2007 - Ian Middleton, New Zealand novelist (b. 1928)
2008 - Moshe Cotel, American composer and pianist (b. 1943)
Events
1147 - After a siege of 4 months crusader knights led by Afonso Henriques, reconquered Lisbon.
1260 - The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1260 - Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself.
1360 - The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
1648 - The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War.
1795 - Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia
1812 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.
1857 - Sheffield F.C., the world's first football club, is founded in Sheffield, England.
1861 - The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.
1901 - Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
1911 - Orville Wright remained in the air 9 minutes and 45 seconds in a glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
1912 - First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory.
1917 - Battle of Caporetto starts on the Austro-Italian front of World War I
1917 - The day of the October revolution, The Red Revolution.
1926 - Harry Houdini's last performance, which was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 - "Black Thursday" stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
1930 - A bloodless coup d'état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as "provisional president."
1931 - The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic.
1946 - A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
1947 - Walt Disney testifies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
1954 - Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
1957 - The USAF starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
1960 - Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash
1964 - Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
1977 - Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)
1980 - Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union
1986 - Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi was helped by Syrian officials.
1990 - Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army.
1998 - Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission
2002 - Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2004 - 10 people, including 4 family members of Rick Hendrick, are killed in a plane crash near Martinsville Speedway. The plane was owned by NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports.
2006 - Justice Rutherford of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the "motive clause", an important part of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act.
2008 - " Bloody Friday " saw many of the world's stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
