October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 88 days remaining until the end of the year.
[edit] Events
- 610 Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
- 1227 Assassination of Caliph al-Adil.
- 1363 End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
- 1511 Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.
- 1535 The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
- 1582 Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
- 1636 The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
- 1693 Battle of Marsaglia: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
- 1725 Foundation of Rosario in Argentina.
- 1777 Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
- 1779 The Fort Wilson Riot takes place.
- 1795 Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a "Whiff of Grapeshot", using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention).
- 1824 Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.
- 1830 Creation of the Kingdom of Belgium after separation from the Netherlands.
- 1853 Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
- 1876 Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
- 1883 First run of the Orient Express.
- 1883 First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1895 The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
- 1917 The Battle of Broodseinde fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.
- 1918 An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey. Fires and explosions continue for three days forcing massive evacuations and spreading ordnance over a wide area, pieces of which were still being found as of 2007.
- 1927 Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
- 1940 Meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini at the Brenner Pass.
- 1941 Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
- 1943 World War II: U.S. captures Solomon Islands.
- 1957 Space Race: Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
- 1957 Avro Arrow roll-out ceremony at Avro Canada plant in Malton, Ontario.
- 1957 Leave It To Beaver premieres on CBS.
- 1958 Fifth Republic of France is established.
- 1960 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 of 72 on board.
- 1963 Hurricane Flora, kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.
- 1965 Becoming the first Pope to ever visit the United States of America and the Western hemisphere, Pope Paul VI arrives in New York.
- 1966 Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
- 1967 Omar Ali Saifuddin III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
- 1974 Founding of the New Democracy party in Greece.
- 1976 Official launch of the Intercity 125 High Speed Train (HST).
- 1983 Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019 km/h), driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.
- 1985 Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.
- 1988 U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
- 1991 The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.
- 1992 The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16 year civil war in Mozambique.
- 1992 El Al Flight 1862: an El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.
- 1993 Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
- 1997 The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million in cash which had been taken.
- 2001 NATO confirms invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
- 2001 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: a Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.
- 2003 Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
- 2004 SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
- 2010 The Ajka plant accident in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.
[edit] Births
- 1160 Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France (d. 1220)
- 1276 Margaret of Brabant, Queen of Germany (d. 1311)
- 1289 King Louis X of France (d. 1316)
- 1331 James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (d. 1382)
- 1379 King Henry III of Castile (d. 1406)
- 1515 Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)
- 1542 Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)
- 1550 King Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)
- 1562 Christian Sψrensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (d. 1647)
- 1570 Pιter Pαzmαny, Hungarian cardinal (d. 1637)
- 1585 Anna of Tyrol, Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1618)
- 1625 Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy (d. 1661)
- 1626 Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (d. 1712)
- 1657 Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (d. 1747)
- 1720 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (d. 1778)
- 1723 Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (d. 1798)
- 1759 Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician (d. 1803)
- 1787 Franηois Guizot, French statesman (d. 1874)
- 1807 Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, French Canadian politician (d. 1864)
- 1814 Jean-Franηois Millet, French painter (d. 1875)
- 1822 Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (d. 1893)
- 1836 Juliette Adam, French writer (d. 1936)
- 1841 Prudente Josι de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (d. 1912)
- 1841 Maria Sophie of Bavaria, queen of the Two Sicilies (d. 1925)
- 1858 Michael I. Pupin, Serbian-born telephone pioneer (d. 1935)
- 1861 Walter Rauschenbusch, Christian Theologian and Baptist Minister (d. 1918)
- 1861 Frederic Remington, American painter (d. 1909)
- 1862 Edward Stratemeyer, American author (d. 1930)
- 1868 Marcelo T. de Alvear, Argentine politician (d. 1942)
- 1875 Bob McKinney, American baseballer (d. 1946)
- 1876 Hugh McCrae, Australian writer (d. 1958)
- 1877 Razor Smith, English cricketer (d. 1946)
- 1880 Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946)
- 1881 Walther von Brauchitsch, German statesman (d. 1948)
- 1881 Henry Potter, American golfer (d. 1955)
- 1883 Charles Healy, American water polo player (death date unknown)
- 1884 Subramaniya Siva, Indian revolutionary figure (d. 1925)
- 1886 Luis Alberni, Spanish actor (d. 1962)
- 1888 Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1954)
- 1890 Dr. Alan L. Hart, American transsexual, radiologist, and novelist (d. 1962)
- 1892 Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (d. 1934)
- 1892 Hermann Glauert, British aerodynamicist (d. 1934)
- 1895 Buster Keaton, American comedian (d. 1966)
- 1903 Bona Arsenault, French Canadian politician, historian and genealogist (d. 1993)
- 1903 John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (d. 1995)
- 1903 Pierre Garbay, French army general and military governor of Paris (d. 1980)
- 1903 Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer and senior Nazi (d. 1946)
- 1910 Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1911 Sir Michael Hordern, British actor (d. 1995)
- 1913 Martial Cιlestin, Prime Minister of Haiti (d. 2011)
- 1914 Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d. 2003)
- 1914 Brendan Gill, American writer (d. 1997)
- 1916 Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2009)
- 1916 Jan Murray, American comedian (d. 2006)
- 1916 George Sidney, American film director (d. 2002)
- 1917 Violeta Parra, Chilean folklorist and visual artist (d. 1967)
- 1918 Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
- 1922 Malcolm Baldrige, 26th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1987)
- 1922 Shin Kyuk-Ho, Japanese businessman
- 1923 Charlton Heston, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1924 Donald Sobol, American children's author (d. 2012)
- 1928 Alvin Toffler, American writer
- 1928 Torben Ulrich, Danish musician and filmmaker
- 1929 Scotty Beckett, American child actor (d. 1968)
- 1929 Leroy Van Dyke, American singer
- 1931 Sir Terence Conran, English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer
- 1931 Basil D'Oliveira, South African born cricketer (d. 2011)
- 1931 Richard Rorty, American academic (d. 2007)
- 1932 Milan Chvostek, Canadian television director
- 1934 Sam Huff, American football player
- 1934 Dimosthenis Sofianos, Greek journalist
- 1936 Charlie Hurley, Irish footballer
- 1937 Jackie Collins, British author
- 1937 Jim Sillars, Scottish politician
- 1938 Kurt Wόthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate
- 1940 Vic Hadfield, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1940 Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
- 1940 Alberto Vilar, Cuban-American investor and philanthropist
- 1941 Roy Blount, Jr., American writer
- 1941 Karl Oppitzhauser, Austrian racing driver
- 1941 Anne Rice, American novelist
- 1941 Robert Wilson, American theatre director
- 1942 Bernice Johnson Reagon, American musician (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
- 1942 Karl W. Richter, American aviator (d. 1967)
- 1942 Johanna Sigurdardottir, Prime Minister of Iceland
- 1942 Christopher Stone, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1943 H. Rap Brown, American civil rights activist
- 1943 Karl-Gustav Kaisla, Finnish ice hockey referee (d. 2012)
- 1943 Dietmar Mόrdter, German footballer
- 1943 Florian Pittiş, Romanian artist (d. 2007)
- 1943 Jimy Williams, American baseball manager
- 1944 Tony La Russa, American baseball manager
- 1944 Rocνo Dϊrcal, Spanish singer and actress (d. 2006)
- 1945 Clifton Davis, American actor
- 1946 Chuck Hagel, American politician
- 1946 Michael Mullen, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- 1946 Susan Sarandon, American actress and activist
- 1946 Bridget St John, English singer/songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 Julien Clerc, French singer
- 1947 Jim Fielder, American bassist (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- 1947 Ann Widdecombe, British politician
- 1948 Linda McMahon, American CEO of WWE
- 1949 Armand Assante, American actor
- 1949 Stephen Gyllenhaal, American director
- 1949 Marion Pruett, American spree killer (d. 1999)
- 1950 Meg Bennett, American writer and actress
- 1951 Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov, Kazakh poet
- 1951 Gil Moore, Canadian musician (Triumph)
- 1953 Tchιky Karyo, Turkish-French actor
- 1955 Jorge Valdano, Argentine footballer
- 1956 Christoph Waltz, Austrian actor
- 1957 Bill Fagerbakke, American actor
- 1957 Russell Simmons, American entrepreneur
- 1957 Kyra Schon, American actress
- 1957 Alexander Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast
- 1958 Anneka Rice, British television presenter
- 1959 Chris Lowe, British musician (Pet Shop Boys)
- 1959 Tony Meo, English snooker player
- 1960 Joe Boever, American baseball player
- 1961 Philippe Russo, French singer
- 1961 Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author
- 1962 Carlos Carsolio, Mexican alpinist
- 1962 Jon Secada, Cuban singer and songwriter
- 1963 A. C. Green, American basketball player
- 1963 Koji Ishikawa, Japanese children's author
- 1965 Olaf Backasch, German footballer
- 1965 Skip Heller, American musician
- 1965 Micky Ward, American boxer
- 1967 Marcus Bentley, British voice actor
- 1967 Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin, Hong Kong actor and Cantopop singer
- 1967 Liev Schreiber, American actor
- 1968 Richard Hancox, English footballer
- 1968 Tim Wise, American writer and activist
- 1969 Abraham Benrubi, American actor
- 1971 Friderika Bayer, Hungarian singer
- 1971 Darren Middleton, Australian guitarist
- 1972 Kurt Thomas, American basketball player
- 1973 Chris Parks, American wrestler
- 1974 Paco Leσn, Spanish actor
- 1975 Daniella Deutscher, American actress
- 1975 Cristiano Lucarelli, Italian football player
- 1976 Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer
- 1976 Santiago, Brazilian footballer
- 1976 Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- 1976 Ueli Steck, Swiss mountaineer
- 1977 Cabral Ibacka, Romanian actor and television presenter
- 1977 Richard Parry, Canadian musician and composer (Arcade Fire)
- 1978 Phillip Glasser, American actor and producer
- 1978 Kyle Lohse, American baseball player
- 1978 Ko Soo, South Korean television and movie actor
- 1979 Brandon Barash, American actor
- 1979 Stefan Booth, British actor
- 1979 Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
- 1979 Bjorn Phau, German tennis player
- 1979 Adam Voges, Australian cricketer
- 1980 Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete
- 1980 Sarah Fisher, American racing driver and team owner
- 1980 Mellisa Hollingsworth, Canadian skeleton racer
- 1980 James Jones, American basketball player
- 1980 Kristina Lenko, Canadian ice skater
- 1980 Tim Peper, American actor
- 1980 Tomα Rosickύ, Czech footballer
- 1981 Scott Hammond, American photographer
- 1981 Juka, Japanese singer
- 1981 Justin Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 Tony Gwynn Jr., American baseball player
- 1982 Jered Weaver, American baseball player
- 1983 Dan Clarke, British racing driver
- 1983 Risa Kudo, Japanese gravure idol
- 1983 Marios Nicolaou, Greek-Cypriot footballer
- 1983 Chansi Stuckey, American football player
- 1983 Kurt Suzuki, American baseball player
- 1983 Ueda Tatsuya, Japanese boy band singer (KAT-TUN)
- 1984 Lena Katina, Russian singer (t.A.T.u.)
- 1984 Αlvaro Parente, Portuguese racing driver
- 1985 Shontelle, Barbadian singer
- 1985 Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player
- 1986 Yuridia, Mexican singer
- 1987 Rawez Lawan, Swedish footballer
- 1987 Will Puddy, English footballer
- 1987 Marina Weisband, German politician
- 1988 Derrick Rose, American basketball player
- 1989 Dakota Johnson, American actress
- 1989 Lil Mama, American rapper
- 1989 Stacey Solomon, English singer
- 2005 Prince Emmanuel of Belgium
[edit] Deaths
- 1052 Vladimir of Novgorod (b. 1020)
- 1221 William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu (b. 1179)
- 1250 Herman VI, Margrave of Baden (b. 1226)
- 1305 Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b. 1249)
- 1582 Teresa of Avila, Spanish saint (b. 1515)
- 1597 Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1550)
- 1646 Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English statesman (b. 1586)
- 1660 Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)
- 1661 Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy (b. 1625)
- 1669 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Dutch painter (b. 1606)
- 1680 Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer
- 1743 John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (b. 1678)
- 1749 Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
- 1754 Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief
- 1785 David Brearly, American statesman (b. 1703)
- 1821 John Rennie, Scottish engineer (b. 1761)
- 1827 Grigorios Zalykis, Greek diplomat and lexicographer (b. 1785)
- 1851 Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)
- 1852 James Whitcomb, American politician (b. 1795)
- 1859 Karl Baedeker, German publisher (b. 1801)
- 1864 Joseph Montferrand, French Canadian logger and strong man (b. 1802)
- 1867 Francis Xavier Seelos German-American Roman Catholic priest (b. 1819)
- 1871 Sarel Cilliers Voortrekker leader and preacher (b. 1801)
- 1890 Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army (b. 1829)
- 1903 Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)
- 1904 Frιdιric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (b. 1834)
- 1904 Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (b. 1847)
- 1910 Sergey Muromtsev, Russian lawyer and politician, and President of the First Imperial Duma (b. 1850)
- 1935 Jean Bιraud, French painter (b. 1849)
- 1935 Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German soprano (b. 1874)
- 1943 Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish intelligence agent (b. 1906)
- 1944 Al Smith, American politician (b. 1873)
- 1946 Barney Oldfield, American automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
- 1947 Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1858)
- 1951 Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)
- 1951 Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells derived from her cervical cancer (b. 1920)
- 1955 Alexander Papagos, Greek general and political leader (b. 1883)
- 1958 Ida Wόst, German actress, (b. 1884)
- 1961 Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Orthodox missionary and writer, Exarch of Russian Church in North America (b. 1880)
- 1969 Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)
- 1970 Janis Joplin, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1974 Anne Sexton, American poet (b. 1928)
- 1975 Joan Whitney Payson, American heiress (b. 1903)
- 1977 Josι Ber Gelbard, Argentine activist and politician (b. 1917).
- 1981 Freddie Lindstrom, Major League Baseball Hall of famer (b. 1905)
- 1982 The Amazing Criswell, American psychic and actor (b. 1907)
- 1982 Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (b. 1932)
- 1982 Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, 165th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1898)
- 1989 Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)
- 1989 Secretariat, American race horse (b. 1970)
- 1990 Alyn Ainsworth, British bandleader (b. 1924)
- 1990 Avis Bunnage, English actress (b. 1923)
- 1991 J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (b. 1941)
- 1992 Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver and 1967 Formula One world champion (b. 1936)
- 1994 Danny Gatton, American guitar virtuoso (b. 1945)
- 1996 Larry Gene Bell, American child murderer (executed by electric chair) (b. 1949)
- 1997 Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (b. 1941)
- 1999 Erik Brψdreskift (aka Grim), Norwegian black metal musician (b. 1969)
- 1999 Art Farmer, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1928)
- 1999 Bernard Buffet, French painter (b. 1928)
- 2000 Michael Smith, biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1932)
- 2000 Yu Kuo-hwa, former Premier of Taiwan (b. 1914)
- 2001 Blaise Alexander, American race car driver (b. 1976)
- 2001 Ahron Soloveichik, Orthodox Jewish rabbi (b. 1917)
- 2001 John Collins, American jazz guitarist (b. 1913)
- 2002 Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics (b. 1917)
- 2002 Andrι Delvaux, Belgian film director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2003 Sid McMath, American politician (b. 1912)
- 2004 Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
- 2004 Rio Diaz, Filipino actress & TV host (b. 1959)
- 2005 Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (b. 1924)
- 2006 Tom Bell, English actor (b. 1933)
- 2007 Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian General (b. 1925)
- 2009 Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (b. 1928)
- 2009 Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (b. 1935)
- 2009 Gόnther Rall, German fighter ace (b. 1918)
- 2010 Sir Norman Wisdom, English comedian, singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1915)
[edit] Holidays and observances