October 2
is the 275th day (276th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 90 days remaining.
*
1187 -
Siege of Jerusalem:
Saladin captures
Jerusalem after 88 years of
Crusader rule.
*
1263 - The
battle of Largs fought between Norwegians and Scots.
*
1535 -
Jacques Cartier discovers
Montreal, Quebec.
*
1789 -
George Washington transmits the proposed Constitutional amendments (the so called "Bill of Rights") to the States for ratification.
*
1835 - The
Texas Revolution begins with the
Battle of Gonzales:
Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of
Gonzales, Texas, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Saltville -
Union forces attack
Saltville, Virginia, but are defeated by
Confederate troops.
*
1889 - In
Colorado, Nicholas Creede strikes it rich in silver during the last great silver boom of the American
Old West.
* 1889 - In
Washington, D.C., the first international
Conference of American States begins.
*
1919 -
US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially
paralyzed.
*
1924 - The
Geneva Protocol is adopted as a means to strengthen the
League of Nations.
*
1928 - The "
Prelature of the
Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as
Opus Dei, was founded by
Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
*
1935 -
Italy invades
Abyssinia (
Ethiopia).
*
1937 - Samuel R. Caldwell becomes the first person is the
United States to be arrested on a marijuana charge.
*
1941 -
World War II: In
Operation Typhoon,
Germany begins an all-out offensive against
Moscow.
*
1944 -
World War II:
Nazi troops end the
Warsaw Uprising.
*
1950 - The
comic strip Peanuts by
Charles M. Schulz is first published in seven US newspapers.
*
1958 -
Guinea declares itself independent from
France.
*
1962 -
Johnny Carson debuts as host of
The Tonight Show.
*
1967 -
Thurgood Marshall sworn in as the first
African-American justice of
United States Supreme Court.
*
1968 - A peaceful student demonstration in
Mexico City ends in the
Tlatelolco massacre.
*
1970 - A plane carrying the
Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in
Colorado killing 31 people.
*
1990 - A Chinese airline
Boeing 737-247 is hijacked; after landing at
Guangzhou, it crashes into two airliners on the ground, killing 132.
*
1992 - The
Carandiru Massacre takes place after a riot in the
Carandiru prison system in
São Paulo,
Brazil.
*
1996 - The
Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President
Bill Clinton.
* 1996 - An
AeroPerú Boeing 757 crashes in
Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff from
Lima, Peru, killing 70.
*
2004 -
American Samoa joins the
North American Numbering Plan.
*
2005 -
Ethan Allen Boating Accident: The
Ethan Allen tour boat capsized on
Lake George in
Upstate New York, killing twenty people.
*
2006 -
Air New Zealand suspend flights to Singapore:
Air New Zealand are set to suspend daily flights from Auckland to Singapore, due to the fact that the route is making no profit.
*
1452 - King
Richard III of England (d.
1485)
*
1539 -
Saint Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal (d.
1584)
*
1644 -
François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (d.
1724)
*
1722 -
Leopold Widhalm, Austrian luthier (d.
1776)
*
1737 -
Francis Hopkinson, American author and signer of the Declaration of Independence (d.
1791)
*
1768 -
William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (d.
1854)
*
1798 - King
Charles Albert of Sardinia (d.
1849)
*
1800 -
Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising (d.
1831)
*
1828 -
Charles Floquet, French statesman (d.
1896)
*
1832 -
Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (d.
1917)
*
1847 -
Paul von Hindenburg, German officer and politician (d.
1934)
*
1851 -
Ferdinand Foch, French soldier (d.
1929)
*
1852 -
William Ramsay, Scottish chemist (d.
1916)
*
1869 -
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political leader, Father of the Nation (d.
1948)
*
1871 -
Cordell Hull,
United States Secretary of State, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1955)
*
1873 -
Plum Warner, English cricketer (d.
1963)
*
1879 -
Wallace Stevens, American poet (d.
1955)
*
1882 -
Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian military commander (d.
1945)
*
1890 -
Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d.
1977)
*
1895 -
Bud Abbott, American comedian and actor (d.
1974)
*
1901 -
Alice Prin, French singer and artist (d.
1953)
*
1904 -
Graham Greene, British novelist (d.
1991)
* 1904 -
Lal Bahadur Shastri,
Prime Minister of India (d.
1966)
*
1907 -
Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1997)
*
1911 -
Jack Finney, American author (d.
1995)
*
1913 -
Karl Miller, German footballer (d.
1967)
*
1914 -
Jack Parsons, American rocket scientist (d.
1952)
*
1917 -
Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine*
1921 -
Albert Scott Crossfield, American test pilot (d.
2006)
* 1921 -
Robert Runcie,
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
2000)
*
1926 -
Jan Morris, English writer
*
1928 -
George "Spanky" McFarland, American actor (d.
1993)
*
1929 -
Moses Gunn, African-American actor (d.
1993)
*
1930 -
Dave Barrett, Premier of British Columbia
*
1932 -
Maury Wills, American baseball player
*
1934 -
Earl Wilson, American baseball player (d.
2005)
*
1935 -
Omar Sivori, Argentine football player (d.
2005)
*
1937 -
Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., American attorney (d.
2005)
*
1938 -
Rex Reed, American movie critic and actor
* 1938 -
Waheed Murad, Pakistani film actor and director (d.
1983)
*
1943 -
Franklin Rosemont, American artist
*
1945 -
Don McLean, American songwriter
*
1948 -
Avery Brooks, American actor
* 1948 -
Donna Karan, American fashion designer
* 1948 -
Chris LeDoux, American musician and rodeo performer (d.
2005)
*
1949 -
Richard Hell, American musician
* 1949 -
Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
*
1950 -
Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (d.
1998)
* 1950 -
Michael Rutherford, British musician
*
1951 -
Sting, British musician and actor
* 1951 -
Romina Power, Italian singer
*
1955 -
Lorraine Bracco, American actress
*
1960 -
Glenn Anderson, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1964 -
Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
*
1966 -
Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoai, Samoan professional wrestler (d.
2000)
*
1967 -
Frankie Fredericks, Namibian athlete
* 1967 -
Bud Gaugh, drummer for
ska punk band
Sublime*
1968 -
Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player
* 1968 -
Glen Wesley, Canadian ice hockey players
*
1969 -
Mitch English, American actor and television host
*
1970 -
Kelly Ripa, American actress and television host
*
1971 -
James Root, American guitarist (
Slipknot)
* 1971 -
Tiffany, American singer
*
1973 -
DeShaun Holton AKA Proof, former member of American rap group
D12 (d.
2006)
* 1973 -
Lene, former lead singer of
Aqua*
1974 -
Paul Teutul Jr., Co-Star of
American Chopper*
1978 -
Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer
*
1981 -
Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
*
1982 -
George Pettit, Canadian singer (
Alexisonfire)
*
939 -
Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine*
1264 -
Pope Urban IV*
1559 -
Jacquet of Mantua, French composer (b.
1483)
*
1626 -
Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar, Spanish diplomat (b.
1567)
*
1629 -
Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and statesman (b.
1575)
* 1629 -
Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (b.
1584)
*
1708 -
Anne-Jules, 2nd duc de Noailles, French general (b.
1650)
*
1724 -
François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (b.
1644)
*
1746 -
Josiah Burchett, English Secretary of the Admiralty
*
1764 -
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire,
Prime Minister of Great Britain*
1775 -
Chiyo-ni, Japanese poet (b.
1703)
*
1782 -
Charles Lee, British and U.S. general
*
1786 -
Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, British admiral (b.
1725)
*
1803 -
Samuel Adams, American revolutionary leader (b.
1722)
*
1804 -
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French automobile pioneer (b.
1725)
*
1817 -
Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov, Russian naval commander and admiral (b.
1744)
*
1846 -
Benjamin Waterhouse, Cambridge physician and medical professor (
smallpox vaccine pioneer) (b.
1754)
*
1850 -
Sarah Biffen, English painter (b.
1784)
*
1853 -
François Jean Dominique Arago, French mathematician (b.
1786)
*
1927 -
Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1859)
*
1938 -
Alexandru Averescu, Romanian soldier and politician (b.
1859)
*
1962 -
Boris Y. Bukreev, Russian mathematician (b.
1859)
*
1968 -
Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b.
1887)
*
1973 -
Paul Hartman, American actor (b.
1904)
* 1973 -
Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b.
1897)
*
1974 -
Vasily Shukshin, Russian writer, actor, screenwriter, and director (b.
1929)
*
1975 -
Kumaraswami Kamaraj, Indian Political leader, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (b.
1903)
*
1981 -
Harry Golden, American journalist (b.
1902)
* 1981 -
Hazel Scott, West Indian-born singer (b.
1920)
*
1985 -
Rock Hudson, American actor (b.
1925)
*
1987 -
Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1915)
*
1994 -
Harriet Hilliard Nelson, American actress (b.
1909)
*
1998 -
Gene Autry, American singer, actor, and entrepreneur (b.
1907)
*
2001 -
Franz Biebl, German composer (b.
1906)
*
2002 -
Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-born physicist and philosopher (b.
1911)
*
2003 -
John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor (b.
1914)
*
2005 -
Nipsey Russell, American comedian (b.
1918)
* 2005 -
August Wilson, American playwright (b.
1945)
*
Roman festivals - First day of the
Ludi Augustales to celebrate the recovery by emperor August of Roman standards from the Parthians
*
Roman Catholic Church - Memorial of
Guardian Angels*Also see
October 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Guinea -
Independence Day (from France,
1958)
*
India -
Gandhi Jayanti (birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi,
1869)
*
French Republican Calendar -
Pomme de terre (Potato) Day, eleventh day in the
Month of Vendémiaire* World Farm Animal Day
*
BBC: On This DayLinks to
October 2October 1 -
October 3 -
September 2 -
November 2 – more
historical anniversaries
