October 7

October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years). There are 85 days remaining.

Events

• 3761 BCE – The epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar.
• 1513 – Battle of La Motta — Spanish troops under Ramon de Cardona defeat the Venetians.
• 1571 – Battle of Lepanto occurs.
• 1582 – Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
• 1763 – British Royal Proclamation of 1763 lays down rules for settling aboriginal lands in North America.
• 1776 – Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.
• 1777 – Battle of Second Saratoga occurs.
• 1780 – Battle of King's Mountain American irregulars defeat British forces in South Carolina.
• 1816 – First double-decked steamboat, the "Washington", arrives in New Orleans
• 1840  – Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Darbytown Road (Johnson's Farm) – Confederate forces attempt to regain ground that had been lost around Richmond is thwarted.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Capture of the C.S.S. Florida — Union Warship captures the Confederate raider ship while in port in Bahia, Brazil.
• 1865 – Morant Bay Rebellion starts in Jamaica.
• 1879 – Germany and Austria-Hungary create the Dual Alliance.
• 1886 – Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.

• 1908 – Crete revolts against the Ottoman Empire and aligns with Greece.
• 1912 – The Helsinki Stock Exchange saw its first transaction.
• 1913 – Henry Ford introduces the assembly line.
• 1919 – KLM of Netherlands was founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
• 1940 – Germany invades Romania.
• 1943 – Japan executes 100 American prisoners on Wake Island.
• 1949 – German Democratic Republic (East Germany) formed.
• 1949 – One of the earliest television shows, Ford Theater debuts
• 1950 – United States forces invade Korea by crossing the 38th parallel.
• 1951 – Malayan Emergency: Malay Races Liberation Army (MRLA) ambushes and kills British High Commissioner Sir Henry Gurney.
• 1957 – Dick Clark's American Bandstand debuts.
• 1957 – A fire in the Windscale plutonium production reactor, north of Liverpool, England, cause the release of radioactive material, which is later blamed for 39 cancer deaths.
• 1958 – President of Pakistan Iskander Mirza, with the support of General Ayub Khan and the army, suspends the 1956 constitution, imposes martial law, and cancels the elections scheduled for January 1959.
• 1960 – Kennedy & Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy – Second of four scheduled debates.
• 1968 – Hollywood adopts the Movie ratings system.
• 1970 Richard Nixon announces a new five point peace proposal to end the Vietnam War.
• 1977 – The adoption of the Fourth Soviet Constitution.
• 1982 – Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years. The show eventually closes on September 10th, 2000.
• 1984 – Running Back Walter Payton breaks Jim Brown's rushing record.
• 1985 – Achille Lauro hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.
• 1996 – American cable news network Foxnews is launched.
• 1998 – Matthew Shepard, beaten the night before, is left tied to a fence and dies in Laramie, Wyoming.
• 2001 – Start of U.S. invasion of Afghanistan with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.
• 2002 – Maher Arar is deported by the US government to Syria, where he is tortured and held without charge for a year before being returned home to Canada.
• 2003 – California recall: California governor Gray Davis is recalled from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• 2004 – King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates.

Births

• 1573 – William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1645)
• 1576 – John Marston, English writer (d. 1634)
• 1697 – Canaletto, Italian artist (d. 1768)
• 1748 – King Charles XIII (d. 1818)
• 1769 – Solomon Sibley, American politician (d. 1846)
• 1835 – Felix Draeseke, German composer (d. 1913)
• 1841 – King Nicholas I of Montenegro (d. 1921)
• 1853 – James Whitcomb Riley, poet (d. 1916)
• 1885 – Niels Bohr, Danish physicist (d.1962)
• 1888 – Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)
• 1894 – Del Lord, pioneer Hollywood director (d. 1970)
• 1897 – Elijah Muhammad, American Black Muslim leader (d. 1975)
• 1900 – Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official and leader of the SS (d. 1945)
• 1905 – Andy Devine, American actor (d. 1977)
• 1911 – Vaughn Monroe, American singer (d. 1973)
• 1914 – Alfred Drake, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1917 – June Allyson, American actress
• 1921 – Raymond Goethals, Belgian football coach (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball coach (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop and anti-apartheid activist
• 1934 – Amiri Baraka, playwright and poet
• 1935 – Thomas Keneally, Australian author
• 1936 – Charles Dutoit, Swiss conductor
• 1939 – John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
• 1939 – Harold Kroto, British chemist
• 1939 – Bill Snyder, American football coach
• 1943 – Oliver North, United States Marine involved in Iran-Contra affair
• 1947 – France Gall, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1950 – Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania politician
• 1951 – John Cougar Mellencamp, singer
• 1952 – Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
• 1954 – Kenneth Atchley, composer and noise artist
• 1955 – Yo-Yo Ma, French-born cellist
• 1957 – Jayne Torvill, figure skater
• 1959 – Simon Cowell, Pop Idol and American Idol judge
• 1960 – Viktor Lazlo, French singer
• 1960 – Kyosuke Himuro, Japanese singer
• 1968 – Thom Yorke, singer
• 1975 – Terry Gerin, professional wrestler
• 1977 – Meighan Desmond, actress
• 1979 – Simona Amânar, Romanian gymnast

Deaths

• 336 – Pope Marcus
• 1708 – Guru Gobind Singh (b. 1666)
• 1792 – George Mason, American patriot
• 1849 – Edgar Allan Poe, American writer (b. 1809)
• 1894 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, American poet
• 1903 – Rudolf Lipschitz, mathematician (b. 1832)
• 1919 – Alfred Deakin, second Prime Minister of Australia
• 1925 – Christy Mathewson, baseball player
• 1926 – Emil Kraepelin, German psychologist
• 1943 – Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor
• 1943 – Radclyffe Hall, British author
• 1959 – Mario Lanza, American singer
• 1981 – Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist
• 1991 – Leo Durocher, baseball player and manager
• 1992 – Tevfik Esenç, last speaker of the Ubykh language

Holidays

• UN – Universal Children's Day
• Feast day of Saint Osyth
• East Germany – Republic Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

October 6 – October 8 – September 7 – November 7 — listing of all days