October 12

Events

• 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon, ending the Babylonian empire.
• 633 - Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by the British under Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd.
• 1279 - The Nichiren Shōshū branch of Buddhism is founded in Japan.
• 1398 - In the Treaty of Salynas, Lithuania cedes Samogitia to the Teutonic Knights.
• 1492 - Christopher Columbus's first expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas.
• 1654 - The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
• 1692 - The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Province.
• 1748 - War of Jenkins' Ear: A British squadron wins a tactical victory over a Spanish squadron off Havana.
• 1773 - America's first insane asylum opens.
• 1792 - The first celebration of Columbus Day is held in New York City.
• 1793 - The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• 1798 - Flemish and Luxembourgish peasants launch the rebellion against French rule known as the Peasants' War.
• 1799 - Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse becomes the first woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute.
• 1810 - The citizens of Munich hold the first Oktoberfest.
• 1822 - Pedro I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor.
• 1847 - Werner von Siemens founds Siemens & Halske, which later becomes Siemens AG.
• 1849 - The city of Manizales, Colombia, is founded by 'The Expedition of the 20'.
• 1871 - The British in India enact the Criminal Tribes Act, naming many local communities "Criminal Tribes".
• 1890 - Uddevalla Suffrage Association is formed.
• 1892 - The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools.
• 1901 - President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House.
• 1915 - World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
• 1917 - World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single-day loss of life in New Zealand history.
• 1918 - A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
• 1928 - An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston.
• 1933 - The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
• 1944 - World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end.
• 1945 - World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
• 1959 - At the national congress of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance in Peru, a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party who later form APRA Rebelde.
• 1960 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.
• 1960 - Japan Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma is stabbed to death during a live Television broadcast.
• 1962 - The Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages.
• 1963 - After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union.
• 1964 - The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew, and the first flight without pressure suits.
• 1968 - Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
• 1971 - The 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire begins.
• 1979 - The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa, occurred in the western Pacific Ocean during Typhoon Tip.
• 1983 - Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from the Lockheed Corporation, and is sentenced to four years in jail.
• 1984 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds 31.
• 1988 - Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
• 1992 - A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died.
• 1994 - The Magellan spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere of Venus.
• 1997 - The Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria kills 43 people at a fake roadblock.
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard, a gay student at University of Wyoming, dies five days after he was beaten outside of Laramie.
• 1999 - Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
• 1999 - The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.
• 1999 - The World Population reaches 6 billion.
• 2000 - The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer is badly damaged by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
• 2002 - Terrorists detonate bombs in the Sari Club in Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
• 2005 - The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days.
• 2013 - Fifty-one people are killed after a truck veers off a cliff in Peru.
• 2017 - The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. and is immediately followed by Israel.
• 2018 - Princess Eugenie marries Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
• 2019 - Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, killing 10 and forcing the evacutation of 1,000,000 people.
• 2019 - Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya becomes the first person to run a marathon in with a time of 1:59:40 in Vienna.
• 2019 - The Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans, which is under construction, collapses, killing two and injuring 20.

  Births

• 1008 - Go-Ichijō, emperor of Japan
• 1240 - Trần Thánh Tông, emperor of Vietnam
• 1350 - Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Duke of Moscow
• 1490 - Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer and priest
• 1533 - Asakura Yoshikage, Japanese ruler
• 1537 - Edward VI, king of England
• 1555 - Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, English diplomat
• 1558 - Maximilian III, archduke of Austria
• 1576 - Thomas Dudley, English-American soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• 1602 - William Chillingworth, English scholar and theologian
• 1614 - Henry More, English philosopher
• 1687 - Sylvius Leopold Weiss, German lute player and composer
• 1710 - Jonathan Trumbull, American colonel and politician, 16th Governor of Connecticut
• 1725 - Étienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist
• 1792 - Christian Gmelin, German chemist and pharmacist
• 1798 - Pedro I, emperor of Brazil
• 1801 - Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Swiss lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Swiss Confederation
• 1815 - William J. Hardee, American general
• 1838 - George Thorn, Australian politician, 6th Premier of Queensland
• 1840 - Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress
• 1855 - Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic
• 1860 - Elmer Ambrose Sperry, American engineer and businessman, co-invented the gyrocompass
• 1864 - Kamini Roy, British India's first female graduate, Bengali poet, social activist, and feminist writer
• 1865 - Arthur Harden, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1866 - Ramsay MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1868 - August Horch, German engineer and businessman, founded Audi
• 1868 - Mariano Trías, Filipino general and politician, 1st Vice President of the Philippines
• 1872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer and educator
• 1874 - Jimmy Burke, American baseball player and manager
• 1875 - Aleister Crowley, English magician and author
• 1878 - Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower
• 1880 - Louis Hémon, French-Canadian author
• 1891 - Edith Stein, Polish nun and martyr; later canonized
• 1891 - Fumimaro Konoe, Japanese soldier and politician, 39th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1892 - Gilda dalla Rizza, Italian soprano and actress
• 1893 - Velvalee Dickinson, American spy
• 1894 - Elisabeth of Romania, queen consort of Greece
• 1896 - Eugenio Montale, Italian poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1903 - Josephine Hutchinson, American actress
• 1904 - Lester Dent, American journalist and author
• 1904 - Ding Ling, Chinese author and educator
• 1906 - Joe Cronin, American baseball player and manager
• 1906 - John Murray, American playwright and producer
• 1906 - Piero Taruffi, Italian race car driver and motorcycle racer
• 1908 - Paul Engle, American novelist, poet, playwright, and critic
• 1908 - Ann Petry, American novelist
• 1910 - Robert Fitzgerald, American poet, critic, and translator
• 1910 - Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic
• 1911 - Vijay Merchant, Indian cricketer
• 1913 - Alice Chetwynd Ley, English author and educator
• 1914 - John E. Hodge, African-American chemist
• 1916 - Alice Childress, American actress and playwright
• 1916 - Lock Martin, American actor
• 1917 - Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer and manager
• 1919 - Gilles Beaudoin, Canadian politician, 34th Mayor of Trois-Rivières
• 1919 - Doris Miller, American chef and soldier
• 1920 - Christopher Soames, English politician and diplomat, Governor of Southern Rhodesia
• 1921 - Art Clokey, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor, created Gumby
• 1921 - Jaroslav Drobný, Czech-English tennis player and ice hockey player
• 1921 - Logie Bruce Lockhart, Scottish rugby player and journalist
• 1922 - William H. Sullivan, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines
• 1923 - Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers
• 1923 - Goody Petronelli, American boxer, trainer, and manager
• 1924 - Leonidas Kyrkos, Greek politician
• 1925 - Denis Lazure, Canadian psychiatrist and politician
• 1928 - Al Held, American painter and academic
• 1928 - Domna Samiou, Greek singer and musicologist
• 1929 - Nappy Brown, American R&B singer-songwriter
• 1929 - Robert Coles, American psychologist, author, and academic
• 1929 - Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist and academic
• 1930 - Denis Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player and photographer
• 1930 - Milica Kacin Wohinz, Slovenian historian and author
• 1931 - Ole-Johan Dahl, Norwegian computer scientist and academic, co-developed Simula
• 1932 - Dick Gregory, American comedian, actor, and author
• 1932 - Ned Jarrett, American race car driver and sportscaster
• 1932 - John Moffat, Danish physicist and academic
• 1933 - Guido Molinari, Canadian painter and art collector
• 1934 - James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1934 - Richard Meier, American architect, designed the Getty Center and City Tower
• 1934 - Albert Shiryaev, Russian mathematician and academic
• 1934 - Oğuz Atay, Turkish engineer and author
• 1935 - Don Howe, English footballer and manager
• 1935 - Tony Kubek, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1935 - Sam Moore, American soul singer-songwriter
• 1935 - Shivraj Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence
• 1935 - Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor and actor
• 1937 - Paul Hawkins, Australian race car driver
• 1937 - Robert Mangold, American painter
• 1941 - Michael Mansfield, English lawyer, academic, and republican
• 1942 - Melvin Franklin, American soul bass singer
• 1943 - Kostas Tsakonas, Greek actor
• 1944 - Angela Rippon, English journalist and author
• 1945 - Aurore Clément, French actress
• 1946 - Drew Edmondson, American politician
• 1946 - Ashok Mankad, Indian cricketer
• 1946 - Daryl Runswick, English bassist and composer
• 1947 - Chris Wallace, American journalist
• 1948 - John Engler, American businessman and politician, 46th Governor of Michigan
• 1948 - Rick Parfitt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1949 - Dave Lloyd, English cyclist and coach
• 1949 - Carlos the Jackal, Venezuelan terrorist and murderer
• 1949 - Paul Went, English footballer and manager
• 1950 - Susan Anton, American actress and model
• 1950 - Dave Freudenthal, American economist and politician, 31st Governor of Wyoming
• 1951 - Sally Little, South African-American golfer
• 1951 - Ed Royce, American businessman and politician
• 1951 - Norio Suzuki, Japanese golfer
• 1952 - Trevor Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach
• 1952 - Béla Csécsei, Hungarian educator and politician
• 1952 - Roger Heath-Brown, English mathematician and theorist
• 1953 - Les Dennis, English comedian and actor
• 1953 - David Threlfall, English actor and director
• 1954 - Massimo Ghini, Italian actor
• 1954 - Michael Roe, American singer, songwriter, and record producer
• 1954 - Linval Thompson, Jamaican singer and producer
• 1955 - Einar Jan Aas, Norwegian footballer
• 1955 - Pat DiNizio, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1955 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian general
• 1955 - Jane Siberry, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1956 - Rafael Ábalos, Spanish author
• 1956 - Allan Evans, Scottish footballer
• 1956 - Lutz Haueisen, German cyclist
• 1956 - Catherine Holmes, Australian judge
• 1956 - Gerti Schanderl, German figure skater
• 1956 - David Vanian, English singer-songwriter
• 1957 - Clémentine Célarié, French actress, singer, and director
• 1957 - Serge Clerc, French comic book artist and illustrator
• 1957 - Mike Dowler, Welsh football goalkeeper
• 1957 - Annik Honoré, Belgian journalist and music promoter
• 1957 - William F. Laurance, Australian biologist
• 1958 - Steve Austria, American lawyer and politician
• 1958 - Maria de Fátima Silva de Sequeira Dias, Portuguese historian, author, and academic
• 1958 - Jeff Keith, American rock singer-songwriter
• 1958 - Bryn Merrick, Welsh bass player
• 1959 - Anna Escobedo Cabral, American lawyer and politician, 42nd Treasurer of the United States
• 1960 - Steve Lowery, American golfer
• 1960 - Carlo Perrone, Italian footballer and manager
• 1960 - Dorothee Vieth, German Paralympic cyclist
• 1961 - Chendo, Spanish footballer
• 1962 - Carlos Bernard, American actor and director
• 1962 - Chris Botti, American trumpet player and composer
• 1962 - John Coleman, English footballer and manager
• 1962 - Branko Crvenkovski, Macedonian engineer and politician, 3rd President of the Republic of Macedonia
• 1962 - Deborah Foreman, American actress and photographer
• 1962 - Mads Eriksen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
• 1963 - Raimond Aumann, German footballer
• 1963 - Hideki Fujisawa, Japanese composer
• 1963 - Satoshi Kon, Japanese animator and screenwriter
• 1963 - Dave Legeno, English actor and mixed martial artist
• 1963 - Alan McDonald, Irish footballer and manager
• 1963 - Luis Polonia, Dominican baseball player
• 1965 - Dan Abnett, English author
• 1965 - J. J. Daigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1965 - Scott O'Grady, American captain and pilot
• 1966 - Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor and voice over artist
• 1966 - Wim Jonk, Dutch footballer
• 1966 - Brian Kennedy, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1966 - Brenda Romero, American game designer
• 1967 - Becky Iverson, American golfer
• 1968 - Bill Auberlen, American race car driver
• 1968 - Paul Harragon, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1968 - Hugh Jackman, Australian actor, singer, and producer
• 1968 - Leon Lett, American football player
• 1969 - Martie Maguire, American singer-songwriter, violinist, and producer
• 1969 - Željko Milinovič, Slovenian footballer
• 1969 - Dwayne Roloson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1969 - José Valentín, American baseball player, coach, and manager
• 1970 - Kirk Cameron, American actor, screenwriter, and Christian evangelical/anti-evolution activist
• 1970 - Patrick Musimu, Belgian diver and physiotherapist
• 1970 - Tanyon Sturtze, American baseball player
• 1970 - Charlie Ward, American basketball player and coach
• 1971 - Tony Fiore, American baseball player
• 1971 - Steve Johnston, Australian motorcycle racer
• 1971 - Bronzell Miller, American football player and actor
• 1972 - Neriah Davis, American model and actress
• 1972 - Juan Manuel Silva, Argentinian race car driver
• 1972 - Tom Van Mol, Belgian footballer
• 1973 - Lesli Brea, Dominican baseball player
• 1973 - Martin Corry, English rugby player
• 1974 - Stephen Lee, English snooker player
• 1975 - Susana Félix, Portuguese singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1975 - Marion Jones, American basketball player and runner
• 1976 - Simon Bridges, New Zealand politician
• 1977 - Cristie Kerr, American golfer
• 1977 - Bode Miller, American skier
• 1977 - Javier Toyo, Venezuelan footballer
• 1978 - Stefan Binder, German footballer
• 1978 - Baden Cooke, Australian cyclist
• 1979 - Steven Agnew, Northern Irish politician
• 1979 - Steve Borthwick, English rugby player
• 1979 - Jordan Pundik, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1980 - Ledley King, English footballer
• 1981 - Tom Guiry, American actor
• 1981 - Brian Kerr, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1981 - Giuseppe Lanzone, American rower
• 1981 - Conrad Smith, New Zealand rugby player
• 1981 - Sun Tiantian, Chinese tennis player
• 1983 - Alex Brosque, Australian footballer
• 1983 - Carlton Cole, English footballer
• 1983 - Mariko Yamamoto, Japanese cricketer
• 1985 - Michelle Carter, American shot putter
• 1985 - Mike Green, Canadian hockey player
• 1985 - Anna Iljuštšenko, Estonian high jumper
• 1985 - Greig Laidlaw, Scottish rugby player
• 1986 - Ioannis Maniatis, Greek footballer
• 1986 - Sergio Peter, German footballer
• 1986 - Tyler Blackburn, American actor
• 1987 - Marvin Ogunjimi, Belgian footballer
• 1988 - Sam Whitelock, New Zealand rugby player
• 1988 - Calum Scott, British singer
• 1989 - Anna Ohmiya, Japanese curler
• 1990 - Henri Lansbury, English footballer
• 1991 - Nicolao Dumitru, Italian footballer
• 1992 - Josh Hutcherson, American actor and producer
• 1994 - Alex Katz, American baseball player
• 1994 - Sean Monahan, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1994 - Olivia Smoliga, American swimmer
• 1995 - Jessica Hogg, Welsh artistic gymnast
• 1996 - James Graham, British singer
• 1996 - Owen Watkin, Welsh rugby player
• 1997 - Curtis Scott, Australian rugby league player
• 2002 - Iris Apatow, American actress
• 2004 - Darci Lynne, American ventriloquist

  Deaths

• 322 BC - Demosthenes, Athenian statesman,
• 638 - Honorius I, pope of the Catholic Church
• 642 - John IV, pope of the Catholic Church
• 884 - Tsunesada, Japanese prince
• 1095 - Leopold II, margrave of Austria
• 1152 - Adolf III of Berg, German nobleman
• 1176 - William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, English politician
• 1320 - Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor
• 1328 - Clementia of Hungary, queen consort of France and Navarre
• 1448 - Zhu Quan, Chinese prince, historian and playwright
• 1491 - Fritz Herlen, German painter
• 1492 - Piero della Francesca, Italian mathematician and painter
• 1565 - Jean Ribault, French-American lieutenant and navigator
• 1576 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1590 - Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator
• 1600 - Luis de Molina, Spanish priest and philosopher
• 1601 - Nicholas Brend, English landowner
• 1632 - Kutsuki Mototsuna, Japanese commander
• 1646 - François de Bassompierre, French general and courtier
• 1654 - Carel Fabritius, Dutch painter
• 1678 - Edmund Berry Godfrey, English lawyer and judge
• 1679 - William Gurnall, English minister, theologian, and author
• 1685 - Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian lawyer and jurist
• 1730 - Frederick IV, king of Denmark and Norway
• 1758 - Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, Irish field marshal and politician
• 1812 - Juan José Castelli, Argentinian lawyer and politician
• 1845 - Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, Quaker and philanthropist
• 1858 - Hiroshige, Japanese painter
• 1870 - Robert E. Lee, American general
• 1875 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter
• 1896 - Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish lawyer and politician, 9th Council President of Denmark
• 1898 - Calvin Fairbank, American minister and activist
• 1914 - Margaret E. Knight, American inventor
• 1915 - Edith Cavell, English nurse
• 1923 - Bunny Lucas, English cricketer
• 1924 - Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1926 - Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian and author
• 1933 - John Lister, English philanthropist and politician
• 1940 - Tom Mix, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1946 - Joseph Stilwell, American general
• 1948 - Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English psychologist and psychoanalyst
• 1954 - George Welch, American soldier and pilot
• 1956 - Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer and painter
• 1957 - Arie de Jong, Indonesian-Dutch linguist and physician
• 1958 - Gordon Griffith, American actor, director, and producer
• 1960 - Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese lawyer and politician
• 1964 - John Watkins, Canadian diplomat
• 1965 - Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1967 - Ram Manohar Lohia, Indian activist and politician
• 1969 - Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater and actress
• 1969 - Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter and academic
• 1969 - Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower and soldier
• 1970 - Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky, Russian-American illustrator and painter
• 1970 - Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani poet and academic
• 1971 - Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State
• 1971 - Gene Vincent, American musician
• 1972 - Robert Le Vigan, French-Argentinian actor and politician
• 1973 - Peter Aufschnaiter, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer
• 1978 - Nancy Spungen, American figure of the 1970s punk rock scene
• 1984 - Anthony Berry, English politician
• 1985 - Johnny Olson, American radio host and game show announcer
• 1985 - Ricky Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1987 - Alf Landon, American lieutenant and politician, 26th Governor of Kansas
• 1987 - Fahri Korutürk, Turkish commander and politician, 6th President of Turkey
• 1988 - Ruth Manning-Sanders, Welsh-English poet and author
• 1988 - Coby Whitmore, American painter and illustrator
• 1989 - Jay Ward, American animator, producer, and screenwriter, founded Jay Ward Productions
• 1990 - Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician
• 1990 - Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian physician, mountaineer, and author
• 1991 - Sheila Florance, Australian actress
• 1991 - Arkady Strugatsky, Russian author and translator
• 1991 - Regis Toomey, American actor
• 1993 - Leon Ames, American actor
• 1994 - Gérald Godin, Canadian journalist and politician
• 1996 - René Lacoste, French tennis player and fashion designer, co-founded Lacoste
• 1996 - Roger Lapébie, French cyclist
• 1997 - John Denver, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1998 - Mario Beaulieu, Canadian lawyer and politician
• 1998 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim
• 1999 - Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach
• 1999 - Robert Marsden Hope, Australian lawyer and judge
• 2001 - Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, English academic and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
• 2001 - Hikmet Şimşek, Turkish conductor
• 2001 - Richard Buckle, Ballet critic and writer
• 2001 -Afsar Ahmad Siddiqui, Bangladesh politician
• 2002 - Ray Conniff, American bandleader and composer
• 2002 - Audrey Mestre, French biologist and diver
• 2003 - Jim Cairns, Australian economist and politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
• 2003 - Joan Kroc, American philanthropist
• 2003 - Bill Shoemaker, American jockey
• 2005 - C. Delores Tucker, American activist and politician
• 2006 - Angelika Machinek, German glider pilot
• 2006. - Eugène Martin, French race car driver
• 2006 - Gillo Pontecorvo, Italian director and screenwriter
• 2007 - Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower
• 2008 - Karl Chircop, Maltese physician and politician
• 2009 - Dickie Peterson American singer-songwriter and bass player
• 2009 - Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian cyclist
• 2010 - Austin Ardill, Northern Irish soldier and politician
• 2010 - Woody Peoples, American football player
• 2010 - Belva Plain, American author
• 2011 - Patricia Breslin, American actress
• 2011 - Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language
• 2012 - James Coyne, Canadian lawyer and banker, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Canada
• 2012 - Norm Grabowski, American hot rod builder and actor
• 2012 - Sukhdev Singh Kang, Indian judge and politician, 14th Governor of Kerala
• 2012 - Torkom Manoogian, Iraqi-Armenian patriarch
• 2012 - Erik Moseholm, Danish bassist, composer, and bandleader
• 2012 - Břetislav Pojar, Czech animator, director, and screenwriter
• 2013 - George Herbig, American astronomer and academic
• 2013 - Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic
• 2013 - Hans Wilhelm Longva, Norwegian diplomat
• 2013 - Malcolm Renfrew, American chemist and academic
• 2014 - Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic
• 2014 - Graham Miles, English snooker player
• 2014 - Roberto Telch, Argentinian footballer and coach
• 2015 - Abdallah Kigoda, Tanzanian politician, 8th Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade
• 2015 - Joan Leslie, American actress, dancer, and vaudevillian

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Blessed Louis Brisson
• *Edith Cavell and Elizabeth Fry
• *Fiacc
• *Our Lady of the Pillar
• *Our Lady of Aparecida
• *Radim Gaudentius
• *Seraphin of Montegranaro
• *Wilfrid of Ripon
• *October 12
• Children's Day
• Discovery of America by Columbus-related observances :
• *Columbus Day
• *Día de la Hispanidad or Fiesta Nacional de España, also Armed Forces Day
• *Día de la Raza
• *Día de la Resistencia Indígena, "Day of Indigenous Resistance"
• *Día de las Américas
• *Día de las Culturas, "Day of the Cultures"
• *Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural, "Day of respect for cultural diversity"
• Discovery Day
• Feast for Life of Aleister Crowley, celebrated as "Crowleymas"
• Fiesta Nacional de España
• Freethought Day
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Equatorial Guinea from Spain in 1968.
• UN Spanish Language Day
• International Day Against DRM