October 4......

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 88 days remaining.

EVENTS

● 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.

● 1209 - Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.

● 1537 - The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.

● 1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.

● 1777 - Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe at Germantown, PA, resulting in heavy American casualties.

● 1795 - Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a "Whiff of Grapeshot", using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention).

● 1824 - Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.

● 1830 - Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands

● 1853 - Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.

● 1883 - First run of the Orient Express.

● 1883 - First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.

● 1895 - The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship run by the United States Golf Association was played on a nine-hole course at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.

● 1927 - Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mt. Rushmore.

● 1931 - Debut appearance of the "Dick Tracy" comic strip, created by cartoonist Chester Gould.

● 1957 - The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik I, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.

● 1957 - Avro Arrow roll-out ceremony at Avro Canada plant in Malton, Ontario.

● 1957 - The CBS television show Leave it to Beaver debuts (starring Jerry Mathers as "The Beaver," whose real name on the show was Theodore Cleaver).

● 1958 - The first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by British Overseas Airways Corp. with flights between London and New York.

● 1958 - Fifth Republic of France established.

● 1960 - An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-188 Electra flying from Boston crashes, killing 62 people after a bird strike.

● 1965 - Pope Paul VI became the first reigning pontiff to travel to North America when he flew to New York and addressed the U.N. General Assembly.

● 1965 - Immigrants feel at home with BBC; The BBC announces it will begin broadcasting a new program for immigrants from next week.

● 1966 - Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

● 1975 - A Cessna 310Q airplane crashes over Wilmington, North Carolina, killing the pilot and severely injuring several pro wrestlers affiliated with the NWA's Mid-Atlantic promotion. One of the survivors is the legendary Ric Flair

● 1976 - New train speeds into service; British Rail begins its new 125mph Intercity 'High Speed Train' service today.

● 1983 - Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019 km/h), driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

● 1983 - The first Hooters restaurant opens in Clearwater, Florida.

● 1985 - Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley.

● 1988 - U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker indicted for fraud.

● 1990 - German lawmakers met in the Reichstag in Berlin for the first meeting of reunified Germany's parliament.

● 1991 - The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature.

● 1992 - An El Al Boeing 747-200F cargo plane crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 38 on the ground.

● 1993 - US forces killed in Somali gun battle; Dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu. At least five US soldiers die and two Blackhawk helicopters are shot down in a firefight with Mogadishu warlords. (basis for the movie “Blackhawk Down”)

● 1993 - Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders tanks to storm the Russian parliament building.

● 1997 - Hundreds of thousands of men attended a Promise Keepers rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C., in one of the largest religious gatherings in U.S. history.

● 2001 - A Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.

● 2001 - Barry Bonds hit his 70th home run in a game against the Houston Astros to tie Mark McGwire's single-season record.

● 2001 - Authorities said a man in Boca Raton, Fla., had contracted the inhaled form of anthrax; he died the following day.

● 2002 - John Walker Lindh, the so-called ''American Taliban,'' received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing, halting plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, VA.

● 2002 - Richard Reid pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

● 2003 - Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded when a Palestinian woman blew herself up inside the restaurant

● 2004 - The SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth's atmosphere for the second time in five days to capture the $10 million Ansari X Prize aimed at opening space to tourists and private spaceflight.

BIRTHS

● 1160 - Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France

● 1289 - King Louis X of France (1314-16) and of Navarre (1305-14) (d. 1316)

● 1379 - King Henry III of Castile (d. 1406)

● 1515 - Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)

● 1542 - Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)

● 1550 - King Charles IX of Sweden (1604-11) (d. 1611)

● 1562 - Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (d. 1647)

● 1570 - Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal (d. 1637)

● 1625 - Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy (d. 1661)

● 1626 - Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1658-59) (d. 1712)

● 1720 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (d. 1778)

● 1723 - Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (d. 1798)

● 1759 - Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician (d. 1803)

● 1787 - François Guizot, French statesman (d. 1874)

● 1807 - Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, French Canadian politician, prime minister of the Province of Canada (d. 1864)

● 1814 - Jean-François Millet, French painter (d. 1875)

● 1822 - Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 19th President of the United States (1877-81) (d. 1893)

● 1841 - Prudente José de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (d. 1912)

● 1858 - Michael Pupin, Serbian-born telephone pioneer (d. 1935)

● 1861 - Frederic Remington, American painter; specialized in western themes (d. 1909)

● 1862 - Edward L. Stratemeyer, American author (d. 1930)

● 1877 - Razor Smith, English cricketer (d. 1946)

● 1880 - Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946)

● 1881 - Walther von Brauchitsch, German Commander-in-Chief (d. 1948)

● 1884 - Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946)

● 1886 - Luis Alberni, Spanish actor (d. 1962)

● 1888 - Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1954)

● 1890 - John Kelly, American oarsman (d. 1960)

● 1892 - Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (d. 1934)

● 1895(89? NYT) - Buster Keaton, American comic actor of silent films in Piqua, KA (d. 1966)

● 1903 - John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (d. 1995)

● 1903 - Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer (d. 1946)

● 1903 - Bona Arsenault, French Canadian politician, historian and genealogist (d. 1993)

● 1907 - Run Run Shaw, Hong Kong media mogul

● 1910 - Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player (d. 2002)

● 1914 - Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d. 2003)

● 1916 - Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate

● 1916 - George Sidney, American film director (d. 2002)

● 1918 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)

● 1922 - Malcolm Baldrige, 26th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1987)

● 1924(23? NYT) - Charlton Heston, American actor

● 1928 - Alvin Toffler, American author

● 1929 - Leroy Van Dyke, American Country singer

● 1932 - Felicia Farr, Actress

● 1932 - Milan Chvostek, Canadian television director

● 1934 - Sam Huff, American football player and Hall of Fame member

● 1935 - Eddie Applegate, Actor (''The Patty Duke Show'')

● 1937 - Jackie Collins, British author

● 1938 - Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate

● 1940 - Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer

● 1941 - Anne Rice, American writer

● 1941 - Lori Saunders, Actress

● 1942 - Karl W. Richter, American aviator

● 1943 - H. Rap Brown, American civil rights activist

● 1944 - Tony La Russa, American baseball manager

● 1945 - Clifton Davis, American actor

● 1946 - Chuck Hagel, American politician, US senator (R-NE)

● 1946 - Susan Sarandon, American actress and activist

● 1947 - Ann Widdecombe, British politician

● 1947 - Julien Clerc, French singer

● 1947 - Jim Fielder, American bassist (Blood, Sweat & Tears)

● 1949 - Armand Assante, American actor

● 1949 - Lee Blessing, Playwright

● 1949 - Stephen Gyllenhaal, American director

● 1950 - Alan Rosenberg, Actor

● 1953 - Tchéky Karyo, Turkish-born actor

● 1957 - Alexander Tkachev, Soviet gymnast

● 1957 - Bill Fagerbakke, American actor

● 1957 - Russell Simmons, Music producer

● 1959 - Chris Lowe, British singer (Pet Shop Boys)

● 1959 - Tony Meo, English snooker player

● 1960 - Afrika Bambaataa, American musician

● 1960 - Joe Boever, American baseball player

● 1960 - Gregg ''Hobie'' Hubbard, Country musician (Sawyer Brown)

● 1961 - David W. Harper, Actor (''The Waltons'')

● 1961 - Jon Secada, Cuban-born singer

● 1961 - Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author

● 1962 - Jon Secada, Cuban-American singer and songwriter

● 1963 - A.C. Green, American basketball player

● 1967 - Marcus Bentley, British voice actor

● 1967 - Liev Schreiber, American actor

● 1969 - Abraham Benrubi, Actor (''ER'')

● 1970 - Richard Hancox, English footballer

● 1970 - Heidi Newfield, Country musician (Trick Pony)

● 1970 - Andy Parle, Rock musician

● 1971 - Friderika Bayer, Hungarian singer

● 1972 - Murray Happer, American wrestler

● 1973 - Chris Parks, American wrestler

● 1975 - Cristiano Lucarelli, Italian football player

● 1976 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress (''Clueless'')

● 1976 - Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer

● 1978 - Phillip Glasser, Actor

● 1979 - Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress

● 1980 - Jimmy Workman, Actor

● 1980 - Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete

● 1980 - Sarah Fisher, American race car driver

● 1980 - Tomáš Rosický, Czech footballer

● 1981 - Justin Williams, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1983 - Risa Kudo, Japanese gravure idol

● 1984 - Elena Katina, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)

● 1987 - Jessica Benson, R&B singer (3lw)

● 1987 - Michael Charles Roman, Actor

DEATHS

● 1052 - Vladimir of Novgorod (b. 1020)

● 1221 - William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu (b. 1179)

● 1250 - Herman VI, Margrave of Baden

● 1305 - Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b. 1249)

● 1582 - Teresa of Avila, Spanish saint (b. 1515)

● 1597 - Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1550)

● 1646 - Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English statesman (b. 1586)

● 1660 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)

● 1669 - Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Dutch painter (b. 1606)

● 1680 - Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer

● 1743 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (b. 1678)

● 1749 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)

● 1754 - Tanacharison, Catawba Indian chief

● 1785 - David Brearly, American statesman (b. 1703)

● 1821 - John Rennie, Scottish engineer (b. 1761)

● 1851 - Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)

● 1859 - Karl Baedeker, German publisher (b. 1801)

● 1864 - Joseph Montferrand, French Canadian logger and strong man (b. 1802)

● 1890 - Catherine Booth, the Mother of The Salvation Army (b. 1829)

● 1903 - Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)

● 1904 - Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (b. 1834)

● 1904 - Karl Bayer, Austrian chemist (b. 1847)

● 1935 - Jean Béraud, French painter (b. 1849)

● 1944 - Al Smith, American politician (b. 1873)

● 1946 - Barney Oldfield, American automobile pioneer (b. 1878)

● 1947 - Max Planck, Nobel laureate (b. 1858)

● 1951 - Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)

● 1969 - Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)

● 1970 - Janis Joplin, American singer found dead of an accidental heroin overdose (b. 1943)

● 1974 - Anne Sexton, American poet (b. 1928)

● 1975 - Joan Whitney Payson, American heiress (b. 1903)

● 1982 - Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (b. 1932)

● 1989 - Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)

● 1989 - Secretariat, American race horse (b. 1970)

● 1991 - J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (b. 1941)

● 1992 - Denny Hulme, New Zealand race care driver (b. 1936)

● 1994 - Danny Gatton, American guitar virtuoso (b. 1945)

● 1997 - Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (b. 1941)

● 1999 - Erik Brødreskift (aka Grim), Norwegian black metal musician (b. 1969)

● 1999 - Art Farmer, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1928)

● 1999 - Bernard Buffet, French painter (b. 1928)

● 2000 - Michael Smith, Nobel laureate (b. 1932)

● 2002 - Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics

● 2002 - André Delvaux, Belgian film director and screenwriter (b. 1926)

● 2003 - Sid McMath, American politician (b. 1912)

● 2004 - Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)

● 2005 - Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (b. 1924)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman festivals - Ieiunium Cereris (Fast of Ceres) (since 191 BC; that calendar date fell in late spring at that time).

● RC Saints - Feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi; also of Saint Amun, Saint Petronius of Bologna.

● Also see October 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

● Islam - tonight in 2005 Ramadan began in some parts of the world.

● Australia - Labour Day of 2005 (ACT, NSW, & SA, 2004: first Monday of October).

● Lesotho - Independence Day (from Britain, 1966).

● World Animal Day

● French Republican Calendar - Potiron (Pumpkin) Day, thirteenth day in the Month of Vendémiaire

● The beginning of World Space Week

● Sweden celebrates National Cinnamon bun Day (since 1999).


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

Additional facts taken from:

The BBC Take on the day

On this day in the New York Times