Historical Events
Woodrow Wilson Paralyzed
Oct 2 US President Woodrow Wilson has a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed
- Oct 3 Cuban Dolf Luque becomes first Hispanic player to appear in Baseball World Series; pitches 1 inning of relief in Cincinnati Reds' 3-0 defeat to Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park
- Oct 3 Serbian, Croatian and Slavic Parliament passes an accord for an 8 hr work day
- Oct 5 Norwegian population agrees to prohibition
- Oct 6 Chicago White Sox catcher Ray Schalk is 2nd man ejected from a Baseball World Series in Game 5 vs Cincinnati Reds; angered when pitchers Eddie Cicotte & Lefty Williams refuse to follow his signals during 5-0 loss
- Oct 6 Stambuliski becomes premier of Bulgaria
- Oct 7 Fritz Kreisler, Victor Jacobi, and William LeBaron's operetta "Apple Blossoms" opens at the Globe Theatre, NYC; runs for 256 performances
- Oct 7 KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij), Royal Dutch Airlines, one of the oldest existing airline) is founded in Amsterdam
- Oct 9 Baseball World Series: Cincinnati Reds beat Chicago White Sox, 10-5 at Comiskey Park for a 5-3 series victory; due to 'Black Sox Scandal' last WS to take place without a Commissioner of Baseball in place
The Woman Without a Shadow
Oct 10 Richard Strauss and Hugo van Hofmannsthal's opera "Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without A Shadow)", premieres in Vienna, Austria
- Oct 15 14 horses begin 300-mile race from Vermont to Massachusetts for $1000 prize money
- Oct 17 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is created as a subsidiary of General Electric
- Oct 18 Belvin Maynard wins the first transcontinental air race in round trip of nine days, four hours, 25 minutes and 12 seconds, race costs nine lives with 54 crashes or forced landings
1st Earl Beatty
Oct 18 David Beatty is created 1st Earl Beatty, Viscount Borodale, and Baron Beatty of the North Sea and Brooksby
- Oct 19 1st US Distinguished Service Medal awarded to a living female recipient, Anna Howard Shaw
- Oct 23 Orchestra Hall, designed by C. Howard Crane opens in Detroit, Michigan; home of the Detroit Symphony, 1919-39 and 1989 to present, also known as The Paradise Theater, featuring top jazz performers and films, 1941-51
- Oct 23 Romberg & Atteridge's musical "Passing Show" premieres in NYC
- Oct 26 B C Hilliam's musical "Buddies" premieres in NYC
Cello Concerto
Oct 26 Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, premieres at Queen's Hall, London
- Oct 26 US President Woodrow Wilson's veto of Prohibition Enforcement Bill is overridden
- Oct 27 Axeman of New Orleans claims last victim
- Oct 28 Volstead Act passed by US Congress, establishing prohibition, despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto
- Oct 30 Baseball league presidents call for abolishment of spitball
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 1 Bob Boyd, American baseball first baseman (NgL All-Star 1947, 48, 49; first black player to sign with Chicago WS), born in Potts Camp, Mississippi (d. 2004)
- Oct 1 Roy John Britten, American molecular biologist (repeated DNA sequences in eukaryotic genomes), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2012)
- Oct 2 Shirley Clarke, American film director, born in New York City (d. 1997)
- Oct 3 James M. Buchanan, American economist (Nobel Memorial 1986), born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (d. 2013)
- Oct 3 Jean Lefebvre, French actor (Diabolical, Now Where Did the Seventh Company Get to?), born in Valenciennes, Nord, France (d. 2004)
- Oct 3 John Boyd [Boyd Bradfield Upchurch], American sci-fi author (The Last Starship from Earth), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 2013)
- Oct 3 Walter Gieseler, German composer, born in Hanover, Germany (d. 1999)
- Oct 5 Allen Ludden [Ellsworth], American TV personality and gameshow host (Password), husband of Betty White, born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin (d. 1981)
- Oct 5 Donald Pleasence, British actor (You Only Live Twice, Escape from New York, Halloween), born in Worksop, England (d. 1995)
- Oct 5 Robin Bailey, British actor (See No Evil, I Didn't Know You Cared), born in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England (d. 1999)
- Oct 6 Tommy Lawton, English soccer centre-forward (23 caps; Burnley, Everton, Chelsea, Notts County, Brentford, Arsenal), born in Farnworth, England (d. 1996)
- Oct 7 Gabriel Dell, American actor (The Bowery Boys, Steve Allen Show), born in New York City (d. 1988)
- Oct 7 George Duby, French medieval historian (The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined), born in Paris, France (d. 1996)
- Oct 7 Zelman Cowen, Australian legal scholar (Governor General of Australia 1977-82), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 2011)
- Oct 8 Hal Singer, American jazz and R&B saxophonist ("Corn Bread"), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 2020) [1]
- Oct 8 Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (1991-93), born in Tokyo (d. 2007)
- Oct 8 Mac Anderson, New Zealand cricketer (played in 1st NZ-Aust Test 1946), born in Westport, West Coast, New Zealand (d. 1979)
- Oct 9 Irmgard Seefried, German soprano, born in Köngetried, Bavaria (d. 1988)
- Oct 9 Rezső Sugár, Hungarian composer (Savonarola), and pedagogue, born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1988)
- Oct 10 Gerry Gomez, West Indian cricket all-rounder (29 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 101, 58 wickets, BB 7/55; Trinidad), born in Port of Spain, Trinidad (d. 1996)
- Oct 11 Art Blakey, American drummer (Billy Eckstine Band; Jazz Messengers), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1990)
- Oct 11 Douglas Munro, American military mariner (only WWII US Coast Guard member awarded Medal of Honor), born in Vancouver, British Columbia (d. 1942)
- Oct 11 Jean Vander Pyl, American voice, radio and film actress (The Flintstones, The Jetsons), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1999)
- Oct 12 André Casanova, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 2009)
- Oct 12 Doris Miller, American US Navy cook and Pearl Harbor hero (Navy Cross), born in Waco, Texas (d. 1943) [1]
- Oct 12 Gilles Beaudoin, Canadian politician (Mayor of Trois-Rivières), born in Trois-Rivières, Canada (d. 2007)
- Oct 14 Edward L. Feightner, American rear-admiral and WWII flying ace (Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands), born in Lima, Ohio (d. 2020)
- Oct 14 Joseph de Pasquale, American violist (Boston Symphony, 1949-64: Philadelphia Orchestra, 1964-96), and educator (Curtis Institute, 1965-2015), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2015)
- Oct 15 Edwin Charles Tubb, British sci-fi writer (Earth is Heaven, Earthfall), born in London (d. 2010)
- Oct 15 Howard Smith, British diplomat and Director General of MI5, born in London (d. 1996)
- Oct 15 Malcolm Ross, American balloonist and atmospheric physicist, born in Momence, Illinois (d. 1985)
Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005)
Oct 17 Premier of the People's Republic of China (1980-87) and General Secretary of the CCP (1987-89), born in Hua County, Henan, Republic of China
- Oct 18 Anita O'Day [Colton], American jazz singer, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2006)
- Oct 18 Camilla Williams, American operatic soprano, born in Danville, Virginia (d. 2012)
Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000)
Oct 18 15th Canadian Prime Minister (Liberal: 1968-79, 1980-84), born in Montreal, Quebec
- Oct 18 Ric Nordman, Canadian politician (d. 1996)
- Oct 20 Tracy Hall, American inventor (grew synthetic diamond), born in Ogden, Utah (d. 2008)
- Oct 21 Claire Sterling, American journalist and writer (The Terror Network), born in Queens, New York (d. 1995)
- Oct 21 Daniel John Cunningham, British physiologist (human breathing control), born in Kausali, India (d. 1996)
- Oct 22 Doris Lessing, Iranian novelist (Adore, Memoirs of a Survivor, Golden Notebook), born in Kermanshah, Iran (d. 2013)
- Oct 22 Kathleen Ankers, American scenic designer (d. 2001)
- Oct 23 Katie Lee, American folk singer, environmentalist and author (Colorado River Songs), born in Aledo, Illinois (d. 2017)
- Oct 23 Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist who discovered ancient royal Macedonian tombs in northern Greece, born in Bursa, Ottoman Empire (d. 1992)
- Oct 24 Frank Piasecki, American aeronautical engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer (PV Engineering Forum; Piasecki Helicopter Corp; Piasecki Aircraft Company), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2008)
Edward W. Brooke (1919-2015)
Oct 26 American politician and 1st popularly elected African American to the US Senate (R-Mass: 1967-79), born in Washington, D.C.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980)
Oct 26 last Shah of Iran (Persia) (1941-79), born in Tehran, Persia
- Oct 27 Babs Gonzales [Lee Brown], American be-bop jazz vocalist, poet, and songwriter ("Oop-Pop-A-Da"), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1980)
- Oct 28 Bernhard Wicki, Austrian director and actor (Morituri, Crime & Passion), born in St. Pölten, Austria (d. 2000)
- Oct 31 Magnus Wenninger, American mathematician and author of Polyhedron models, born in Park Falls, Wisconsin (d. 2017)
Famous Deaths
- Oct 2 Ernest Halliwell, South African cricket wicketkeeper (8 Tests), dies at 55
- Oct 3 Daniel Brink Towner, American hymn composer ("He's A Friend of Mine"; "Though the Fig Tree Shall Not Blossom"), and music director, dies at 69
- Oct 5 Jean Louis Nicodé, Prussian pianist and composer, dies at 66
- Oct 6 Ricardo Palma, Peruvian writer and poet (Tradiciones Peruanas), dies at 86
Alfred Deakin (1856-1919)
Oct 7 Second Prime Minister of Australia (3 terms between 1903-10), dies at 63
- Oct 8 Eugene Demolder, Belgian writer (Sous la Robe), dies at 58
- Oct 13 Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1857)
- Oct 14 Wilhelm von Siemens, German industrial/son of Werner, dies
- Oct 16 Charles Harford Lloyd, British organist and composer, dies on his 70th birthday
- Oct 21 Sven August Körling, Swedish composer, dies at 77
- Oct 22 Bruce Frederick Cummings, English author (Journal of a Disappointed Man), dies at 30
- Oct 28 Ted Wainwright, English cricket all-rounder (5 Tests; Yorkshire CCC), dies at 54
- Oct 29 A. B. Simpson, Canadian preacher (b. 1843)
- Oct 29 Soen Shaku, Zen abbot of Engakuji monastery in Kamakura, dies at 60
- Oct 30 Ella Wheeler Wilcox, American author and poet (Poems of Passion), dies at 68
