carter, Canadian actress
1980 – Choi Hong-man, South Korean kickboxer
1981 – Ivanka Trump, American model
1981 – Jun Ji-hyun, South Korean actress
1981 – Ian Snell, American baseball player
1982 – Andy Greene, American ice hockey player
1982 – Manny Parra, American baseball player
1983 – Iain Hume, Canadian footballer
1983 – Trent Edwards, American Football Player
1984 – Eva Marcille, American model and actress
1984 – Tyson Strachan, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper
1987 – Junaid Siddique, Bangladeshi cricketer
1988 – Janel Parrish, American actress
1989 – Nastia Liukin, American gymnast
1989 – Seth Adkins, American actor
Deaths
1459 – Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (b. 1380)
1522 – Jean Mouton, French composer
1553 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (b. 1489)
1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard, French poet (b. 1528)
1611 – King Charles IX of Sweden (b. 1550)
1626 – Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1580)
1632 – Henri II de Montmorency, French naval officer and Governor of Languedoc (b. 1595)
1654 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (b. 1633)
1680 – Antoinette Bourignon, Flemish mystic (b. 1616)
1685 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (b. 1603)
1809 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
1816 – Frederick I of Württemberg (b. 1754)
1842 – Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet and author (b. 1784)
1853 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (b. 1786)
1883 – Robert Volkmann, German composer (b. 1815)
1893 – John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1894 – Honoré Mercier, politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
1899 – William Henry Webb, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1816)
1910 – Henry Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1828)
1912 – James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (b. 1855)
1915 – Charles Tupper, sixth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1917 – Talbot Mercer Papineau (b. 1883)
1923 – Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1858)
1957 – Fred Beebe, baseball player (b. 1880)
1963 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (b. 1908)
1966 – Yórgos Theotokás, Greek novelist (b. 1906)
1968 – Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author (b. 1886)
1968 – Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
1968 – Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890)
1969 – Pops Foster, American musician (b. 1892)
1975 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1979 – Sir Barnes Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor (b. 1887)
1979 – Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (b. 1890)
1985 – Kirby Grant, American actor (b. 1911)
1987 – Joseph Campbell, Comparative Mythologist and Writer (b. 1904)
1988 – T. Hee, American animator (b. 1911)
1993 – Paul Grégoire, Archbishop of Montreal (b. 1911)
1997 – Samuel Fuller, American film director (b. 1912)
2000 – Steve Allen, American comedian, author, and composer (b. 1921)
2002 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and musician (Run DMC) (b. 1965)
2002 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2004 – Peggy Ryan, American actress (b. 1924)
2005 – Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (b. 1908)
2005 – Shamsher Singh Sheri, Indian communist leader (b. 1942)
2006 – Junji Kinoshita, Japanese playwright (b. 1914)
2006 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (b. 1926)
2007 – Robert Goulet, American entertainer (b. 1933)
2007 – Linda Stein, Ramones manager and real estate broker (b. 1945)
2007 – Washoe, chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language (b. 1965)
2007 – John Woodruff, American athlete (b. 1915)
2008 – Pedro Pompilio Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
Calendar of Saints – October 30th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
Alonso Rodríguez
St. Artemas
St. Herbert
St. Marcellus the Centurion
St. Saturninus
Serapion of Antioch
United States – Mischief Night in some areas (known as Devil s Night in Michigan)
Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in post-Soviet states
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