EVENTS
- 1582 – This date (10/05/1582) does not exist in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain because of a switch to the Gregorian calendar.
- 1813 – Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh was defeated and killed during the War of 1812. Regarded as one of the greatest American Indians, he was a powerful orator who defended his people against white settlement. When the War of 1812 broke out, he joined the British as a brigadier general and was killed at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario.
- 1877 – Following a 1,700-mile retreat, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to U.S. Cavalry troops at Bear’s Paw near Chinook, Montana. “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever,” he declared.
- 1908 – Bulgaria proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
- 1910 – Portugal became a republic following a successful revolt against King Manuel II.
- 1921 – First radio broadcast of the World Series.
- 1938 – Czech President Dr. Eduard Benes resigned and fled abroad amid threats from Adolf Hitler.
- 1947 – The first White House address is televised. It’s given by President Truman.
- 1962 – James Bond makes his theatrical debut. The fictional British spy with the code name 007 was featured on the big screen for the first time in Dr. No. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, the movie starred Sean Connery as James Bond.
- 1964 – The largest mass escape since the construction of the Berlin Wall occurred as 57 East German refugees escaped to West Berlin after tunneling beneath the wall.
- 1969 – ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ makes its debut. The British sketch comedy series lasted for a year on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The show was a commentary on daily life in Britain and had several recurring themes and characters played by Eric Idle, Graham Chapman John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones. The sketches are often thought to have had a strong influence on television comedy around the world.
- 1970 – Start of the public television network PBS
- 1984 – First Canadian to go into space. Marc Garneau flew as the payload specialist on STS-41-G, the 6th flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger. The flight that launched on this day was also the first space mission to have two women – Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan.
- 1986 – Former U.S. Marine Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Nicaraguan Sandinistas after a plane carrying arms for the Nicaraguan rebels (Contras) was shot down over Nicaragua. This marked the beginning of the “Iran-Contra” controversy resulting in Congressional hearings and a major scandal for the Reagan White House after it was revealed that money from the sale of arms to Iran was used to fund covert operations in Nicaragua.
- 2000 – Bulldozer Revolution in former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. President Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown after hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Belgrade to protest against recently held elections. While largely peaceful, the protesters burnt down the Parliament building. Milosevic resigned and stepped down from his office two days later.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1703 – Theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was born in East Windsor, Connecticut. He led the “Great Awakening” religious revival in the American colonies and later became president of Princeton.
- 1829 – Chester A. Arthur (21st US President)
- 1882 – “Father of the Space Age” Robert Goddard (1882-1945) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts (During his lifetime he was ridiculed by the public and the press over his idea of constructing a space flight machine (In 1926, he launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on a farm near Auburn, Mass (In 1935, his liquid-fueled rocket surpassed the speed of sound (Other developments included a steering apparatus for rocket machines, staged rockets to reach high altitudes, rocket fuel pumps, and a self-cooling rocket motor.
- 1936 – Czech playwright and political leader Vaclav Havel was born in Prague, October 5, 1936 (He spent over 5 years in prison for speaking out against government abuses (He went on to lead the peaceful “velvet revolution” which ended Soviet-style Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
- 1958 – Neil deGrasse Tyson (American astrophysicist)
- 1965 – Mario Lemieux (Hockey Player)
- 1972 – Grant Hill (Basketball Player)
- 1975 – Kate Winslet (Actress – Titanic)
- 1980 – Paul Thomas (Musician – Good Charlotte)
- 1983 – Nicky Hilton (Heiress)
DEATHS
- 1813 – Tecumseh (American tribal leader)
- 1880 – Jacques Offenbach (German/French composer)
- 1927 – Sam Warner (American film producer, co-founded Warner Bros.)
- 1941 – Louis Brandeis (American jurist)
- 2011 – Steve Jobs (American businessman, co-founded Apple Inc., Pixar)