October 10

October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). There are 82 days remaining.

Events

• 680 – Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as Aashurah.
• 732 – Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, leader of the Franks Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abd-ar-Rahman, is killed during the battle.
• 1471 – Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with help of farmers and miners, repels an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.
• 1575 – Battle of Dormans: Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeated the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
• 1582 – Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000–30,000 in Caribbean.
• 1845 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors.
• 1868 – Carlos Céspedes issued the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence.
• 1877 – Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer is given a funeral with full military honors.
• 1910 – Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity is established at Columbia University.
• 1911 – Wuchang Uprising which led to the demise of Qing Dynasty , the last emperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.
• 1913 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggered the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
• 1920 – The Carinthian Plebiscite determined that the larger part of Carinthia became part of Austria.
• 1933 – A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage while en route from Cleveland to Chicago, the first such proven case in the history of commercial aviation.
• 1938 – The Blue Water Bridge opens, connecting Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
• 1938 – World War II: The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Germany.
• 1944 – Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are systematically murdered at Auschwitz death camp.
• 1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
• 1964 – The 1964 Summer Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan
• 1966 – Simon and Garfunkel release the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
• 1970 – Fiji becomes independent.
• 1970 – In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
• 1971 – Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, the London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
• 1973 – Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion.
• 1978 – US President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• 1985 – United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijackers and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
• 1986 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
• 1987 – Fiji becomes a republic.
• 1997 – An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
• 2001 – US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.

Births

• 1684 – Antoine Watteau, French painter (d. 1721)
• 1780 – John Abercrombie, Scottish physician and philosopher
• 1813 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
• 1834 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author
• 1861 – Fridtjof Nansen, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Arctic explorer (d. 1930)
• 1870 – Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer (d. 1953)
• 1885 – Walter Anderson, German folklorist (d. 1962)
• 1898 – Lilly Daché, milliner (d. 1989)
• 1900 – Helen Hayes, American actress (d. 1993)
• 1901 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (d. 1966)
• 1906 – R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (d. 2001)
• 1906 – Paul Creston, composer (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Claude Simon, French writer
• 1914 – Tommy Fine, Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist (d. 1982)
• 1924 – Ed Wood, American filmmaker (d. 1978)
• 1924 – James Clavell, author (d. 1994)
• 1926 – Richard Jaeckel, actor (d. 1997)
• 1930 – Harold Pinter, British playwright
• 1933 – Jay Sebring, Hollywood hair stylist
• 1938 – Moriyama Daido, Japanese photographer
• 1942 – Peter Coyote, actor
• 1946 – Charles Dance, actor
• 1946 – John Prine, singer
• 1946 – Ben Vereen, actor, dancer
• 1950 – [Stuart Lamb], realtor
• 1951 – Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Fijian soldier and statesman.
• 1953 – Midge Ure, musician
• 1955 – David Lee Roth, singer
• 1957 – Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese manga artist
• 1958 – Tanya Tucker, country music singer
• 1960 – Eric Martin, singer
• 1961 – Jodi Benson, voice actress and singer
• 1963 – Daniel Pearl, journalist (d. 2002)
• 1963 – Rebecca Pidgeon, American actress, singer, and songwriter
• 1963 – Anita Mui, singer (d. 2003)
• 1966 – Tony Adams, English football player
• 1969 – Brett Favre, American football player
• 1970 – Maja Tatic, Serbian singer
• 1970 – Corinna May, German singer
• 1970 – Sir Matthew Pinsent, rower
• 1973 – Mario López, actor
• 1974 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., race car driver
• 1976 – Bob Burnquist, skateboarder
• 1979 – Mya, singer

Deaths

• 19 – Germanicus, father of Caligula and brother of Claudius
• 680 – Husayn bin Ali, grandson of Muhammad
• 732 – Abd ar-Rahman, governor of al-Andalus
• 1459 – Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist, classicist
• 1531 – Huldrych Zwingli, leader of Swiss Reformation
• 1747 – John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1827 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian writer
• 1872 – William H. Seward, Secretary of State
• 1875 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, novelist, poet and dramatist
• 1893 – Lip Pike, baseball player
• 1901 – Lorenzo Snow, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
• 1914 – Charles I of Romania
• 1927 – Gustave Whitehead, inventor (b. 1874)
• 1940 – Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor
• 1964 – Eddie Cantor, singer, vaudeville performer
• 1971 – John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian
• 1978 – Ralph Metcalfe, track and field athlete
• 1979 – Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist
• 1983 – Ralph Richardson, actor
• 1985 – Yul Brynner, actor
• 1985 – Orson Welles, American director, actor
• 1998 – Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense
• 2002 – Teresa Graves, actress, singer
• 2003 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
• 2004 – Arthur_H._Robinson, cartographer (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (b. 1932)
• 2004 – Christopher Reeve, actor (b. 1952)
• 2004 – Ken Caminiti, baseball player (b. 1963)

Holidays

• Republic of China (on Taiwan) – National Day (Double Tenth Day)
• Fiji – National Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

October 9 – October 11 – September 10 – November 10 – more historical anniversaries