Monday 7 October 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Nonviolence Week in Ohio

The idea of Ohio Violence Week was developed by the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, an organization that advocates for peace, tolerance and understanding in the comm..→

World Architecture Day

World Architect Day is celebrated on the first Monday of every October, concurrently with the United Nations’ World Habitat Day, was set up by the Union International de..→

World Habitat Day

In 1985 the United Nations designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day (Resolution 40/202 of 17 December 1985). The idea is to reflect on the s..→

Holidays and observances

• Bipolar Awareness Day in the UK (Held on the first Tuesday in October)
• Chol HaMoed Sukkot in Israel (חול המועד סוכות. School holiday, collective paid leave in many businesses and government offices)
• International Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day
• Nagasaki Kunchi Festival (長崎くんち is a Shinto festival in honor of three kami: Suva, Sumiyoshi and Morizaki. The most famous national festival in Nagasaki, Japan)
• National Day of the Villager Identity in Argentina
• National Frappe Day in USA
• National Spoon Day in USA
• Our Lady of the Rosary Day
• Spanish Book Day
• Sports Medicine Day in Spain (Día de Médico y Deporte)
• Teachers' Day in Laos
• Verizon Communications Day
• Veterinary Doctor's Day in Chile
• World Baldness Day
• World Cotton Day
• World Day of Action for Decent Work

Events

• 2008 – Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into earth's atmosphere.
• 1988 – An Iñupiat hunter discovers three gray whales trapped under the ice in Barrow, Alaska, US; the situation becomes a multinational effort to free the whales.
• 1959 – U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits the first ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
• 1942 – World War II: The October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
• 1940 – World War II: The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
• 1919 – KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
• 1916 – Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.
• 1912 – The Helsinki Stock Exchange sees its first transaction.
• 1868 – Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the highest at any American university to that date.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Bahia incident: USS Wachusett illegally captures the CSS Florida Confederate raider while in port in Bahia, Brazil in violation of Brazilian neutrality.
• 1862 – Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) opens as the first hospital in the Colony of British Columbia
• 1826 – The Granite Railway begins operations as the first chartered railway in the U.S.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain: American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat the British in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights.
• 1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat.
• 1542 – Explorer Cabrillo discovers Santa Catalina Island off of the California coast.

Births

• 1992 – Mookie Betts, American baseball player. Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts (born October 7, 1992) is an American professional baseball right fielder for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.
• 1987 – Aiden English, American wrestler. Matthew Rehwoldt (born October 7, 1987) is an American professional wrestler and announcer currently signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Aiden English.
• 1987 – Sam Querrey, American tennis player. Sam Querrey (/ˈkwɛri/; born October 7, 1987) is an American professional tennis player who (as of July 1, 2019) is ranked world No. 65 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
• 1986 – Chase Daniel, American football player. William Chase Daniel (born October 7, 1986) is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL).
• 1986 – Lee Nguyen, American soccer player. Lee Nguyễn (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Thế Anh, born October 7, 1986) is an American soccer midfielder for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
• 1985 – Evan Longoria, American baseball player. Evan Michael Longoria (born October 7, 1985), nicknamed Longo, is an American professional baseball third baseman for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB).
• 1984 – Zachary Wyatt, American soldier and politician. In May 2012, Representative Wyatt became, at that time, the nation's only openly gay Republican legislator.
• 1983 – Flying Lotus, American rapper, DJ, and producer. Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, musician, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper from Los Angeles, California.
• 1982 – Lockett Pundt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Lockett James Pundt IV (born October 7, 1982) is an American musician, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist of Atlanta-based indie rock group Deerhunter.
• 1982 – Robby Ginepri, American tennis player. Ginepri's best Grand Slam result was the semifinals of the 2005 US Open, where he lost to Andre Agassi.
• 1976 – Charles Woodson, American football player. Woodson, a "two-way player" who played both offense and defense, won the Heisman Trophy in the same year.
• 1976 – Taylor Hicks, American singer-songwriter. Upon winning Idol, he was signed to Arista Records, under which his self-titled major label debut was released on December 12, 2006.
• 1975 – Damian Kulash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and music video director, best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go.
• 1973 – Priest Holmes, American football player. Priest Anthony Holmes (born October 7, 1973) is a former American football running back who played eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL).
• 1972 – Ben Younger, American director, producer, and screenwriter. Ben Younger (born October 7, 1972) is an American screenwriter and film director.
• 1969 – Bobbie Brown, American model and actress. Bobbie Jean Brown (born October 7, 1969), sometimes credited as Bobbie Brown-Lane, is an American actress, model and former beauty pageant contestant.
• 1969 – Malia Hosaka, American wrestler. She is a former NWA World Women's Champion.
• 1967 – Michelle Alexander, American law professor, author and activist. Michelle Alexander (born October 7, 1967) is a writer, civil rights advocate, and visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary (New York City).
• 1967 – Toni Braxton, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress. She is one of the highest-selling female R&B artists in history.
• 1966 – Marco Beltrami, Italian-American composer and conductor. A prolific musician, he has worked in a number of genres, including horror (Mimic, The Faculty, Resident Evil, The Woman in Black, A Quiet Place), action (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Live Free or Die Hard, World War Z), science-fiction (I, Robot, Snowpiercer), Western (3:10 to Yuma, Jonah Hex, The Homesman), and superhero (Hellboy, The Wolverine, Logan).
• 1966 – Sherman Alexie, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and filmmaker. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and now lives in Seattle, Washington.
• 1961 – Tony Sparano, American football player and coach, was an American football coach. He served as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) and is the only NFL head coach to have led a team to the playoffs the year following a one-win season, and only the second to conduct a ten-game turnaround, both of which he accomplished in his first season with the Dolphins.
• 1959 – Dylan Baker, American actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the film Happiness and on the television series The Good Wife, the latter of which earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
• 1957 – Michael W. Smith, American singer-songwriter and actor. Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician, who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts.
• 1955 – Yo-Yo Ma, French-American cellist and educator. He graduated from The Juilliard School and Harvard University, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world.
• 1953 – Tico Torres, American drummer. Hector Samuel Juan "Tico" Torres (born October 7, 1953) is an American musician, artist, and entrepreneur, best known as the drummer, percussionist, and a songwriter for American rock band Bon Jovi.
• 1951 – John Mellencamp, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation.
• 1950 – Dick Jauron, American football player and coach. He was head coach of the Buffalo Bills from January 2006 until November 2009.
• 1949 – Dave Hope, American bass player and priest. Dave Hope (born October 7, 1949) is an American bass guitarist who played with the American progressive rock band Kansas from 1970 (Original version) until the band's first split in 1983.
• 1948 – Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist. Diane Ackerman (born October 7, 1948) is an American poet, essayist, and naturalist known for her wide-ranging curiosity and poetic explorations of the natural world.
• 1948 – Stephen Rucker, American composer. Steve Donald Rucker (born June 27, 1949) is an American composer.
• 1946 – Catharine MacKinnon, American lawyer, activist, and author. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, and the James Barr Ames Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
• 1944 – Judee Sill, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1979). The first artist signed to David Geffen's Asylum label, she released two albums on Asylum and partially completed a third album before dying of a drug overdose in 1979.
• 1943 – Oliver North, American colonel, journalist, and author. Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
• 1942 – Joy Behar, American talk show host, comedian and television personality. Josephine Victoria "Joy" Behar (/ˈbeɪhɑːr/; née Occhiuto; born October 7, 1942) is an American comedian, writer, and actress.
• 1940 – Bruce Vento, American educator and politician (d. 2000), was an American politician, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 until his death in 2000, representing Minnesota's 4th congressional district.
• 1939 – Bill Snyder, American football player and coach. Snyder initially retired from the position from 2006 to 2008, before being rehired.
• 1939 – John Hopcroft, American computer scientist and author. He is the IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics in Computer Science at Cornell University.
• 1937 – Chet Powers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1994), was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the lead singers of the rock group Quicksilver Messenger Service. He was also known by the stage name Dino Valenti (alternatively rendered as Dino Valente) and, as a songwriter, as Jesse Oris Farrow.
• 1934 – Amiri Baraka, American poet, playwright, and academic (d. 2014), was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities, including the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
• 1933 – Harold Dunaway, American race car driver and pilot (d. 2012), was an American stock car and sprint car driver. He made one start in the NASCAR Grand National Division, now known as the Sprint Cup Series.
• 1931 – Cotton Fitzsimmons, American basketball player and coach (d. 2004), was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal, Missouri and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
• 1931 – Tommy Lewis, American football player and coach (d. 2014), was a British trade unionist, local councillor and Labour Member of Parliament (MP).
• 1930 – Curtis Crider, American race car driver (d. 2012), was an American stock car racing driver, and a pioneer in the early years of NASCAR.
• 1929 – Graeme Ferguson, Canadian director and producer, co-founded the IMAX Corporation. Ivan Graeme Ferguson CM (born 7 October 1929 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian filmmaker and inventor who co-invented IMAX.
• 1929 – Mariano Gagnon, American Catholic priest and author (d. 2017), was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, who served as a missionary in Peru. Gagnon founded the Cutivereni mission in Peru's Ene River valley to assist the indigenous Asháninka people who were being forced out of their homes in the jungle by settlers.
• 1927 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (d. 2009). He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid-1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The Godfather.
• 1922 – Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2013). Although the bulk of his playing career was as the third baseman and second baseman of the Cincinnati Reds, Hatton is most identified with his native Texas: he was born in Beaumont, attended the University of Texas at Austin, managed minor league teams in Houston and San Antonio, and was an important contributor to the early years of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros.
• 1922 – William Zinsser, American journalist and critic (d. 2015), was an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic and editorial writer.
• 1919 – Henriette Avram, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2006), was a computer programmer and systems analyst who developed the MARC format (Machine Readable Cataloging), the international data standard for bibliographic and holdings information in libraries. Avram's development of the MARC format in the late 1960s and early 1970s at the Library of Congress had a revolutionizing effect on the practice of librarianship, making possible the automation of many library functions and the sharing of bibliographic information electronically between libraries using pre-existing cataloging standards.
• 1918 – Harry V. Jaffa, American historian, philosopher, and academic (d. 2015), was an American political philosopher, historian, columnist and professor. He was a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate University and a distinguished fellow of the Claremont Institute.
• 1917 – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006), was an American stage, film, and television actress, dancer, and singer.
• 1914 – Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (d. 1992). Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College.
• 1914 – Herman Keiser, American golfer (d. 2003). Keiser (October 7, 1914 – December 24, 2003) was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour, best known for winning the Masters Tournament in 1946, his only major title.
• 1911 – Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1973), was an American baritone singer, trumpeter, big band leader, actor, and businessman, who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance.
• 1910 – Henry Plumer McIlhenny, American art collector and philanthropist (d. 1986), was an American connoisseur of art and antiques, world traveler, socialite, philanthropist, curator and chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
• 1909 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (d. 1983), was an American politician. A Democrat, Corning served as mayor of Albany, New York from 1942 to 1983, when Albany County was controlled by one of the last classic urban political machines in the United States.
• 1909 – Shura Cherkassky, Ukrainian-American pianist and educator (d. 1995), was an American classical pianist known for his performances of the romantic repertoire. His playing was characterized by a virtuoso technique and singing piano tone.
• 1907 – Helen MacInnes, Scottish-American librarian and author (d. 1985), was a Scottish-American author of espionage novels.
• 1905 – Andy Devine, American actor (d. 1977), was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films. He is probably best remembered for his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature films.
• 1897 – Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (d. 1975), was a religious leader who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his death in 1975. He was a mentor to Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and Muhammad Ali, as well as his own son, Warith Deen Mohammed.
• 1894 – Del Lord, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1970), was a Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films.
• 1893 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (d. 1979), was a naturalized American author and publisher who wrote more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books, mainly for children. She has been called "a pioneer in the field of children's historical fiction".
• 1892 – Dwain Esper, American director and producer (d. 1982), was an American director and producer of exploitation films.
• 1889 – Robert Z. Leonard, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968), was an American film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter.
• 1888 – Henry A. Wallace, American lawyer and politician, 33rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1965), was an American politician, journalist, and farmer who served as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, the 33rd vice president of the United States, and the 10th U.S.
• 1885 – Claud Ashton Jones, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1948), was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, and a Medal of Honor recipient.
• 1884 – Harold Geiger, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1927), was US military aviator number 6, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1927. He was also a balloonist.
• 1879 – Joe Hill, Swedish-born American labor activist and poet (d. 1915), was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, familiarly called the "Wobblies"). A native Swedish speaker, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from New York to San Francisco.
• 1870 – Uncle Dave Macon, American old-time country banjo player, singer-songwriter, and comedian (d. 1952). Known for his chin whiskers, plug hat, gold teeth, and gates-ajar collar, he gained regional fame as a vaudeville performer in the early 1920s before becoming the first star of the Grand Ole Opry in the latter half of the decade.
• 1849 – James Whitcomb Riley, American poet and author (d. 1916), was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry.
• 1832 – Charles Crozat Converse, American lawyer and composer (d. 1918), was an American attorney who also worked as a composer of church songs. He is notable for setting to music the words of Joseph Scriven to become the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".
• 1821 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (d. 1879), was a career U.S. Army officer, fighting with distinction in the Mexican–American War.
• 1769 – Solomon Sibley, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 1st Mayor of Detroit (d. 1846), was an American politician and jurist in the Michigan Territory who became the first mayor of Detroit, Michigan.
• 1746 – William Billings, American composer and educator (d. 1800). William Billings (October 7, 1746 – September 26, 1800) is regarded as the first American choral composer.
• 1728 – Caesar Rodney, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (d. 1784), was an American lawyer and politician from St. Jones Neck in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, east of Dover.

Deaths

• 2015 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (b. 1927)
• 2014 – Iva Withers, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1917)
• 2013 – David E. Jeremiah, American admiral (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Joe Rogers, American lawyer and politician, 45th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado (b. 1964)
• 2012 – Mervyn M. Dymally, Trinidadian-American politician, 41st Lieutenant Governor of California (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Wiley Reed, American-Australian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1944)
• 2011 – Andrew Laszlo, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1926)
• 2010 – T Lavitz, American keyboard player, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
• 2009 – Irving Penn, American photographer (b. 1917)
• 2007 – George E. Sangmeister, American lawyer and politician (b. 1931)
• 2006 – Anna Politkovskaya, American-Russian journalist and activist (b. 1958)
• 2001 – Christopher Adams, English-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1955)
• 2001 – Herblock, American cartoonist and author (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Olga Taussky-Todd, Austrian-Czech-American mathematician, attendant of the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
• 1992 – Allan Bloom, American philosopher and educator (b. 1930)
• 1991 – Harry W. Brown, American colonel and pilot (b. 1921)
• 1991 – Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager (b. 1905)
• 1983 – George O. Abell, American astronomer, professor at UCLA, science popularizer, and skeptic (b. 1927)
• 1959 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (b. 1921)
• 1956 – Clarence Birdseye, American businessman, founded Birds Eye (b. 1886)
• 1951 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips (b. 1874)
• 1950 – Willis Haviland Carrier, American engineer (b. 1876)
• 1939 – Harvey Williams Cushing, American neurosurgeon and academic (b. 1869)
• 1925 – Christy Mathewson, American baseball player and manager (b. 1880)
• 1894 – Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., American physician, author, and poet (b. 1809)
• 1849 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story witer, poet, and critic (b. 1809)
• 1792 – George Mason, American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
• 1787 – Henry Muhlenberg, German-American pastor and missionary (b. 1711)
• 1772 – John Woolman, American preacher and abolitionist (b. 1720)