October 4
is the 277th day of the year (278th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 88 days remaining.
*
610 -
Heraclius arrives by ship from
Africa at
Constantinople, overthrows
Byzantine Emperor
Phocas and becomes Emperor.
*
1209 -
Otto IV 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*
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 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 - Launch of
Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and first
Avro Arrow rolled out of main plant.
* 1957 -
CBS television show
Leave it to Beaver debuts starring
Jerry Mathers as Beaver Cleaver and
Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver.
*
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.
*
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*
1983 -
Hooters restaurant first opened in
Clearwater, Florida,
United States.
* 1983 -
Richard Noble sets a new
land speed record of 633.468
mph, driving
Thrust 2 at the
Black Rock Desert,
Nevada,
United States.
*
1988 -
U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker indicted for fraud.
*
1991 - The
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was opened for
signature.
*
1992 - An
El Al Boeing 747-200F crashes into two apartment buildings in
Amsterdam, killing 43 including 38 on the ground. See
Bijlmerramp*
1993 -
Doom press-release version is made available to journalists for review.
* 1993 -
Russian constitutional crisis of 1993:
Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders tanks to storm the Russian parliament building.
*
1998 -
Leafie Mason of
Hughes Springs, Texas, is murdered by
Ángel Maturino Reséndiz. She is the serial killer's second victim.
*
1999 - The
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign goes dark as its new owner doesn't pay the power bill.
*
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.
*
2003 -
Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in
Haifa,
Israel: 21
Israelis,
Jews and
Arabs, were killed, and 51 others were wounded.
*
2004 -
SpaceShipOne wins
Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight.
*
1160 -
Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of
Louis VII of France*
1289 - King
Louis X of France (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 (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 (d.
1712)
*
1720 -
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (d.
1778)
*
1723 -
Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (d.
1798)
*
1787 -
François Guizot, French statesman (d.
1874)
*
1814 -
Jean-François Millet, French painter (d.
1875)
*
1822 -
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th
President of the United States (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 (d.
1909)
*
1862 -
Edward 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)
*
1886 -
Luis Alberni, Spanish actor (d.
1962)
*
1888 -
Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d.
1954)
*
1892 -
Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (d.
1934)
*
1895 -
Buster Keaton, American comedian (d.
1966)
*
1903 -
John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (d.
1995)
* 1903 -
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer (d.
1946)
*
1910 -
Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player (d.
2002)
*
1914 -
Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d.
2003)
*
1916 -
Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist,
Nobel laureate*
1918 -
Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1998)
*
1922 -
Malcolm Baldrige, 26th
United States Secretary of Commerce (d.
1987)
*
1924 -
Charlton Heston, American actor
*
1928 -
Alvin Toffler, American author
*
1934 -
Sam Huff, American football player
*
1937 -
Jackie Collins, British author
*
1938 -
Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist,
Nobel laureate*
1940 -
Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
*
1941 -
Anne Rice, American writer
*
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
* 1946 -
Susan Sarandon, American actress
*
1947 -
Ann Widdecombe, British politician
*
1949 -
Armand Assante, American actor
* 1949 -
Stephen Gyllenhaal, American director
*
1953 -
Tchéky Karyo, Turkish-born actor
*
1957 -
Alexander Tkachev, Soviet gymnast
* 1957 -
Bill Fagerbakke, American actor
*
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
*
1961 -
Jon Secada, Cuban-born singer
* 1961 -
Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author
*
1963 -
A.C. Green, American basketball player
*
1967 -
Marcus Bentley, British voice actor
* 1967 -
Liev Schreiber, American actor
*
1970 -
Richard Hancox, English footballer
*
1971 -
Tammi ann, American porn actress
* 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
* 1976 -
Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer
*
1979 -
Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
*
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
*
1982 -
Andrew McDonnell, Irish politician
*
1983 -
Risa Kudo, Japanese gravure idol
*
1984 -
Elena Katina, Russian musician (
t.A.T.u.)
*
1052 - Prince
Vladimir of Novgorod (b.
1020)
*
1221 -
William III Talvas, Count of Ponthieu (b.
1179)
*
1226 -
Saint Francis of Assisi (b.
1181)
*
1250 -
Herman VI, Margrave of Baden*
1305 -
Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b.
1249)
*
1582 -
Teresa of Avila, Spanish saint and poet (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, 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 author and publisher (b.
1801)
*
1880 -
Jacques Offenbach, German-born composer (b.
1819)
*
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, German physicist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1858)
*
1951 -
Willie Moretti, American gangster (b.
1894)
*
1969 -
Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b.
1912)
*
1970 -
Janis Joplin, American singer (b.
1943)
*
1974 -
Anne Sexton, American poet (b.
1928)
*
1982 -
Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (b.
1932)
*
1989 -
Graham Chapman, British comedian (b.
1941)
* 1989 -
Secretariat, American race horse (b.
1970)
*
1992 -
Denny Hulme, New Zealand race care driver (b.
1936)
*
1997 -
Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game developer (b.
1941)
*
2000 -
Michael Smith, English-born chemist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1932)
*
2002 -
Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics
*
2003 -
Sid McMath, American politician (b.
1912)
*
2004 -
Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b.
1927)
*
2005 -
Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (b.
1924)
*
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*
BBC: On This DayOctober 3 -
October 5 -
September 4 -
November 4 – more
historical anniversaries
