October 26
is the 299th day of the year (300th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining.
*
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 adjourns.
*
1795 - The
French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created
*
1825 - The
Erie Canal opens - passage from 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 O.K. Corral takes place at
Tombstone, Arizona.
*
1905 -
Norway becomes independent from
Sweden*
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.
*
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.
*
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*
1958 -
Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the
Boeing 707 from New York to Paris.
*
1964 -
Eric Edgar Cooke hanged, last person in
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.
*
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.
*
1978 -
Independent Counsel Act signed into law
*
1979 -
Park Chung-hee,
President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu.
Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
*
1984 - "
Baby Fae" receives a
heart transplant from a
baboon* 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 -
Jordan and
Israel sign a peace treaty
* 1994 - Announcement of
Andrew Wiles correct proof of
Fermat's last theorem.
*
1995 -
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
Mossad agents assassinate
Islamic Jihad leader
Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in
Malta.
*
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 - The successor to the highly successful
PlayStation, the
PlayStation 2 was released.
*
2001 - The
United States passes the controversial
USA Patriot Act into law.
*
2002 -
Moscow Theater Siege ends: Approximately 50
Chechen rebels and 150 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.
*
2005 - The
Chicago White Sox defeat the
Houston Astros in the
World Series to win their first championship since
1917*
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)
*
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)
*
1854 -
C. W. Post, American entrepreneur (d.
1914)
*
1865 -
Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d.
1912)
*
1869 -
Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa,
President of Brazil (d.
1957)
*
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)
*
1902 -
Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d.
1994)
*
1906 -
Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d.
1967)
*
1911 -
Sid Gilman, American football player, coach, and manager (d.
2003)
* 1911 -
Mahalia Jackson, American singer (d.
1972)
* 1911 -
Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d.
1996)
*
1912 -
Don Siegel, American director (d.
1991)
*
1914 -
Jackie Coogan, American actor (d.
1984)
*
1916 -
François Mitterrand,
President of France (d.
1996)
*
1919 -
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran,
Shah of Iran (d.
1980)
*
1925 -
Jan Wolkers, Dutch author
*
1942 -
Bob Hoskins, British actor
*
1945 -
Pat Conroy, American writer
*
1946 -
Pat Sajak, American game show host
*
1947 -
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
First Lady of the United States and Senator from New York
* 1947 -
Jaclyn Smith, American actress
* 1947 -
Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
*
1951 -
Bootsy Collins, American musician (
P Funk)
*
1952 -
Andrew Motion, English poet
*
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
*
1962 -
Cary Elwes, British actor
*
1963 -
Natalie Merchant, American singer
*
1965 -
Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Hong Kong singer and actor
*
1966 -
Steve Valentine, British actor
*
1967 -
Keith Urban, New Zealand singer
*
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
*
1981 -
Guy Sebastian, Australian singer
*
1984 -
Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
*
1985 -
Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player
*
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 - Prince
Hirobumi Ito, Japanese governor of Korea (assassinated) (b.
1841)
*
1931 -
Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b.
1859)
*
1937 -
Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general, commander of the Greater Poland Uprising (b.
1867)
*
1941 -
Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (killed in combat) (b.
1904)
*
1943 -
Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born archaeologist (b.
1862)
*
1944 -
William Temple,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1881)
*
1945 -
Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b.
1878)
*
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, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (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 chemist,
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
*
Roman festivals - first day of
Ludi Victoriae Sullanae (until
1 November)
*
R.C. Saints -
October 26th is the
feast day of the following
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
* Also see
October 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Austria -
National Day: Anniversary of the
Declaration of Neutrality (
1955)
*
Nauru -
Angam Day*
BBC: On This DayOctober 25 -
October 27 -
September 26 -
November 26 - more
historical anniversaries
