Historical Events
Wiley Post's Fortunate Misfortune
Oct 1 Oil field accident costs aviator Wiley Post his left eye, uses the settlement money to buy his 1st aircraft
- Oct 2 Bert Gibb kicks 9 singles as Hamilton Tigers beat Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers 12-10 in Montreal in Canadian Inter-provincial Rugby Football Union opening round
- Oct 3 1st congress of Pan European Movement (Pan-Europese Beweging) opens in Vienna
- Oct 3 English long distance runner Violet Piercy sets first recognised female marathon record in 3:40:22 on the Polytechnic Marathon course between Windsor and London
- Oct 4 Dahlia is officially designated as San Francisco city flower
- Oct 7 Actress Theo Mann-Master resigns from stage
- Oct 7 Italian Great Fascist Council forms
Colonial Institute
Oct 9 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina opens Royal Colonial Institution
- Oct 9 NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation) forms
- Oct 10 Baseball World Series: St Louis Cardinals beat New York Yankees, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park for 4 games to 3 series victory
Winnie the Pooh
Oct 14 A. A. Milne's book "Winnie the Pooh" released
Walter Johnson Retires
Oct 14 Walter Johnson retires, signs 2-year contract to manage Newark
- Oct 19 John C Garand patents semi-automatic rifle
Expulsion of Trotsky
Oct 19 Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers
- Oct 20 Hurricane in Cuba, kills 600
The Punch that Killed Harry Houdini
Oct 22 Boxer J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in his dressing room at the Princess Theater in Montreal. The attack started or helped cause the appendicitis that would take Houdini's life 9 days later.
- Oct 24 Harry Houdini's last performance, at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan
- Oct 25 Lester Patrick becomes 1st coach & gm of NY Rangers
- Oct 26 Arthur Goodrich's play "Caponsacchi" premieres in NYC
- Oct 26 Belgium stabilizes current value of franc (5 franc becomes 1 "Belga")
Assassination Attempt
Oct 31 Failed assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini by 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni, who was lynched on the spot
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 1 Max Morath, American ragtime piano revivalist, composer, and musicologist, born in Colorado Springs, Colorado (d. 2023)
- Oct 2 Jan Morris, Welsh journalist, historian and travel writer (Among the Cities, Hong Kong, Journeys), born in Clevedon, Somerset, England (d. 2020)
- Oct 3 Marques Haynes, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame guard (Harlem Globetrotters), born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma (d. 2015)
- Oct 5 Gottfried Michael Koenig, German-Dutch composer, educator, and electronic music pioneer, born in Magdeburg, Germany (d. 2021)
- Oct 5 Willi Unsoeld, American mountaineer (First ascent of the West Ridge of Mount Everest), born in Arcata, California (d. 1979)
- Oct 6 Alan Copeland, American Grammy Award-winning arranger, songwriter, and singer (The Modernaires; Your Hit Parade), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2022)
- Oct 6 Cyril Reuben, Welsh classical and session violinist (London Symphony), born in Splott, Cardiff, Wales (d. 1996)
- Oct 7 Ivan Jirko, Czech composer, music critic and psychiatrist, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 1978)
- Oct 7 Marcello Abbado, Italian pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher, born in Milan, Italy (d. 2020)
- Oct 8 Raaj Kumar, Hindi film star (Mother India), born in Loralai, Balochistan, British India (d. 1996)
- Oct 9 Danièle Delorme [Gabrielle Girard], French actress (Pardon My Affair), born in Paris (d. 2015)
- Oct 10 Oscar Brown, American singer, songwriter ("Brown Baby"; "Forbidden Fruit"), playwright, and poet, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2005)
- Oct 10 Ralph Liguori, American auto racer (NASCAR Grand National Series 30 x Top 10; 5 x Top 5 finishes), born in New York City (d. 2020)
- Oct 10 Richard Jaeckel, American actor (3:10 to Yuma, Sands of Iwo Jima, Sometimes a Great Notion), born in Long Beach, New York (d. 1997)
- Oct 11 Earle Hyman, American stage and screen actor (The Cosby Show - "Russell Huxtable"; ThunderCats; Coriolanus), born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina (d. 2017)
- Oct 11 Jean Alexander, British actress (Coronation Street - "Hilda Ogden"), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2016)
- Oct 11 John Dewes, British cricketer (England opener late 40's early 50's), born in Latchford, Cheshire, England (d. 2015)
- Oct 11 Thích Nhất Hạnh [Nguyen Xuan Bao], Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, teacher, peace activist, and writer (Love Letter to the Earth; The Art of Communicating), born in Huế, Annam, French Indochina (d. 2022) [1]
- Oct 12 César Pelli, Argentine American architect (Petronas Towers), born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina (d. 2019)
- Oct 12 Hans Liebold, German auto racer (Nardo, Italy)
- Oct 13 Ray Brown, American jazz double bassist (Oscar Peterson; Ella Fitzgerald), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2002)
- Oct 13 Tommy Whittle, British jazz tenor saxophonist (Ted Heath; BBC Show Band), and bandleader, born in Grangemouth, Scotland (d. 2013)
- Oct 13 Walter "Killer" Kowalski, Canadian professional wrestler, born in Windsor, Canada (d. 2008)
- Oct 14 Bill Justis, American rock and roll musician (Raunchy), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1982)
- Oct 14 Willy Alberti [Carel Verbrugge], Dutch singer and actor (Riffin in Amsterdam), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1985)
- Oct 15 Ed McBain [Evan Hunter], American writer (Blackboard Jungle), born in New York City (d. 2005)
- Oct 15 Jean Peters, American actress (Viva Zapata!, Apache, Deep Waters), born in Canton, Ohio (d. 2000)
- Oct 15 Karl Richter, German composer and conductor, born in Plauen, Germany (d. 1981)
- Oct 15 Michel Foucault, French philosopher and historian (The History of Sexuality), born in Poitiers, France (d. 1984)
- Oct 16 Hansheinz Schneeberger, Swiss violinist (Duo Paganini), born in Bern, Switzerland (d. 2019)
- Oct 17 Beverly Garland [Fessenden], American actress (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King), born in Santa Cruz, California (d. 2008)
- Oct 17 Julie Adams [Betty May Adams], American actress (Yancy Derringer, Code Red), born in Waterloo, Iowa
- Oct 17 Karl Gordon Henize, American astronomer and NASA astronaut (STS-51-F), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1993)
Chuck Berry (1926-2017)
Oct 18 American rock n' roll guitarist and singer-songwriter ("Roll Over Beethoven"; "Sweet Little Sixteen"), born in St Louis, Missouri
- Oct 18 John Morris, American film and Broadway composer who commonly worked alongside Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (d. 2018)
- Oct 18 Klaus Kinski [Naksynski], German-Polish actor (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Little Drummer Girl), born in Zoppot, Free City of Danzig (d. 1991)
- Oct 18 Thomas Millar, Australian historian and political scientist, born in Kalamunda, Western Australia (d. 1994)
- Oct 19 Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian pop singer-songwriter (Eurovision, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1974), born in Bergen, Norway (d. 2009)
- Oct 19 Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)
- Oct 20 Ursula Happe, German swimmer (Olympic gold 200m backstroke 1956), born in Gdańsk, Poland (d. 2021)
- Oct 21 Bob Rosburg, American golfer, analyst (PGA Championship 1959), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2009)
- Oct 21 Don Elliott [Helfman], American jazz trumpeter, vibraphonist, mellophone player, and vocalist, born in Somerville, New Jersey (d. 1984)
- Oct 21 Leonard Rossiter, British actor (Rising Damp, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1984)
- Oct 21 Marga Richter, American classical pianist and composer (Landscapes of the Mind; Out of Shadows and Solitude), born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin (d. 2020)
- Oct 22 Jan A de Jonge, Dutch historian
- Oct 24 Y. A. Tittle, American NFL quarterback (Baltimore, San Francisco, NY Giants, MVP 1963), born in Marshall, Texas (d. 2017)
- Oct 25 Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano opera singer (Britten's "War Requiem"), born in Leningrad, Russia (d. 2012)
- Oct 25 Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter, born in Peshawar, Pakistan (d. 2007)
- Oct 25 Jimmy Heath "Little Bird", American jazz saxophonist and composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2020)
- Oct 25 William "Biff" McGuire, American actor (Serpico, Heart is Lonely Hunter), born in New Haven, Connecticut
- Oct 26 Yuri Aleksandrovich Letunov, Russian cosmonaut, born in Tomsk, Russia (d. 1983)
H. R. Haldeman (1926-1993)
Oct 27 Nixon's White House Chief of Staff during Watergate, born in Los Angeles, California
- Oct 27 Nana Joshi, Indian cricket wicket-keeper (12 tests, 27 dismissals, 1 x 50; Maharashtra CC), born in Baroda, Gujarat, India (d. 1987)
Bowie Kuhn (1926-2007)
Oct 28 American Baseball HOF executive (MLB Commissioner 1969-1984), born in Takoma Park, Maryland
- Oct 29 Jon Vickers, Canadian operatic tenor (Covent Garden, 1957-87; New York Metropolitan Opera, 1960-87), born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (d. 2015)
- Oct 30 Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver, born in Woluwe-St-Lambert, Brussels, Belgium (d. 2010)
- Oct 31 (Moisés) "Mario" Abramovich, Argentinian tango and classical violinist (Sexteto Major, 1974-2014), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2014)
- Oct 31 Jimmy Savile, English entertainer and suspected sexual predator, born in Leeds (d. 2011)
- Oct 31 Shirley Dinsdale, American ventriloquist (Judy Splinters), radio and television personality, born in San Francisco, California (d. 1999)
Famous Weddings
Irène Joliot-Curie
Oct 4 Chemist Irene Joliot-Curie (29) weds physicist Frédéric Joliot (26) in Paris, France
Ho Chi Minh
Oct 18 Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh (36) weds midwife Zeng Xueming (21) in Guangzhou
Howard Florey
Oct 19 Pathologist Howard Florey (28) weds Ethel Reed at Holy Trinity Church in Paddington, New South Wales
Famous Deaths
- Oct 6 Charles Van de Banks, Flemish writer/poet (Red Horse), dies
- Oct 6 Karel van den Oever, Flemish author and poet (Geuzenstad), dies at 46
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926)
Oct 7 German psychiatrist who developed a classification system for mental illness, dies at 70
- Oct 12 Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (Flatland), dies at 87
- Oct 13 Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian philological and writer (Driftekaren), dies at 61
- Oct 19 Victor Babeş, Romanian physician and bacteriologist, dies at 72
- Oct 20 Eugene V. Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate, dies at 70
- Oct 22 John G. Shedd, American businessman (President of Marshall Field & Company, 1906-22), civic leader, and philanthropist (Shedd Aquarium), dies of appendicitis at 76
- Oct 22 Jules van den Heuvel, Belgian lawyer, politician (Minister of Justice, 1899-1907), and diplomat (Ambassador to the Vatican, 1915-18), dies at 71
- Oct 25 Frederick Zech, Jr., American pianist and composer, dies at 68
Harry Houdini (1874-1926)
Oct 31 Famous magician and escape artist, dies at 52 in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured
