October 26

October 26 in recent years

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Monday)

2014 (Sunday)

October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 66 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
• 1341 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 formally begins with the proclamation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor at Didymoteicho.
• 1597 – Imjin War: Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang.
• 1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
• 1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
• 1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1775 – King George III of Great Britain goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.
• 1776 – Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
• 1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
• 1811 – The Argentine government declare the freedom of expression for the press by decree.
• 1813 – War of 1812: Canadians and Mohawks defeat the Americans in the Battle of Chateauguay.
• 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.
• 1860 – Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
• 1861 – The Pony Express officially ceases operations.
• 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
• 1905 – Norway becomes independent from Sweden.
• 1909 – Itō Hirobumi, Resident-General of Korea, was shot to death by Korean independence supporter Ahn Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria.
• 1912 – First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.
• 1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.
• 1917 – World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
• 1918 – Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
• 1921 – The Chicago Theatre opens.
• 1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
• 1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
• 1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, is sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged.
• 1943 – World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil".
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.
• 1947 – The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.
• 1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.
• 1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
• 1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.
• 1964 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.
• 1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and then crowns his wife Farah Empress of Iran.
• 1968 – Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy pilots Soyuz 3 into space for a four-day mission.
• 1977 – The last natural case of smallpox is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
• 1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by Korean Central Intelligence Agency 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.
• 1985 – The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines.
• 1992 – The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.
• 1992 – The London Ambulance Service is thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Dispatch, system which failed.
• 1994 – Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty
• 1995 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
• 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.
• 2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
• 2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
• 2003 – The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.
• 2012 – Windows 8 is released to general public, the first version to lack a "Start" button since Windows 95.

Births

• 1427 – Archduke Sigismund of Austria (d. 1496)
• 1473 – Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)
• 1491 – Zhengde Emperor of China (d. 1521)
• 1564 – Hans Leo Hassler German composer and organist (d. 1612)
• 1609 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
• 1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian prince, prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer (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)
• 1795 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (d. 1872)
• 1797 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (d. 1865)
• 1800 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)
• 1802 – King Miguel of Portugal (d. 1866)
• 1803 – Joseph Hansom, English architect and inventor (d. 1882)
• 1842 – Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
• 1849 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (d. 1917)
• 1850 – Grigore Tocilescu, Romanian historian, archaeologist, epigrapher and folkorist (d. 1909)
• 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)
• 1871 – Guillermo Kahlo, father of Frida Kahlo (d. 1941)
• 1872 – Harold Fraser, American golfer (d. 1945)
• 1873 – Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
• 1873 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Sher-E-Bangla (Tiger Of Bengal) (d. 1962)
• 1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 1948)
• 1874 – Martin Lowry, British chemist (d. 1936)
• 1880 – Andrei Bely, Russian writer (d. 1934)
• 1881 – Louis Bastien, French racing cyclist (d. 1963)
• 1883 – Napoleon Hill, American writer and philosopher (d. 1970)
• 1883 – Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (d. 1958)
• 1884 – William Hogenson, American sprinter (d. 1965)
• 1888 – Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist (d. 1934)
• 1890 – Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Indian Journalist and Freedom Fighter(d.1931)
• 1893 – Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet and author (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Judy Johnson, American baseball player (d. 1989)
• 1902 – Beryl Markham, Kenyan horse trainer and author (d. 1986)
• 1902 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d. 1994)
• 1905 – George Flahiff, Canadian Cardinal (d. 1989)
• 1906 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)
• 1909 – Dante Quinterno, Argentine comics artist (d. 2003)
• 1911 – Sid Gillman, American football player (d. 2003)
• 1911 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (d. 1972)
• 1911 – Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Don Siegel, American director (d. 1991)
• 1913 – Charlie Barnet, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (d. 1984)
• 1915 – Joe Fry, British racing driver (d. 1950)
• 1916 – François Mitterrand, President of France (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Boyd Wagner, First USAAF fighter ace of World War II (d. 1942)
• 1919 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1980)
• 1919 – Edward Brooke, American politician
• 1919 – Frank Bourgholtzer, American television correspondent (d. 2010)
• 1921 – George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (d. 1968)
• 1925 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Panos Gavalas, Greek singer and musician (d. 1988)
• 1927 – Warne Marsh, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1987)
• 1928 – Francisco Solano López, Argentine comics artist
• 1929 – Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer (The Jordanaires) (d. 2000)
• 1933 – Takis Kanellopoulos, Greek film director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
• 1934 – Hans-Joachim Rödelius, German composer and musician (Cluster, Harmonia)
• 1936 – Shelley Morrison, American actress
• 1940 – John Horgan, author, professor and politician
• 1940 – Eddie Henderson, American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player
• 1941 – Charlie Landsborough, Singer/Songwriter
• 1942 – Bob Hoskins, British actor
• 1942 – Zdenko Runjić, Croatian composor (d. 2004)
• 1942 – Milton Nascimento, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1945 – Pat Conroy, American writer
• 1945 – Demetris Th. Gotsis, Greek poet and author
• 1946 – Pat Sajak, American game show host
• 1946 – Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
• 1946 – Keith Hopwood, British musician (Herman's Hermits)
• 1947 – Hillary Rodham Clinton, American politician, former United States Senator from New York, 67th United States Secretary of State
• 1947 – Jaclyn Smith, American actress
• 1947 – Trevor Joyce, Irish poet
• 1947 – Ian Ashley, British racing driver
• 1947 – Ricardo Asch, Argentine physician
• 1948 – Toby Harrah, American baseball player
• 1949 – Steve Rogers, American baseball player
• 1949 – Antonio Carpio, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
• 1949 – Kevin Sullivan, American professional wrestler
• 1951 – Bootsy Collins, American musician (P Funk)
• 1951 – Tommy Mars, American keyboard player Frank Zappa
• 1951 – Julian Schnabel, American filmmaker
• 1952 – Andrew Motion, English poet and Poet Laureate
• 1952 – David Was, member of 1980's group Was (Not Was)
• 1953 – Rosa Monckton, English fundraiser
• 1953 – Keith Strickland, American musician (The B-52's)
• 1953 – Maureen Teefy, American actress
• 1954 – Vassilis Hatzipanagis, Greek footballer
• 1956 – Stephen Gumley, Australian businessman
• 1956 – Rita Wilson, American actress
• 1957 – Bob Golic, American football player
• 1957 – Julie Dawn Cole, British actress
• 1959 – Brian Bovell, British actor
• 1959 – François Chau, Cambodian actor
• 1959 – Paul Farmer, American anthropologist
• 1959 – Andreas Hinze, German footballer
• 1959 – Evo Morales, Bolivian politician
• 1960 – June Brigman, American comic book artist
• 1960 – Patrick Breen, American actor
• 1961 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
• 1961 – Gerald Malloy, American politician
• 1962 – Cary Elwes, British actor
• 1963 – Natalie Merchant, American singer
• 1963 – Ted Demme, American film and television director (d. 2002)
• 1964 – Thomas Cavanagh, Canadian actor
• 1965 – Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Hong Kong singer
• 1965 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress and producer.
• 1966 – Jane Hajduk, American actress
• 1966 – Steve Valentine, British actor
• 1966 – Jeanne Zelasko, American sportcaster
• 1966 – Masaharu Iwata, Japanese composer
• 1967 – Keith Urban, New Zealand singer
• 1970 – Lisa Ryder, Canadian actress
• 1970 – Dian Bachar, American actor
• 1971 – Anthony Rapp, American singer and actor
• 1971 – Jim Butcher, American author
• 1973 – Seth MacFarlane, American animator
• 1973 – Taka Michinoku, Japanese wrestler
• 1973 – Austin Healey, English rugby player
• 1974 – Lisa, Japanese musician
• 1974 – Raveena Tandon, Indian actress
• 1976 – Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player
• 1977 – Jon Heder, American actor
• 1978 – Jimmy Aggrey, English footballer
• 1978 – Eva Kaili, Greek TV presenter and politician
• 1978 – CM Punk, American wrestler
• 1978 – Dave Zastudil, American football player
• 1979 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen militant (d. 2002)
• 1979 – Josh Portman, American guitarist (Near Miss and Yellowcard)
• 1980 – Cristian Chivu, Romanian footballer
• 1981 – Sam Brown, American comedian
• 1981 – Martina Schild, Swiss alpine skier
• 1981 – Guy Sebastian, Australian singer
• 1981 – Chou Ssu-Chi, Taiwanese professional baseball player
• 1982 – Adam Carroll, British racing driver
• 1982 – Nicola Adams, British boxer
• 1983 – Francisco Liriano, Dominican baseball player
• 1983 – Dmitri Sychev, Russian footballer
• 1983 – Luke Watson, South African rugby player
• 1984 – Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
• 1984 – Adriano, Brazilian footballer
• 1984 – Jefferson Farfán, Peruvian footballer
• 1984 – Amanda Overmyer, American singer
• 1985 – Asin, Indian actress
• 1985 – Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player
• 1985 – Kafoumba Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
• 1985 – Monta Ellis, American basketball player
• 1985 – Kieran Read, New Zealand rugby player
• 1986 – Marco Ruben, Argentine footballer
• 1986 – Ibor Bakar, Comorian footballer
• 1987 – Shawn Lauvao, American football player
• 1988 – Greg Zuerlein, American ice dancer
• 1991 – Amala Paul, Indian film actress
• 1994 – Allie DeBerry, American actress
• 2000 – Ellery Sprayberry, American actress

Deaths

• 899 – Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (b. 849)
• 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)
• 1675 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (b. 1609)
• 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 (b. 1657)
• 1751 – Philip Doddridge, English religious leader (b. 1702)
• 1764 – William Hogarth, British painter (b. 1697)
• 1773 – Amédée-François Frézier, French military engineer and explorer (b. 1682)
• 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)
• 1864 – "Bloody Bill" Anderson, American Civil War rebel guerrilla leader (b. 1838)
• 1866 – John Kinder Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (Labatt Brewing Company) (b. 1803)
• 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 – Hirobumi Ito, Japanese Prime Minister (b. 1841)
• 1930 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1872)
• 1930 – Waldemar Haffkine, Russian bacteriologist (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b. 1859)
• 1932 – Margaret Brown, American socialite, philanthropist, activist and survivor of RMS Titanic (b. 1867)
• 1937 – Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)
• 1941 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (b. 1904)
• 1943 – Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born archaeologist (b. 1862)
• 1944 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1857)
• 1944 – William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1881)
• 1945 – Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (b. 1863)
• 1945 – Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)
• 1946 – Ioannis Rallis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
• 1947 – Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, English rector (b. 1862)
• 1949 – Lionel Halsey, British Royal Navy officer and courtier (b. 1872)
• 1952 – Hattie McDaniel, American singer and actress (b. 1895)
• 1956 – Walter Gieseking, German pianist (b. 1895)
• 1957 – Gerty Cori, Czech-born American biochemist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1896)
• 1957 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (b. 1883)
• 1962 – Louise Beavers, American actress (b. 1902)
• 1963 – Elizabeth Gunn, New Zealand paediatrician (b. 1879)
• 1965 – Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (b. 1949)
• 1966 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
• 1971 – Vincent Coleman, American actor (b. 1901)
• 1972 – Igor Sikorsky, Kiev, Russian Empire (currently Ukraine) born inventor (b. 1889)
• 1974 – Bidia Dandaron, Buddhist author and teacher in the USSR (b. 1914)
• 1978 – Alexander Gerschenkron, Russian-born economic historian (b. 1904)
• 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 Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
• 1993 – Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1971)
• 1994 – Wilbert Harrison, American singer (b. 1929)
• 1995 – Wilhelm Freddie, Danish painter (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter (b. 1913)
• 1997 – Joe Cinque, Australian civil engineer murdered by Anu Singh (b. 1978)
• 1999 – Hoyt Axton, American actor and country music singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
• 2002 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen terrorist (b. 1979)
• 2002 – Jacques Massu, French general (b. 1908)
• 2004 – Bobby Avila, Mexican-American Major League Baseball player (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Keith Parkinson, American fantasy artist (b. 1958)
• 2005 – George Swindin, English football player manager (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Tillman Franks, American songwriter (b. 1920)
• 2006 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and museum director (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer (b. 1947)
• 2007 – Friedman Paul Erhardt (Chef Tell), German-American TV chef (b. 1943)
• 2007 – Dr. Arthur Kornberg, American Nobel Prize laureate in 1959 for the discovery of DNA polymerase (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)
• 2008 – Tony Hillerman, American writer (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Delmar Watson, American child actor (b. 1926)
• 2009 – Teel Bivins, American politician (b. 1947)
• 2009 – George Na'ope, American musician (b. 1928)
• 2009 – Troy Smith, American businessman, founded Sonic Drive-In (b. 1922)
• 2010 – Glen "Frosty" Little, American circus clown (b. 1925)
• 2010 – Mbah Maridjan, Mount Merapi gatekeeper (b. 1927)
• 2010 – Paul the Octopus, 2010 FIFA World Cup "oracle" (b. 2008)
• 2010 – Romeu Tuma, Brazilian politician (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances

• Eid al Adha (2012), Islamic holiday
• Angam Day (Nauru)
• Armed Forces Day (Benin)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Alfred the Great
  • Cedd
  • Cuthbert of Canterbury
  • Demetrius of Thessaloniki
  • Fulk of Pavia (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Quadragesimus
  • Witta of Büraburg
• Day of Mourning (Libya)
• National Day, celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality in 1955. (Austria)
• The first day of Ludi Victoriae Sullanae, celebrated until November 1. (Roman Empire)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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