October 10

October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). There are 82 days remaining.

Events:

• 680 - Battle of Kerbela[?]
• 732 - Battle of Tours
• 1845 - U.S. Naval Academy opens
• 1911 - Wuchang Uprising which led to the founding of the Republic of China
• 1939 - Germany annexes Western Poland
• 1964 - Olympics Games open in Tokyo, Japan
• 1970 -
  • Fiji becomes independent
  • Montreal, Quebec: National crisis in Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
• 1973 - Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns
• 1979 - Panama assumes sovereignty over the Panama Canal
• 1994 - Doom II: Hell on Earth is released.

Births:

• 1684 - Antoine Watteau, French painter (+ 1721)
• 1780 - John Abercrombie, Scottish physician and philosopher
• 1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (+ 1901)
• 1861 - Fridtjof Nansen, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Arctic explorer (+ 1930)
• 1900 - Helen Hayes, actress (+ 1993)
• 1901 - Alberto Giacometti, Italian sculptor (+ 1966)
• 1917 - Thelonious Monk, jazz pianist (+ 1982)
• 1919 - Jean Vander Pyl[?], cartoon voice-over actress
• 1924 - Ed Wood, American filmmaker (+ 1978)
• 1924 - James Clavell, author (+ 1994)
• 1926 - Richard Jaeckel[?], actor (+ 1997)
• 1930 - Harold Pinter, British playwright
• 1937 - Bobby Charlton, English football player
• 1942 - Peter Coyote[?], actor
• 1946 - John Prine[?], singer
• 1946 - Ben Vereen, actor, dancer
• 1953 - Midge Ure[?], musician
• 1955 - David Lee Roth[?], singer
• 1956 - Martina Navratilova, tennis champion
• 1958 - Tanya Tucker[?], country music singer
• 1963 - Daniel Pearl, journalist
• 1963 - Rebecca Pidgeon[?], actress
• 1966 - Tony Adams, English football player
• 1969 - Brett Favre, American football player
• 1973 - Mario Lopez[?], actor
• 1974 - Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR racer

Deaths:

• 1459 - Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist, classicist
• 1827 - Ugo Foscolo, Italian writer
• 1914 - Charles I of Romania
• 1940 - Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor
• 1964 - Eddie Cantor, singer, vaudeville performer
• 1971 - John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian
• 1978 - Ralph Metcalfe[?], track and field athlete
• 1979 - Christopher Evans, British psychologist and computer scientist
• 1983 - Ralph Richardson, actor
• 1985 - Yul Brynner, actor
• 1985 - Orson Welles, American director, actor
• 1998 - Clark Clifford, United States Secretary of Defense

Holidays:

• Republic of China (on Taiwan) - Double Tenth Day (National Day)

October 9 - October 11 - September 10 - November 10 - more historical anniversaries