12 October

Events

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. The explorer believes he has reached East Asia.
• 1609 - "Three Blind Mice" published by London teenage songwriter Thomas Ravenscroft.
• 1681 - A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics."
• 1773 - America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Vancouver.
• 1792 - First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York.
• 1793 - The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on the campus of the University of North Carolina. The 12th of October is now celebrated at the University as University Day.
• 1810 - First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Louis of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
• 1822 - Brazil becomes formally independent of Portugal; Don Pedro is proclaimed emperor.
• 1847 - German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
• 1859 - Self-described "Emperor of the United States" Joshua A. Norton 'orders' the United States Congress to dissolve.
• 1892 - To mark 400 anniversary Columbus Day holiday, the "Pledge of Allegiance" was first recited in unison by students in US public schools.
• 1915 - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
• 1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
• 1933 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice who plans to incorporate the island into its Bureau of Prisons as a federal penitentiary.
• 1938 - Filming starts on The Wizard of Oz.
• 1953 - "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
• 1960 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
• 1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the United States Congress for peace initiatives were futile because of North Vietnam's opposition.
• 1968 - 1968 Summer Olympics open in Mexico City, Mexico.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
• 1972 - En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors brakes out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Nearly 50 sailors are injured.
• 1976 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of Communist Party of China.
• 1983 - Japan's ex Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
• 1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere either October 13 or October 14).
• 1998 - United States Congress passes Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• 1999 - A military coup led by Pakistani Army Chief General Pervaiz Musharraf takes control of Pakistan and ousts the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
• 2000 - In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crewmembers and wounding at least 39.
• 2001 - War on Terrorism: Prompted by a request by US President George W. Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted aired featuring 22 most wanted terrorists.
• 2002 - Bali bombing: In Bali, terrorists detonate bombs in two nightclubs in Kuta, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
• 2003 - Belarus mental hospital fire: Thirty patients die in a mental hospital fire in Randilovshchina, Belarus.
• 2003 - Michael Schumacher clinches his 6th Formula One championship, an all-time record.

Births

• 1537 - King Edward VI of England († 1553)
• 1840 - Helena Modjeska, actress
• 1860 - Elmer Sperry, inventor
• 1866 - Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom († 1937)
• 1872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer († 1958)
• 1875 - Aleister Crowley, occultist, author († 1947)
• 1906 - Joe Cronin, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1912 - Alice Childress, novelist († 1994)
• 1918 - P.S. Ramakrishna Rao, film director († 1986)
• 1923 - Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers
• 1932 - Dick Gregory, comedian, activist
• 1935 - Luciano Pavarotti, opera singer
• 1935 - Joan Rivers, comedienne, television host
• 1950 - Susan Anton, actress
• 1950 - Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor, host of Iron Chef
• 1968 - Hugh Jackman, actor, singer
• 1968 - Adam Rich, actor
• 1970 - Kirk Cameron, actor
• 1975 - Marion Jones, track and field star
• 1979 - Adrian Camilleri, musician

Deaths

• 632 - Edwin, king of Northumbria and Bretwalda
• 638 - Pope Honorius I
• 642 - Pope John IV
• 1576 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II
• 1870 - Robert E. Lee, United States Civil War general (Confederate)
• 1915 - Edith Cavell, nurse
• 1924 - Anatole France, author, Nobel Prize winner
• 1940 - Tom Mix, actor
• 1946 - General Joseph Stillwell
• 1969 - Sonja Henie, figure skater
• 1971 - Dean Acheson, United States Secretary of State
• 1971 - Gene Vincent, musician
• 1984 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician, along with three of the other victims of the Brighton bombing
• 1985 - Johnny Olson, game show announcer
• 1987 - Alf Landon, governor of Kansas
• 1993 - Leon Ames, actor
• 1997 - John Denver, singer
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard, gay college student and gay-bashing victim
• 1999 - Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player
• 2001 - Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, British politician
• 2002 - Ray Conniff, band leader, musician
• 2002 - Audrey Mestre, freediver

Holidays and observances

• National day of Spain.
• Columbus Day (traditionally) - United States
• El Dia de la Raza - Latin America
• University Day at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

October 11 - October 13 - September 12 - November 12 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By