October 23......

October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 69 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the proleptic Julian calendar), the universe was created, according to the archbishop James Ussher in his Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.

● 42 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. He commits suicide.

● 425 - Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.

● 502 - The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.

● 1086 - At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI

● 1641 - Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years

● 1694 - American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec.

● 1707 - The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.

● 1739 - War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.

● 1812 - Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet was executed on October 29.

● 1813 - The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).

● 1855 - Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.

● 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.

● 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Westport - Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.

● 1867 - 72 Senators were summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.

● 1906 - Alberto Santos-Dumont flies the 14-bis in the first public and officially-recognised heavier-than-air flight at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.

● 1911 - First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Turco-Italian War.

● 1915 - Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.

● 1929 - Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.

● 1929 - The first transcontinental air service begins from New York City to Los Angeles.

● 1930 - The first miniature golf tournament finished in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

● 1935 - Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot in a bar in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.

● 1941 - World War II: Georgy Zhukov assumes command of Red Army efforts to stop the German advance into Russia.

● 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.

● 1944 - World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in Leyte Gulf, the Red Army enters Hungary

● 1946 - The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.

● 1951- Churchill denies 'warmonger' claims; The Conservative leader, Winston Churchill, winds up his election campaign by denying he is a warmonger

● 1956 - Thousands of Hungarians protest against Stalinist influence and occupation (Hungarian Revolution is put down on November 4).

● 1958 - Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.

● 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Silver Bayonet - The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleku Province in II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).

● 1971 - Two women shot at Belfast checkpoint; British soldiers kill sisters Mary Ellen Meehan and Dorothy Maguire in a car speeding towards a checkpoint.

● 1973 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.

● 1973 - A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.

● 1983 - Lebanon Civil War: U.S. Marines barracks at Beirut International Airport hit by truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. Marines and sailors. French barracks also hit the same morning, killing 58 paratroopers.

● 1987 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork on a 58-42 vote.

● 1987 - Lester Piggott jailed for three years

● 1989 - A white man, Charles Stuart, claimed that he and his pregnant wife had been shot by a black robber in Boston; Carol Stuart and her prematurely delivered baby died. Stuart was later implicated in the shootings and apparently committed suicide.

● 1989 - The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic).

● 1992 - Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.

● 1993 - Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter became the second player to end a World Series with a home run - three-run shot that gave Toronto an 8-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 for their second straight World Series.

● 1996 - The civil trial of former American football player O.J. Simpson opens in Santa Monica, California.

● 1998 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat signed a land-for-peace agreement at the White House, following nine days of talks at Wye River, MD.

● 1998 - Abortion in the United States: In Amherst, New York, abortion doctor Barnett Slepian is killed in his home by a sniper. (James Kopp was convicted of murder and is serving 25 years to life in prison.)

● 1998 - Swatch Internet Time introduced

● 1999 - Apple Computer's Mac OS 9 is released and sold

● 2001 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by American President Bill Clinton.

● 2001 - Apple Computer releases the first iPod.

● 2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage threatening to kill them unless the Russian army pulled out of Chechnya.

● 2004 - Brazil's "Operation Cajuana" launches its first rocket into space, the VSB-30, just 14 months after its space program was devastated by a deadly launch pad accident.

● 2004 - A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

BIRTHS

● 1698 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d. 1782)

● 1705 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (d. 1757)

● 1715 - Peter II of Russia Emperor of Russia (1727-30) (d. 1730)

● 1762 - Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)

● 1766 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)

● 1771 - Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)

● 1790 - Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman (d. 1860)

● 1796 - Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1857)

● 1801 - Albert Lortzing, German composer (d. 1851)

● 1805 - John Bartlett, American lexicographer (d. 1905)

● 1813 - Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d. 1848)

● 1817 - Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer and encyclopaedist

● 1835 - Adlai Ewing Stevenson, Vice President of the United States (1893-97) (d. 1914)

● 1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)

● 1844 - Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)

● 1865 - Neltje Blanchan, American writer (d. 1918)

● 1868 - Frederick Lanchester, English engineer (d. 1946)

● 1869 - John William Heisman, coach who revolutionized the game of college football

● 1870 - Bishop Francis Kelley, Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma (d. 1948)

● 1873 - William Coolidge, American inventor and engineer (d. 1975)

● 1875 - Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist

● 1876 - Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d. 1970)

● 1880 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)

● 1885 - Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d. 1970)

● 1892 - Gummo Marx, American actor (d. 1977)

● 1894 - Rube Bressler, Baseball player (d. 1966)

● 1896 - André Lévêque, French engineer (d. 1930)

● 1900 - Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (d. 1958)

● 1904 - Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)

● 1905 - Felix Bloch, Swiss-born American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)

● 1906 - Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)

● 1908 - Ilya Frank, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)

● 1909 - Zellig Harris, American linguist

● 1920 - Frank Rizzo, American politician; mayor of Philadelphia (1972-80) (d. 1991)

● 1923 - Aslam Farrukhi, Pakistani scholar and poet

● 1923 - Ned Rorem, American composer

● 1923 - Frank Sutton, American actor (d. 1974)

● 1925 - Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)

● 1927 - Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher

● 1931 - Jim Bunning, baseball player, Hall of Fame member, and U.S. Senator (R-KY)

● 1931 - Diana Dors, British actress

● 1934 - Samuel Anthony, Jr. American architect

● 1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez, Puerto Rican golfer

● 1936 - Philip Kaufman, American film director (''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'')

● 1939 - Ellie Greenwich, American pop music singer

● 1940 - Pelé, Brazilian footballer

● 1941 - Igor Smirnov, Moldovan politician

● 1942 - Michael Crichton, American writer

● 1943 - Barbara Ann Hawkins, R&B singer (The Dixie Cups)

● 1946 - Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela

● 1946 - Melquiades Martinez, U.S. Senator from Florida

● 1948 - Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born entrepreneur

● 1949 - Nick Tosches, American writer

● 1951 - Charly Garcia, Argentine singer

● 1951 - Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo

● 1951 - Michael Rupert, Actor

● 1954 - Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director

● 1956 - Dwight Yoakam, American singer

● 1956 - Dianne Reeves, Jazz singer

● 1958 - Nancy Grace, American former prosecutor

● 1959 - Sam Raimi, American film director

● 1959 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American musical parodist

● 1960 - Wayne Rainey, American motorcyclist

● 1961 - Don Harris, American professional wrestler

● 1962 - Doug Flutie, American football player

● 1964 - Robert Trujillo, American bassist (Metallica)

● 1965 - Al Leiter, American baseball player

● 1965 - Augusten Burroughs, American writer

● 1966 - Brian Nevin, Rock musician (Big Head Todd and the Monsters)

● 1966 - David Thomas, R&B singer (Take 6)

● 1968 - Junior Bryant, Country singer-musician

● 1969 - Trudi Canavan, writer

● 1970 - Jasmin St. Claire, wrestling valet

● 1972 - Jimmy Wayne, Country singer

● 1974 - Sander Westerveld, Dutch footballer

● 1975 - Odalys Garcia, Cuban actress

● 1975 - Jessicka, American artist

● 1975 - Keith Van Horn, American basketball player

● 1976 - Ryan R. Reynolds, Canadian actor

● 1978 - Steve Harmison, English cricketer

● 1978 - Archie Thompson, Australian footballer

● 1979 - Simon Davies, Welsh footballer

● 1980 - Pedro Liriano, Dominican baseball player

● 1982 - Mirel Radoi, Romanian footballer

● 1984 - Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model

● 1985 - Masiela Lusha, Actress (''George Lopez'')

● 1987 - Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (Play)

● 1990 - Stevie Brock, American singer

DEATHS

● 42 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)

● 930 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)

● 1456 - Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)

● 1550 - Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)

● 1581 - Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)

● 1616 - Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)

● 1688 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)

● 1730 - Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)

● 1764 - Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)

● 1774 - Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b. 1715)

● 1872 - Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)

● 1885 - Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician (b. 1829)

● 1910 - Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (b. 1853)

● 1915 - W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b. 1848)

● 1921 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b. 1840)

● 1939 - Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)

● 1944 - Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)

● 1950 - Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)

● 1978 - Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b. 1909)

● 1983 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b. 1947)

● 1984 - James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)

● 1986 - Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893

● 1990 - Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b. 1918)

● 1996 - Bob Grim, baseball player (b. 1930)

● 1997 - Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)

● 1998 - Barnett Slepian, American physician (b. 1946)

● 2001 - Ronald William Kirby, British artist (b. 1928)

● 2002 - Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1915]])

● 2003 - Bill Nicholson, English football player and manager (b. 1919)

● 2003 - Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1944)

● 2003 - Madame Chiang Kai-shek, widow of the Chinese nationalist leader

● 2004 - Robert Merrill, American baritone (b. 1919)

● 2005 - Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b. 1945)

● 2005 - John Muth, American economist (b. 1930)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic Saints
● Saint Giovanni da Capistrano
● Saint Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

● Hungary - National Day (revolution of 1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in 1989)

● Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio in Western tropical astrology.

● Chemistry: Mole Day

● French Republican Calendar - Céleri (Celery) Day, second day in the Month of Brumaire


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

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