Today October 3rd 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
42 BC – First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar s assassins Brutus and Cassius.
1283 – Dafydd ap Gruffydd, prince of Gwynedd in Wales, becomes the first person executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered.
1574 – The Siege of Leiden is lifted by the Watergeuzen.
1683 – The Qing Dynasty naval commander Shi Lang reaches Taiwan (under the Kingdom of Tungning) to receive the formal surrender of Zheng Keshuang and Liu Guoxuan after the Battle of Penghu.
1712 – The Duke of Montrose issues a warrant for the arrest of Rob Roy MacGregor.
1739 – The Treaty of Nissa is signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia at the end of the Russian-Turkish War, 1736-1739.
1778 – British Captain James Cook anchors in Alaska.
1795 – General Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence being named to defend the French National Convention against armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the three year old revolutionary government.
1835 – The Staedtler Company is founded in Nuremburg, Germany.
1849 – American author Edgar Allan Poe is found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it is the last time he is seen in public before his death.
1863 – The last Thursday in November is declared as Thanksgiving Day by President Abraham Lincoln. As were Thursday s, November 30, 1865 and November 29, 1866.
1873 – Captain Jack and companions are hanged for their part in the Modoc War.
1908 – The Pravda newspaper is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna.
1918 – King Boris III of Bulgaria accedes to the throne.
1929 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Land of the South Slavs.
1932 – Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia under General de Bono.
1942 – Spaceflight: The first successful launch of a V-2 /A4-rocket from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde, Germany. It is the first man-made object to reach space.
1951 – The Shot Heard Round the World, one of the greatest moments in Major League Baseball history, occurs when the New York Giants Bobby Thomson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the National League pennant after being down 14 games.
1952 – The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon.
1955 – Captain Kangaroo debuts on the CBS television network.
1955 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on ABC.
1957 – Allen Ginsberg s Howl and Other Poems is ruled not obscene.
1962 – Project Mercury: Sigma 7 is launched from Cape Canaveral, with Astronaut Wally Schirra aboard, for a six-orbit, nine-hour flight.
1964 – First Buffalo Wings are made at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.
1981 – The Hunger Strike by Provisional Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths.
1981 – The Communist Party of Namibia is founded at a conference in Angola.
1985 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight. (Mission STS-51-J)
1986 – TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron at the Chalk River Laboratories, is officially opened.
1990 – Re-unification of Germany. The German Democratic Republic ceases to exist and its territory becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. East German citizens became part of the European Community, which later became the European Union. Now celebrated as German Unity Day.
1993 – Battle of Mogadishu: In an attempt to capture officials of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid s organisation in Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 US Soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed in heavy fighting.
2003 – Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy is attacked by one of the show s tigers, canceling the show for good.
2008 – The $700 billion bailout bill for the US financial system is signed by President Bush.
Births
1716 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (d. 1781)
1720 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (d. 1796)
1790 – John Ross, Chief of the Cherokee Nation (d. 1866)
1792 – Francisco Morazán, Central American statesman
1797 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1870)
1800 – George Bancroft, American historian and Secretary of the Navy (d. 1891)
1802 – John Gorrie, American scientist (d. 1855)
1804 – Townsend Harris, 1st U.S. Consul to Japan (d. 1878)
1804 – Allan Kardec, French founder of Spiritism (d. 1869)
1806 – Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (d. 1850)
1828 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (d. 1897)
1848 – Henry Lerolle, French painter (d. 1929)
1858 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (d. 1924)
1862 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (d. 1902)
1863 – Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, Russian explorer (d. 1935)
1869 – Alfred Flatow, German Olympic champion gymnast (d. 1942)
1880 – Warner Oland, Swedish-born actor (d. 1938)
1882 – A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (d. 1974)
1885 – Langley Collyer, hoarder (d. 1947)
1885 – Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (d. 1970)
1886 – Alain-Fournier, French novelist (d. 1914)
1889 – Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1938)
1894 – Elmer Robinson, American politician (d. 1982)
1894 – Walter Warlimont, German General WWII (d. 1976)
1895 – Giovanni Comisso, Italian writer (d. 1969)
1895 – Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin, Russian lyrical poet (d. 1925)
1896 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (d. 1987)
1897 – Louis Aragon, French writer (d. 1982)
1898 – Leo McCarey, American film director (d. 1969)
1899 – Gertrude Berg, American actress (d. 1966)
1900 – Thomas Wolfe, American author (d. 1938)
1901 – Jean Grémillon, French film director (d. 1959)
1904 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1904 – Ernst Gunther Schenck, German doctor who joined the Sturmabteilung in 1933 (d. 1998)
1911 – Michael Hordern, English actor (d. 1995)
1915 – Ray Stark, American film producer (d. 2004)
1916 – James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (d. 1995)
1916 – Shelby Storck, American television producer (d. 1969)
1919 – James M. Buchanan, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1922 – Jean Lefebvre, French actor (d. 2004)
1923 – Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician (d. 2004)
1924 – Arkady Vorobyov, Russian weightlifter
1924 – Harvey Kurtzman, U.S. cartoonist and founding editor of Mad magazine (d. 1993)
1925 – Gore Vidal, American author
1928 – Erik Bruhn, Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1986)
1928 – Alvin Toffler, American writer and futurist
1929 – Bert Stern, American photographer
1931 – Glenn Hall, National Hockey League goaltender
1933 – Neale Fraser, Australian tennis player
1935 – Charles Duke, American astronaut
1936 – Steve Reich, American composer
1938 – Tereza Kesovija, Croatian singer
1940 – Alan O Day, American singer and songwriter
1940 – Sheila Fearn, English actress
1940 – Jean Ratelle, Canadian ice hockey player
1941 – Chubby Checker, American musician
1942 – Alan Rachins, American actor
1943 – Jeff Bingaman, Democratic U.S. Senator of New Mexico
1944 – Pierre Deligne, Belgian mathematician
1944 – Roy Horn, German-American magician
1944 – Bob Riley, American politician, governor of Alabama
1945 – Kay Baxter, American bodybuilder (d. 1988)
1946 – Biff Henderson, American television personality
1947 – John Perry Barlow, American musician
1948 – Michael Medved, American film critic
1949 – Lindsey Buckingham, American musician (Fleetwood Mac)
1949 – J. P. Dutta, Indian Bollywood film director
1950 – Pamela Hensley, American actress
1951 – Bernard Cooper, American writer
1951 – Keb Mo , American singer
1951 – Dave Winfield, American baseball player
1954 – Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player
1954 – Al Sharpton, American minister and activist
1954 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
1956 – Hart Bochner, Canadian film actor/director
1957 – Tim Westwood, Pimp My Ride UK presenter and DJ
1959 – Fred Couples, American golfer
1959 – Greg Proops, American actor and comedian
1959 – Jack Wagner, American actor
1962 – Tommy Lee, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
1963 – Marion Peck, American artist and painter
1963 – Chip Foose, American automotive designer
1964 – Clive Owen, British actor
1965 – Jan-Ove Waldner, Swedish table tennis player
1966 – Darrin Fletcher, Major League Baseball player
1966 – Frank Hannon American guitarist Tesla (band)
1967 – Rob Liefeld, American comic book writer and artist
1968 – Paul Crichton, English footballer
1968 – Greg Foster, American basketball player
1969 – Gwen Stefani, American singer (No Doubt)
1969 – Tetsu, Japanese bassist (L Arc~en~Ciel)
1969 – Janel Moloney, American actress
1971 – Wil Cordero, baseball player
1971 – Kevin Richardson, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
1972 – Garrett Dutton, American musician (G. Love and Special Sauce)
1972 – Kim Joo-hyuk, South Korean actor
1972 – Black Thought, American rapper (The Roots)
1972 – Lajon Witherspoon, American singer (Sevendust)
1973 – Keiko Agena, Japanese-American actress
1973 – Neve Campbell, Canadian actress
1973 – Angélica Gavaldón, Mexican tennis player
1973 – Lena Headey, British actress
1974 – Marianne Timmer, Dutch speed skater
1974 – Mike Johnson, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – India.Arie, American singer
1975 – Talib Kweli, American rapper
1976 – Seann William Scott, American actor
1978 – Jake Shears, singer (Scissor Sisters)
1978 – Gerald Asamoah, German footballer
1978 – Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian footballer
1978 – Shannyn Sossamon, American actress
1979 – John Hennigan, American professional wrestler
1979 – Daniel Hollie, American professional wrestler
1980 – Sheldon Brookbank, Canadian hockey player
1981 – Danny Coid, English footballer
1981 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish footballer
1981 – Andreas Isaksson, Swedish footballer
1981 – Matt Murton, American baseball player
1981 – Amanda Walsh, Canadian actress
1982 – Erik von Detten, American actor
1983 – Frederico Chaves Guedes, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Hiroki Suzuki, Japanese actor
1984 – Yoon Eun-Hye, South Korean actress
1984 – Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, American singer
1987 – Zuleyka Rivera, Puerto Rican Miss Universe
1988 – Tadhg Kelly, American actor
1990 – Rhian Denise Ramos, Filipino actress
1996 – Adair Tishler, American child actress
Deaths
42 BC – Gaius Cassius Longinus
1226 – Saint Francis of Assisi (b. 1181)
1283 – David ap Gruffydd, Welsh prince of Gwynedd (executed) (b. 1238)
1369 – Margarete Maultasch, Countess of Tyrol (b. 1318)
1568 – Elizabeth of Valois, wife of Philip II of Spain (b. 1545)
1596 – Florent Chrestien, French writer (b. 1541)
1611 – Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader (b. 1554)
1629 – Giorgi Saakadze, Georgian military leader (b. 1570)
1649 – Giovanni Diodati, Swiss Protestant clergyman (b. 1576)
1653 – Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Dutch scholar (b. 1612)
1656 – Myles Standish, English-born soldier
1690 – Robert Barclay, Scottish writer (b. 1648)
1701 – Joseph Williamson, English politician (b. 1633)
1801 – Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur, Marshal of France (b. 1724)
1833 – François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general (b. 1754)
1838 – Black Hawk (chief), Leader of the Sauk Native American tribe (b. 1767)
1867 – Elias Howe, American sewing machine pioneer (b. 1819)
1873 – Captain Jack, Modoc tribal leader
1877 – James Roosevelt Bayley, first Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore (b. 1814)
1881 – Orson Pratt, American religious leader (b. 1811)
1890 – Joseph Hergenröther, German historian (b. 1824)
1891 – Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (b. 1842)
1896 – William Morris, English writer & poet (b. 1834)
1929 – Jeanne Eagels, American actress (b. 1894)
1929 – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
1931 – Carl Nielsen, Danish composer (b. 1865)
1936 – John Heisman, American football coach (b. 1869)
1953 – Arnold Bax, English composer (b. 1883)
1965 – Zachary Scott, American actor (b. 1914)
1967 – Woody Guthrie, American musician (b. 1912)
1967 – Malcolm Sargent, English conductor (b. 1895)
1969 – Skip James, American blues musician (b. 1902)
1986 – Vince DiMaggio, American Baseball Player (b. 1912)
1987 – Jean Anouilh, French writer (b. 1910)
1987 – Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (b. 1947)
1988 – Franz Josef Strauß, Bavarian politician (b. 1915)
1990 – Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco (b. 1960)
1993 – Sgt. First Class Randy Shughart, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1958)
1993 – Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1960)
1994 – Dub Taylor, American actor (b. 1907)
1998 – Roddy McDowall, English actor (b. 1928)
1999 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman (b. 1921)
2000 – Benjamin Orr, American bassist and singer (The Cars) (b. 1947)
2000 – John Grant, British politician (b. 1932)
2002 – Bruce Paltrow, American television and film producer (b. 1943)
2002 – Robert Krausz, Stock market advisor and investor (b. 1936)
2003 – Florence Stanley, American actress (b. 1924)
2003 – William Steig, American cartoonist and children s author (b. 1907)
2004 – John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer (b. 1960)
2004 – Janet Leigh, American actress (b. 1927)
2005 – Ronnie Barker, English comic actor (b. 1929)
2006 – Alberto Ramento, Filipina bishop (b. 1937)
2006 – John Crank, British mathematician (b. 1913)
2006 – Peter Norman, Australian track star (b. 1942)
2007 – M. N. Vijayan, Indian writer, orator, and academic (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
Germany – Day of German Unity
Leiden – Siege of Leiden
South Korea – National Foundation Day (Gaecheonjeol ???)
French Republican Calendar – Immortelle (Strawflower) Day, twelfth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
Abd-al-Masih, saint and martyr
Ewald, martyr
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