October 26

Events

• 740 - An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death.
• 1863 - The Football Association is formed
• 1863 - International Federation of the Red Cross is formed
• 1881 - The Gunfight at the O. K. Corral
• 1905 - Norway becomes independent from Sweden
• 1936 - The first generator goes online at Boulder Dam.
• 1944 - Battle of Leyte Gulf ends
• 1948 - Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
• 1955 - Ngo Dinh Diem declares himself Premier of South Vietnam
• 1965 - The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs)
• 1976 - Transkei declares its "independence" from South Africa
• 1978 - Independent Counsel Act signed into law
• 1984 - "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon
• 1994 - Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty
• 1995 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
• 1999 - Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament
• 2001 - The United States passes the controversial USA Patriot Act into law.
• 2002 - Moscow Theater Siege ends: Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 150 hostages die when Russian commandos storm the House of Culture theater in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels three days before.

Births

• 1685 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer
• 1759 - Georges Jacques Danton, leader of the French Revolution
• 1854 - Charles Post, cereal entrepreneur
• 1865 - Benjamin Guggenheim, businessman, went down on Titanic († 1912)
• 1873 - Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark († 1942)
• 1874 - Martin Lowry, British chemist
• 1902 - Jack Sharkey, boxing champion († 1994)
• 1906 - Primo Carnera, boxing champion († 1967)
• 1911 - Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer († 1972)
• 1911 - Sid Gilman, American football player, coach, manager
• 1911 - Sorley MacLean, Scots Gaelic poet
• 1912 - Don Siegel, American director
• 1914 - Jackie Coogan, actor († 1984)
• 1916 - François Mitterrand, French president († 1996)
• 1919 - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, shah of Iran († 1980)
• 1942 - Bob Hoskins, actor
• 1945 - Pat Conroy, novelist
• 1946 - Pat Sajak, game show host
• 1946 - Ivan Reitman, actor, writer, director
• 1947 - Jaclyn Smith, actress
• 1947 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of former President of the United States, Senator from New York
• 1947 - Holly Woodlawn, actor
• 1951 - Bootsy Collins, American musician (P Funk)
• 1953 - Keith Strickland, drummer (The B-52s)
• 1954 - D.W. Moffett, actor
• 1958 - Rita Wilson, actress
• 1961 - Cylan McDermott, actor
• 1962 - Cary Elwes, British actor
• 1963 - Natalie Merchant, singer
• 1978 - David Weekly

Deaths

• 1764 - William Hogarth, British painter
• 1806 - John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada
• 1902 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, feminist, suffragette
• 1931 - Charles Comiskey, baseball owner
• 1952 - Hattie McDaniel, American singer
• 1972 - Igor Sikorsky, helicopter pioneer
• 1979 - Park Chung-hee, president of South Korea
• 1986 - Jackson Scholz, American sprinter
• 1991 - Bill Graham, rock and roll entrepreneur
• 1999 - Hoyt Axton, musician

• 2002 - Jacques Massu, French general

Holidays

• 1955 - Anniversary of the Austrian day of independence

October 25 - October 27 - November 26 - September 26 - more historical anniversaries

Referenced By