Events

• 306 - Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
• 312 - Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman Emperor.
• 1061 - Empress Agnes, acting as Regent for her son, brings about the election of Bishop Cadalus, the antipope Honorius II
• 1516 - Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.
• 1531 - Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. The southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control.
• 1538 - The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established.
• 1628 - The Siege of La Rochelle, which had been ongoing for 14 months, ends with Huguenot surrender
• 1636 - A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.
• 1664 - The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of White Plains - British Army forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
• 1834 - The Battle of Pinjarra occurs in the Swan River Colony in present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. Between 14 and 40 Aborigines are killed by British colonists.
• 1848 - The first railroad in Spain - between Barcelona and Mataró - is opened.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Fair Oaks ends - Union Army forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
• 1886 - In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
• 1891 - The Mino-Owari Earthquake, the largest earthquake in Japan's history, strikes Gifu Prefecture.
• 1893 - Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique, premiered in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death.
• 1918 - World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted its independence from Austria-Hungary. Beginning of independent Czechoslovak state, after 300 years.
• 1918 - The German fleet is immobilized when sailors mutiny en masse and disobey an order to leave port five times; 1,000 would ultimately be arrested.
• 1918 - New Polish government in Western Galicia (Central Europe) is established.
• 1919 - The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.
• 1922 - March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
• 1936 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.
• 1940 - World War II: Italy invades Greece through Albania. This was the selected anniversary of Greece's entry into World War II. It is celebrated in Greece as Okhi Day (???=No) Day.
• 1941 - Holocaust in Kaunas, Lithuania: German SS forces arrange the massacre of more than 9,000 Jews of the Kaunas ghetto. After the victims assembled on the Demokratu square at 6 am to be shot they are buried in gigantic ditches.
• 1942 - The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.
• 1942 - Holocaust: 2,000 Jewish children and 6,000 Jewish adults from Kraków are deported by Germans to Belzec death camp.
• 1942 - Holocaust: SS directive orders all Jewish children's mittens and stockings to be sent from the death camps to the SS families.
• 1948 - Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.
• 1954 - The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy.
• 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: U.S. officials deny any involvement in bombing North Vietnam.
• 1965 - Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of the alleged killing of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's declaration from 760 years ago. In short, Pope Paul VI announces that the ecumenical council has decided that Jews are not collectively responsible for the killing of Christ.
• 1970 - The land speed record set by Gary Gabelich in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
• 1971 - Britain launches its first (and as of 2007, only) satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket.
• 1982 - Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) wins elections, leading to first Socialist government in Spain after death of Franco. Felipe Gonzalez becomes Prime Minister-elect.
• 1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.
• 1985 - Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and makes peace overtures to the United States; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.
• 1986 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is re-celebrated in New York Harbor.
• 1998 - An Air China (Mainland China) jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.
• 2005 - Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is indicted in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns later that day.
• 2006 - Funeral service for the peace of the executed at Bykivnia forest, outside of Kiev, Ukraine, with reburial of 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s ? early 1940s.

Births

• 1510 - Francis Borgia, Spanish duke and Jesuit priest (d. 1572)
• 1585 - Cornelius Jansen, Dutch bishop (d. 1638)
• 1667 - Maria Anna of Neuburg, second wife of Charles II of Spain (d. 1740)
• 1691 - Peder Tordenskjold, Norwegian naval hero (d. 1720)
• 1697 - Canaletto, Italian artist (d. 1768)
• 1703 - Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)
• 1718 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary (d. 1793)
• 1767 - Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1852)
• 1793 - Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer (d. 1861)
• 1804 - Pierre François Verhulst, Belgian mathematician (d. 1849)
• 1818 - Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer (d. 1883)
• 1845 - Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist (d. 1888)
• 1846 - Georges Auguste Escoffier, French chef (d. 1935)
• 1864 - Adolfo Camarillo, prominent land owner, horse breeder, and rancher (d. 1958
• 1875 - Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, American geographer and editor (d. 1966)
• 1877 - Joe Adams, American baseball player (d. 1952)
• 1879 - Channing H. Cox, 49^th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1968)
• 1881 - Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (d. 1969)
• 1885 - Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet (d. 1922)
• 1889 - Juliette Béliveau, Quebec comedian (d. 1975)
• 1891 - Ormer Locklear, American movie stunt pilot (d. 1920)
• 1892 - Dink Johnson, American musician (d. 1954)
• 1896 - Howard Hanson, American composer (d. 1981)
• 1897 - Edith Head, American costume designer (d. 1981)
• 1901 - Eileen Shanahan, Irish Poet (d. 1979)
• 1902 - Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (d. 1986)
• 1903 - Evelyn Waugh, English writer (d. 1966)
• 1907 - John Harold Hewitt, Northern Irish poet (d. 1987)
• 1908 - Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (d. 1995)
• 1909 - Francis Bacon, Anglo-Irish painter (d. 1992)
• 1912 - Richard Doll, English epidemiologist (d. 2005)
• 1914 - Jonas Salk, American medical scientist (d. 1995)
• 1914 - Richard Laurence Millington Synge, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1914 - Glenn Robert Davis, U.S. Congressman (d. 1988)
• 1917 - Jack Soo, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1922 - Gershon Kingsley, German composer
• 1922 - Butch van Breda Kolff, American basketball coach (d. 2007)
• 1922 - Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (d. 2003)
• 1924 - Antonio Creus, Spanish racecar driver (d. 1996)
• 1925 - Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener (d. 2006)
• 1926 - Bowie Kuhn, American Commissioner of Baseball (d. 2007)
• 1927 - Dame Cleo Laine, British singer
• 1928 - Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general
• 1929 - Joan Plowright, British actress
• 1929 - Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor (d. 1988)
• 1929 - John Hollander, American poet
• 1930 - Bernie Ecclestone, English motorsports impresario (F1)
• 1932 - Suzy Parker, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1932 - Spyros Kyprianou, a President of Cyprus
• 1933 - Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (d. 1983)
• 1935 - Alan Clarke, British film director
• 1936 - Charlie Daniels, American musician
• 1936 - Carl Davis, American-born musical conductor and composer
• 1937 - Lenny Wilkens, American basketball player and coach
• 1938 - David Dimbleby, English television commentator
• 1938 - Anne Perry, English-born novelist
• 1939 - Jane Alexander, American actress
• 1939 - Miroslav Cerar, Yugoslav gymnast
• 1940 - Susan Harris, American television writer and producer
• 1941 - John Hallam, Irish actor
• 1941 - Hank Marvin, English guitarist
• 1941 - Curtis Lee, American singer
• 1942 - Kees Verkerk, Dutch speed skater
• 1943 - Conny Froboess, German singer
• 1943 - Charo López, Spanish actress
• 1944 - Dennis Franz, American actor
• 1944 - Anton Schlecker, German billionaire
• 1944 - Coluche, French comedian and actor (d. 1986)
• 1945 - Elton Dean, English musician (Soft Machine) (d. 2006)
• 1945 - Wayne Fontana, British singer (The Mindbenders)
• 1946 - Wim Jansen, Dutch footballer and coach
• 1946 - John Hewson, Australian politician
• 1948 - Telma Hopkins, American singer and actress (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
• 1949 - Bruce Jenner, American athlete
• 1949 - Tracy Reed, American actress
• 1950 - Sihem Bensedrine, Tunisian human rights activist
• 1950 - Ludo Delcroix, Belgian cyclist
• 1952 - Annie Potts, American actress
• 1953 - Pierre Boivin, Canadian businessman and hockey executive
• 1955 - Bill Gates, American software executive
• 1956 - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
• 1956 - Dave Wyndorf, American singer (Monster Magnet)
• 1957 - Stephen Morris, British musician (Joy Division and New Order)
• 1960 - Landon Curt Noll, Astronomer, Cryptographer and Mathematician: youngest to hold the world record for the largest known prime 3 times
• 1958 - William Reid, Scottish musician (The Jesus and Mary Chain)
• 1962 - Daphne Zuniga, American actress
• 1962 - Scotty Nguyen, professional poker player
• 1962 - Erik Thorstvedt, Norwegian footballer
• 1963 - Lauren Holly, American actress
• 1963 - James Miller, the "Fan Man" (d. 2002)
• 1963 - Eros Ramazzotti, Italian singer
• 1965 - Jami Gertz, American actress
• 1965 - Luigi Miraglia, Italian Latinist
• 1966 - Steve Atwater, American football player
• 1966 - Andy Richter, American comedian and actor
• 1966 - Aris Spiliotopoulos, Greek politician
• 1967 - Julia Roberts, American actress
• 1967 - John Romero, American video game designer
• 1967 - Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein
• 1967 - Kevin Macdonald, Scottish film director
• 1968 - Marc Ličvremont, French rugby union footballer and coach
• 1969 - Ben Harper, American musician
• 1969 - Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Puerto Rican screenwriter and producer
• 1972 - Terrell Davis, American football player
• 1972 - Brad Paisley, American musician
• 1973 - Alvin Burke, Jr., American professional wrestler
• 1974 - Joaquin Phoenix, Puerto Rican-born actor
• 1974 - Vicente Moreno, Spanish footballer
• 1974 - Braden Looper, American baseball player
• 1974 - Dejan Stefanovi?, Serbian footballer
• 1974 - Dayanara Torres, Puerto Rican actress and beauty queen
• 1976 - Karl Tremblay, Canadian singer (Les Cowboys Fringants)
• 1978 - Marta Etura, Spanish actress
• 1978 - Justin Guarini, American singer
• 1979 - Aki Hakala, Finnish drummer (The Rasmus)
• 1979 - Martin ?koula, Czech ice hockey player
• 1980 - Alan Smith, English footballer
• 1980 - Christy Hemme, American professional wrestler
• 1980 - Kanzi, Most Literate Non-Human
• 1980 - Dimitri Liakopoulos, Greek actor
• 1981 - Milan Baro?, Czech footballer
• 1981 - Solomon Andargachew, Ethiopian footballer
• 1982 - Jeremy Bonderman, American baseball player
• 1982 - Mai Kuraki, Japanese singer
• 1982 - Anthony Lerew, American baseball player
• 1983 - Jarrett Jack, American basketball player
• 1984 - Obafemi Martins, Nigerian footballer
• 1984 - Amanda Paige, American model
• 1985 - Richard Smith, American entrepreneur
• 1996 - Naelee Rae, American actress
• 1996 - Jasmine Jessica Anthony, American actress

Deaths

• 312 - Maxentius, Roman emperor (b. c. 278)
• 1225 - Jien, Japanese poet and historian (b. 1155)
• 1312 - Elisabeth of Tirol, German queen
• 1412 - Margaret I of Denmark, wife of Haakon VI of Norway (b. 1353)
• 1485 - Rodolphus Agricola, Dutch humanist (b. 1443)
• 1520 - Pier Gerlofs Donia, Frisian pirate and freedom fighter
• 1568 - Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shogun (b. 1539)
• 1627 - Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1569)
• 1639 - Stefano Landi, Italian composer (b. 1587)
• 1646 - William Dobson, English painter (b. 1610)
• 1661 - Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish playwright (b. 1518)
• 1676 - Jean Desmarets, French writer (b. 1595)
• 1703 - John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 1616)
• 1704 - John Locke, English philosopher (b. 1632)
• 1708 - Prince George of Denmark, Consort of Queen Anne of England (b. 1653)
• 1716 - Stephen Fox, British politician (b. 1627)
• 1740 - Empress Anna of Russia (b. 1693)
• 1754 - Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (b. 1708)
• 1755 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (b. 1689)
• 1763 - Heinrich, count von Brühl, German statesman (b. 1700)
• 1768 - Michel Blavet, French flutist (b. 1700)
• 1792 - Paul Möhring, German physician and scientist (b. 1710)
• 1792 - John Smeaton, British civil engineer (b. 1724)
• 1800 - Artemas Ward, American politician and soldier (b. 1727)
• 1806 - Charlotte Turner Smith, British poet and novelist (b. 1749)
• 1818 - Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (b. 1744)
• 1841 - Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist (b. 1792)
• 1857 - Louis Eugčne Cavaignac, French soldier and politician (b. 1802)
• 1877 - Robert Swinhoe, British naturalist (b. 1835)
• 1879 - Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French writer (b. 1799)
• 1899 - Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born inventor (tuberculosis) (b. 1854)
• 1900 - Max Müller, German-born orientalist (b. 1823)
• 1916 - Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (b. 1838)
• 1916 - Oswald Boelcke, German pilot (b. 1891)
• 1917 - Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (b. 1831)
• 1918 - Ulisse Dini, Italian mathematician (b. 1845)
• 1929 - Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)
• 1939 - Alice Brady, American actress (b. 1892)
• 1952 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
• 1957 - Ernst Gräfenberg, German physician and scientist (b. 1881)
• 1959 - Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)
• 1965 - Earl Bostic, American saxophonist (b. 1913)
• 1969 - Constance Dowling, American actress (b. 1920)
• 1973 - Taha Hussein, Egyptian writer (b. 1889)
• 1973 - Sergio Tofano, Italian actor (b. 1883)
• 1975 - Georges Carpentier, French boxer (b. 1894)
• 1975 - Oliver Nelson, American jazz composer and arranger (b. 1932)
• 1986 - John Braine, British novelist (b. 1922)
• 1987 - André Masson, French artist (b. 1896)
• 1997 - Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
• 1998 - Ted Hughes, British poet (b. 1930)
• 2000 - Lída Baarová, Czech actress (b. 1914)
• 2000 - Andujar Cedeno, Dominican baseball player for the Houston Astros (b. 1969)
• 2000 - Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (b. 1912)
• 2001 - Gerard Hengeveld, Dutch composer (b. 1910)
• 2002 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (b. 1898)
• 2002 - Erling Persson, Swedish entrepreneur (b. 1917)
• 2004 - Jimmy McLarnin, Northern Irish-born boxer (b. 1907)
• 2005 - Eugene K. Bird, German prison director (b. 1926)
• 2005 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (b. 1918)
• 2005 - Raymond Hains, French artist (b. 1926)
• 2005 - Tony Jackson, American basketball player (b. 1942)
• 2005 - Fernando Quejas, Cape Verdean singer and musician (b. 1922)
• 2005 - Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1943)
• 2005 - Ljuba Tadi?, Serbian actor (b. 1929)
• 2006 - Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and executive (b. 1917)
• 2006 - Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (b. 1955)
• 2006 - Marijohn Wilkin, American songwriter (b. 1920)
• 2007 - Porter Wagoner, American country singer (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

• October 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Charlotte, North Carolina - Stephen Colbert Day
• Czechoslovakia - granted its independence from Austria-Hungary (1918); This is a holiday in the Czech Republic and Remembrance Day in Slovakia.
• Greece - Oxi (No) Day marking the beginning of the invasion of Greece by Italy via Albania (1940)
• Christian feast days
  • Abdias of Babylon
  • Abgar V of Edessa
  • St. Eadsin
  • St. Fidelis of Como
  • Saint Godwin
  • Saint Job of Pochayiv
  • Saint Jude (a.k.a Saint Thaddaeus or "of James")
  • St. Simon the Zealot (erroneously a.k.a. "the Canaanite")

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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