October 26......

October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 66 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 740 - An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death.

● 1640 - The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England

● 1774 - The first Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.

● 1795 - The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created

● 1825 - The Erie Canal opens - passage from the Hudson River at Albany, New York to Lake Erie

● 1859 - The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead

● 1863 - The Football Association is formed

● 1881 - The gunfight at the OK Corral took place in Tombstone, Ariz., as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and ''Doc'' Holliday confronted Ike Clanton's gang. Three members of Clanton's gang were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded.

● 1905 - Norway becomes independent from Sweden

● 1912 - The city of Thessaloniki is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius.

● 1917 - Battle of Caporetto: Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Germany and Austria during the First World War

● 1918 - Erich von Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

● 1936 - The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.

● 1940 - The P-51 Mustang makes it maiden flight.

● 1942 - World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another heavily damaged.

● 1944 - The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends.

● 1944 - Future Vice-president, and later, President Harry Truman publicly denies ever having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

● 1947 - The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.

● 1947 - The British Military Occupation ends in Iraq.

● 1948 - Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.

● 1951 - Churchill wins general election; The Conservatives defeat Labour in the general election by a small majority making Winston Churchill prime minister for the second time.

● 1954 - Trieste return to Italy.

● 1955 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.

● 1955 - Ngo Dinh Diem declares himself Premier of South Vietnam

● 1956 - Fighting spreads in Hungary revolution; The Hungarian Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, appeals for calm as demonstrators battle with Soviet troops.

● 1958 - Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris. The trip took eight hours and 41 minutes.

● 1959 - World glimpses far side of the moon

● 1962 - In one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba. While waiting for an answer Ambassador Stevenson said he could “wait until Hell froze over.”

● 1964 - Eric Edgar Cooke hanged, last person in Western Australia to be executed.

● 1965 - The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs)

● 1965 - The body of Sylvia Likens is found in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

● 1967 - The Shah of Iran crowned himself and his queen after 26 years on the Peacock Throne.

● 1972 - National security adviser Henry Kissinger declared ''peace is at hand'' in Vietnam. And remember this guy is now giving Bush advice on Iraq.

● 1975 - Anwar Sadat became the first Egyptian president to pay an official visit to the United States.

● 1977 - The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.

● 1977 - The experimental space shuttle Enterprise glided to a bumpy but successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

● 1978 - Independent Counsel Act signed into law

● 1979 - Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by Korean Central Intelligence Agency head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; even though Kim claims he "accidentally" shot Park, Kim is executed the following May.

● 1984 - "Baby Fae," a newborn with a severe heart defect was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. She lived for 21 more days.

● 1984 - John D. McCollum shoots and kills himself after spending a day listening to Ozzy Osbourne records; a lawsuit is later filed by his parents over the song "Suicide Solution", but the case eventually gets thrown out.

● 1992 - The command and control system of the London Ambulance Service fails catastrophically.

● 1992 - The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.

● 1994 - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan signed a peace treaty in a ceremony in the desert witnessed by US President Clinton, ending 46 years of war.

● 1994 - Announcement that Andrew Wiles correctly proved Fermat's last theorem.

● 1995 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.

● 1996 - Federal prosecutors cleared Richard Jewell as a suspect in the Olympic park bombing.

● 1997 - The left arms of Chen Ming-Kuo and Yang Chung-ming are amputated by the rope in a 1,500-person tug-of-war contest in Taipei; both arms are successfully reattached later on.

● 1997 - Basketball player Charles Barkley is charged with aggravated battery and resisting arrest after throwing Jorge Lugo through a plate glass window in a dance club in Orlando, Florida.

● 1999 - Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.

● 2000 - Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï

● 2000 - Ministers 'misled' public on BSE; The long awaited report into the spread of BSE or "mad cow disease" and its fatal human equivalent, vCJD, criticises officials, scientists and government ministers.

● 2000 - The successor to the highly successful PlayStation, the PlayStation 2 was released.

● 2000 - The New York Yankees became the first team in more than a quarter century to win three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-2 in Game 5 of the ''Subway Series.''

● 2001 - The United States passes the controversial USA PATRIOT Act into law.

● 2001 - The Supreme Court building was closed for anthrax testing, and traces of anthrax were found in the State Department and CIA headquarters.

● 2002 - Moscow Theater Siege ends: Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 129 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm the House of Culture theater in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels three days before.

● 2004 - AT&T Wireless is officially acquired by Cingular Wireless.

● 2004 - Israel's parliament approved Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

● 2004 - The final vote count in the Afghan presidential election gave a resounding victory to interim leader Hamid Karzai.

● 2005 - The Chicago White Sox defeat the Houston Astros in the World Series to win their first championship since 1917

BIRTHS

● 1427 - Archduke Sigismund of Austria (d. 1496)

● 1473 - Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)

● 1491 - Zhengde, Emperor of China (d. 1521)

● 1673 - Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian prince, linguist, and scholar (d. 1723)

● 1684 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (d. 1757)

● 1685 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)

● 1694 - Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (d. 1758)

● 1757 - Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher (d. 1823)

● 1759 - Georges Jacques Danton, French Revolutionary leader (d. 1794)

● 1768 - Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (d. 1844)

● 1786 - Henry Deringer, American gunsmith (d. 1868)

● 1794 - Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (d. 1881)

● 1800 - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)

● 1802 - King Miguel of Portugal (d. 1866)

● 1842 - Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter (d. 1904)

● 1849 - Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (d. 1917)

● 1854 - C. W. Post, American entrepreneur, cereal manufacturer and developer (d. 1914)

● 1861 - Richard Dudley Sears, American tennis champion (d. 1943)

● 1865 - Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)

● 1869 - Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (d. 1957)

● 1871 - Guillermo Kahlo, father of Frida Kahlo (d. 1941)

● 1873 - Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)

● 1874 - Martin Lowry, British chemist (d. 1936)

● 1880 - Andrei Bely, Russian writer (d. 1934)

● 1883 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (d. 1958)

● 1894 - John S. Knight, American journalist and publisher (d. 1981)

● 1902 - Beryl Markham, British writer, aviator, horse trainer and breeder (d. 1986)

● 1902 - Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d. 1994)

● 1906 - Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)

● 1911 - Sid Gilman, American football player (d. 2003)

● 1911 - Mahalia Jackson, American known as the queen of gospel singing (d. 1972)

● 1911 - Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d. 1996)

● 1912 - Don Siegel, American director (d. 1991)

● 1913 - Charlie Barnet, American musician (d. 1991)

● 1914 - Jackie Coogan, American silent film actor; played "The Kid" (d. 1984)

● 1916 - François Mitterrand, President of France (1981-95) (d. 1996)

● 1919 - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Shah of Iran (1941-79) (d. 1980)

● 1921 - George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (d. 1968)

● 1925 - Jan Wolkers, Dutch author

● 1936 - Shelley Morrison, Actress (''Will and Grace'')

● 1942 - Bob Hoskins, British actor

● 1945 - Pat Conroy, American writer

● 1946 - Pat Sajak, American game show host (''Wheel of Fortune'')

● 1947 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, Former First Lady of the United States (1993-2001) and United States Senator (D-NY)

● 1947 - Jaclyn Smith, American actress (''Charlie's Angels'')

● 1947 - Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress

● 1951 - Bootsy Collins, American musician (P Funk)

● 1951 - Maggie Roche, Singer (The Roches)

● 1952 - Andrew Motion, English poet

● 1952 - James Pickens Jr., Actor (''Grey's Anatomy'')

● 1953 - Keith Strickland, Rock musician (The B-52's)

● 1954 - D. W. Moffett, Actor

● 1957 - Bob Golic, American football player

● 1958 - Rita Wilson, American actress

● 1959 - Evo Morales, President of Bolivia

● 1959 - Brian Bovell, British actor

● 1961 - Dylan McDermott, American actor (''The Practice'')

● 1962 - Cary Elwes, British actor

● 1963 - Natalie Merchant, American singer

● 1965 - Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Hong Kong singer

● 1966 - Steve Valentine, British actor

● 1966 - Jeanne Zelasko, American sportcaster

● 1967 - Keith Urban, New Zealand singer

● 1968 - Tom Cavanagh, Actor (''Ed'')

● 1970 - Raveena Tandon, Indian actress

● 1971 - Anthony Rapp, American singer and actor

● 1973 - Seth MacFarlane, American animator

● 1974 - LISA, Japanese musician

● 1976 - Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player

● 1977 - Jon Heder, American actor

● 1978 - Jimmy Aggrey, English footballer

● 1978 - CM Punk, American professional wrestler

● 1978 - Mark Barry, Pop singer (BB Mak)

● 1980 - Cristian Chivu, Romanian footballer

● 1981 - Guy Sebastian, Australian singer

● 1984 - Sasha Cohen, American figure skater

● 1985 - Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player

● 1985 - Asin Thottumkal, Award-winning Indian actress

DEATHS

● 899 - Alfred the Great

● 1235 - King Andrew II of Hungary (b. 1175)

● 1440 - Gilles de Rais, French serial killer (b. 1404)

● 1633 - Horio Tadaharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1596)

● 1671 - Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1593)

● 1679 - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)

● 1686 - John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (b. 1623)

● 1717 - Catherine Sedley, English mistress of James II of England

● 1751 - Philip Doddridge, English religious leader (b. 1702)

● 1764 - William Hogarth, British painter (b. 1697)

● 1803 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (b. 1721)

● 1806 - John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (b. 1752)

● 1817 - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (b. 1727)

● 1890 - Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)

● 1896 - Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (b. 1827)

● 1902 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American feminist and suffragette (b. 1815)

● 1909 - Hirobumi Ito, Japanese governor of Korea (b. 1841)

● 1930 - Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1872)

● 1931 - Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b. 1859)

● 1937 - Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (b.1867)

● 1941 - Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (b. 1904)

● 1943 - Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born archaeologist (b. 1862)

● 1944 - Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1857)

● 1944 - William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1881)

● 1945 - Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)

● 1945 - Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (b. 1863)

● 1947 - Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, English rector (b. 1862)

● 1952 - Hattie McDaniel, American singer (b. 1895)

● 1956 - Walter Gieseking, French conductor (b. 1895)

● 1957 - Gerty Cori, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b. 1896)

● 1957 - Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (b. 1883)

● 1966 - Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)

● 1971 - Vincent Coleman, American actor (b. 1901)

● 1972 - Igor Sikorsky, Ukrainian-born inventor (b. 1889)

● 1979 - Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (b. 1917)

● 1984 - Gus Mancuso, baseball player (b. 1905)

● 1986 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)

● 1989 - Charles J. Pedersen, American Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)

● 1995 - Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter (b. 1913)

● 1999 - Hoyt Axton, American musician (b. 1938)

● 2002 - Jacques Massu, French general (b. 1908)

● 2002 - Movsar Barayev, Chechen militant

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman festivals - first day of Ludi Victoriae Sullanae (until 1 November)

● Roman Catholic Saints:
● St. Bean
● St. Evaristus
● St. Albinus
● St. Alfred the Great
● St. Cedd
● St. Cuthbert
● St. Demetrius (aka St. Dimitrios) of Thessaloniki
● St. Eadfrid
● St. Fulk
● St. Gibitrudis
● St. Lucian
● St. Rogatian
● St. Rusticus
● St. Quadragesimus

● Austria - National Day: Anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality (1955)

● Nauru - Angam Day


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

Permanent Backlink to Post