History of Today 01 October: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 01 October. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 01 October. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 01 October 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 01 October in History

• 01 Oct 2024: Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, marking the fifth Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978. Read more
• 01 Oct 2022: One hundred and thirty-five are killed in a human crush following a football match at Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java, Indonesia. Read more
• 01 Oct 2021: The 2020 World Expo in Dubai begins. Its opening was originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
• 01 Oct 2019: Kuopio school stabbing: One dies and ten are injured when Joel Marin, armed with a sabre, attacks a school class at Savo Vocational College in Kuopio, Finland. Read more
• 01 Oct 2018: The International Court of Justice rules that Chile is not obliged to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia. Read more
• 01 Oct 2017: An independence referendum, later declared illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain, takes place in Catalonia. Read more
• 01 Oct 2017: Sixty people are killed and 867 others injured in a mass shooting at a country music festival at the Las Vegas Strip in the United States; the gunman, Stephen Paddock, later commits suicide. Read more
• 01 Oct 2016: The leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Pedro Sánchez, resigns. He would return to the position a year later. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: A gunman kills nine people at a community college in Oregon. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: Heavy rains trigger a major landslide in Guatemala, killing 280 people. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: The American cargo vessel SS El Faro sinks with all of its 33 crew after steaming into the eyewall of Hurricane Joaquin. Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: A series of explosions at a gunpowder plant in Bulgaria completely destroys the factory, killing 15 people. Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: A double bombing of an elementary school in Homs, Syria kills over 50 people. Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: A ferry collision off the coast of Hong Kong kills 38 people and injures 102 others. Read more
• 01 Oct 2009: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords. Read more
• 01 Oct 2003: The popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched. Read more
• 01 Oct 2001: Militants attack the state legislature building in Kashmir, killing 38. Read more
• 01 Oct 2001: 3G wireless technology first becomes available when it is adopted by Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo. Read more
• 01 Oct 2000: Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Palestinians protest the killing of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah by Israeli police in northern Israel, beginning the "October 2000 events". Read more
• 01 Oct 1994: Palau enters a Compact of Free Association with the United States. Read more
• 01 Oct 1991: Croatian War of Independence: The Siege of Dubrovnik begins. Read more
• 01 Oct 1989: Denmark introduces the world's first legal same-sex registered partnerships. Read more
• 01 Oct 1987: The 5.9 Mw Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley with a Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 200. Read more
• 01 Oct 1985: Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israel attacks the Palestine Liberation Organization's Tunisia headquarters during Operation Wooden Leg. Read more
• 01 Oct 1982: Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence. Read more
• 01 Oct 1982: EPCOT Center (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) opens at Walt Disney World in Florida. Read more
• 01 Oct 1982: Sony and Phillips launch the compact disc in Japan; on the same day, Sony releases the model CDP-101 compact disc player, the first player of its kind. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to the United States. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: The MTR, Hong Kong's rapid transit railway system, opens. Read more
• 01 Oct 1978: Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom. Read more
• 01 Oct 1975: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. Read more
• 01 Oct 1971: Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida. Read more
• 01 Oct 1971: The first practical CT scanner is used to diagnose a patient. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Guyana nationalizes the British Guiana Broadcasting Service, which would eventually become part of the National Communications Network, Guyana. Read more
• 01 Oct 1966: West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with no survivors in Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: At dawn, seven Indonesian Army officers and a police inspector were assassinated by the September 30 Movement at Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta. In addition, two more officers were killed in Yogyakarta. The Army pinned the murders to the Communist Party of Indonesia, resulting in mass killings of suspected leftists. Read more
• 01 Oct 1964: The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. Read more
• 01 Oct 1964: Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka. Read more
• 01 Oct 1963: On its third anniversary as an independent nation, Nigeria became a republic. Read more
• 01 Oct 1962: James Meredith becomes the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: The United States Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military intelligence organization. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: The CTV Television Network, Canada's first private television network, is launched. Read more
• 01 Oct 1960: Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom. Read more
• 01 Oct 1958: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is replaced by NASA. Read more
• 01 Oct 1957: The motto In God We Trust first appears on U.S. paper currency. Read more
• 01 Oct 1955: The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is established. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Andhra State is formed, consisting of a Telugu-speaking area carved out of India's Madras State. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: A United States-South Korea mutual defense treaty is concluded in Washington, D.C. Read more
• 01 Oct 1949: The People's Republic of China is established. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: The North American F-86 Sabre flies for the first time. Read more
• 01 Oct 1946: Nazi leaders are sentenced at the Nuremberg trials. Read more
• 01 Oct 1946: The Daegu October incident occurs in Allied-occupied Korea. Read more
• 01 Oct 1943: World War II: After the Four Days of Naples, Allied troops enter the city. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: World War II: USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru, not knowing that she is carrying British prisoners of war from Hong Kong. Read more
• 01 Oct 1940: The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic. Read more
• 01 Oct 1939: World War II: After a one-month siege, German troops occupy Warsaw. Read more
• 01 Oct 1938: Pursuant to the Munich Agreement signed the day before, Nazi Germany begins the military occupation and annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. Read more
• 01 Oct 1936: Spanish Civil War: Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain. Read more
• 01 Oct 1936: Spanish Civil War: The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia dissolves itself, handing control of Catalan defence militias over to the Generalitat. Read more
• 01 Oct 1931: The George Washington Bridge in the United States is opened, linking New Jersey and New York. Read more
• 01 Oct 1931: Clara Campoamor persuades the Constituent Cortes to enfranchise women in Spain's new constitution. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: The Soviet Union introduces its first five-year plan. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: Newark Liberty International Airport opens, becoming the first airport in the New York City metro area. Read more
• 01 Oct 1923: The 1923 Imperial Conference opened in London. Read more
• 01 Oct 1923: Georges Carpentier knocked out former British heavyweight champion Joe Beckett a mere twenty seconds into the first round of their boxing match at Olympia in London. Read more
• 01 Oct 1918: World War I: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force captures Damascus. Read more
• 01 Oct 1918: Sayid Abdullah becomes the last Khan of Khiva. Read more
• 01 Oct 1915: The Metamorphosis written by Franz Kafka is published in the German journal Die Weißen Blätter Read more
• 01 Oct 1910: A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building, killing 21. Read more
• 01 Oct 1908: Ford Model T automobiles are offered for sale at a price of US$825. Read more
• 01 Oct 1903: Baseball: The Boston Americans play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of the modern World Series. Read more
• 01 Oct 1898: The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie. Read more
• 01 Oct 1891: Stanford University opens its doors in California, United States. Read more
• 01 Oct 1890: Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress. Read more
• 01 Oct 1887: Balochistan is conquered by the British Empire. Read more
• 01 Oct 1861: Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management is published, going on to sell 60,000 copies in its first year and remaining in print until the present day. Read more
• 01 Oct 1832: Texian political delegates convene at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas. Read more
• 01 Oct 1829: The South African College is founded in Cape Town, later separating into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools. Read more
• 01 Oct 1827: Russo-Persian War: The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination of Armenia. Read more
• 01 Oct 1814: The Congress of Vienna opens with the intention of redrawing Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoleon in the previous spring. Read more
• 01 Oct 1800: Via the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain cedes Louisiana to France, which would sell the land to the United States thirty months later. Read more

Famous Births on 01 October

• 01 Oct 2006: Priah Ferguson, American actress Priah Nicole Ferguson is an American actress from Atlanta, Georgia. She is best known for her role as Erica Sinclair on the Netflix series Stranger Things. Ferguson began acting at a young age and her career spans TV and film. Read more
• 01 Oct 2002: Livvy Dunne, American gymnast and social media personality Olivia Paige Dunne is an American actress, model, social media personality, and former artistic gymnast. She is currently part of the cast of Fox's Baywatch television series and is also a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and former member of the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics team. In 2017, she was named as a member of the US Junior Women's National Team. Dunne has a social media following of over 10 million. Read more
• 01 Oct 2001: Luna Blaise, American actress and singer Luna Blaise Boyd is a Scottish-American actress. In 2015, she made her film debut in Memoria and subsequently gained recognition for her roles in the sitcom Fresh Off The Boat (2015–2018) and supernatural drama series Manifest (2018–2023). In 2025, she starred in the top-grossing science fiction film Jurassic World Rebirth, which brought her to greater attention. Read more
• 01 Oct 2001: Mason Greenwood, English footballer Mason Will John Greenwood is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Turkish Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. Read more
• 01 Oct 2000: Kalle Rovanperä, Finnish professional rally driver Kalle Alex Rovanperä is a Finnish professional rally and racing driver who last competed in the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy with Hitech. He is a double World Rally Championship (WRC) champion, having won the 2022 and 2023 World Championships consecutively. As the son of former WRC driver Harri Rovanperä, he garnered international attention by starting rallying at an exceptionally young age. Read more
• 01 Oct 1998: Daniel Gafford, American basketball player Daniel Gafford is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. He plays both the power forward and center positions. Read more
• 01 Oct 1998: Haumole Olakau'atu, Australian-Tongan rugby league player Haumole Olakau'atu is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
• 01 Oct 1997: Jade Bird, English singer, songwriter, and musician Jade Elizabeth Bird is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Bird's music has been influenced by many folk and Americana artists. The media, when describing Bird's music, have drawn comparisons with pop, Americana, country and folk rock. Read more
• 01 Oct 1994: Trézéguet, Egyptian footballer Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan, known as Trézéguet, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Al-Riyadh and the Egypt national team. His nickname is taken from the French former footballer David Trezeguet, after his former youth coach noticed similarities of playing style and appearance between the pair. Trézéguet has been described as amongst the best Egyptian players of all time. Read more
• 01 Oct 1993: Chris Green, South African-Australian cricketer Christopher James Green is a South African-Australian cricketer. Green bowls right-arm off-break and bats right-handed, playing as an All-rounder. He plays for New South Wales and the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. He also plays Sydney Grade Cricket for Northern District Cricket Club. Green made his Thunder debut in the final round of the BBL04. He made his international debut for the Australian cricket team in December 2023. Read more
• 01 Oct 1993: Lizaad Williams, South African cricketer Lizaad Buyron Williams is a South African cricketer who plays for Northerns. He made his international debut for South Africa in April 2021. Read more
• 01 Oct 1992: Xander Bogaerts, Aruban baseball player Xander Jan Bogaerts is an Aruban professional baseball shortstop and second baseman for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox. He represents the Netherlands national team in international competition. Read more
• 01 Oct 1991: Robbie Ray, American baseball player Robert Glenn Ray is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants. Read more
• 01 Oct 1991: Jennifer Dodds, Scottish curler Jennifer Carmichael Dodds is a Scottish curler. She is the 2022 Olympic champion in women's curling and the 2021 World champion in mixed doubles curling. Read more
• 01 Oct 1990: Pedro Filipe Mendes, Portuguese footballer Pedro Filipe Teodósio Mendes is a former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Born in Switzerland, he represented Portugal internationally. Read more
• 01 Oct 1990: Albert Prosa, Estonian footballer Albert Prosa is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a forward. Read more
• 01 Oct 1989: Brie Larson, American actress Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers, known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress, singer and filmmaker. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockbusters. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. Read more
• 01 Oct 1987: Hiroki Aiba, Japanese actor and singer Hiroki Aiba is a Japanese actor associated with Grand-Arts. He debuted as an actor in 2005 as Shusuke Fuji in Musical: The Prince of Tennis and also reprised his role in the live-action film The Prince of Tennis. Since then, he has appeared in other theater productions, television programs, and films, such as Ryunosuke Ikenami/Shinken Blue in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Read more
• 01 Oct 1987: Mitchell Aubusson, Australian rugby league player Mitchell Aubusson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a second-row and centre, spending his entire career with the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). He won three NRL premierships with the Sydney Roosters in 2013, 2018 and 2019. He has also played for NSW Country at representative level. Aubusson is the Sydney Roosters 2nd highest capped player with 306 matches played. Read more
• 01 Oct 1987: Matthew Daddario, American actor Matthew Quincy Daddario is an American actor. He gained recognition for his role as Alec Lightwood in the television series Shadowhunters (2016–2019). Read more
• 01 Oct 1987: Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Indonesian businessman and politician, 14th Vice President of Indonesia Gibran Rakabuming Raka is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is serving as the 14th vice president of Indonesia since 2024. Previously the 18th mayor of Surakarta from 2021 to 2024, he is the eldest child of the seventh president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. He was the running mate of Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential election, winning with almost 59% of the votes. Read more
• 01 Oct 1986: Sayaka Kanda, Japanese actress and singer (died 2021) Sayaka Kanda , also known professionally as Sayaka, Lily, and Jun Uehara , was a Japanese actress, singer, and model. She was the only child of actor Masaki Kanda and pop singer Seiko Matsuda. Read more
• 01 Oct 1986: Jurnee Smollett, American actress Jurnee Diana Smollett is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, including On Our Own (1994–1995) and Full House (1992–1994). She gained greater recognition with her role in Kasi Lemmons's independent film Eve's Bayou (1997), which earned her a Critics' Choice Movie Award. Read more
• 01 Oct 1985: Nazimuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi cricketer Mohammed Nazimuddin Ahmed is a Bangladeshi cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he is the captain of Chittagong Division, and has played Test, limited overs and Twenty20 cricket for Bangladesh. Read more
• 01 Oct 1984: Beck Bennett, American actor and comedian Christopher Beck Bennett is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons, joining for its 39th season in 2013 and leaving at the end of its 46th season in 2021. Before SNL, he performed in AT&T's "It's Not Complicated" commercials, in which he interviewed children, and produced sketch videos with the comedy group Good Neighbor. Read more
• 01 Oct 1984: Matt Cain, American baseball player Matthew Thomas Cain is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the San Francisco Giants from 2005 to 2017. A three-time World Series champion and a three-time National League (NL) All-Star, he is widely regarded as a central figure of the Giants' success in the 2010s for his pitching and leadership. Read more
• 01 Oct 1983: Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (died 2006) Mohamed Mohamed Abdelwahab was an Egyptian footballer. He played in the defensive left back position. He was an important part of the Egyptian squad that went on to win the 2006 African Cup of Nations. He died during training with his club El Ahly on 31 August 2006. Read more
• 01 Oct 1983: Mirko Vučinić, Montenegrin footballer Mirko Vučinić is a Montenegrin football manager and former player, who is the manager of the Montenegro national team. Quick, versatile, and physically strong, Vučinić was known for his creativity, technique, and intelligence as a footballer, as well as his powerful striking ability from distance. Read more
• 01 Oct 1981: Júlio Baptista, Brazilian footballer Júlio César Clemente Pereira Baptista is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder or a forward. He is nicknamed "The Beast" due to his size and physical presence on the football field. Read more
• 01 Oct 1981: Tom Donnelly, New Zealand rugby player Thomas Mathew Donnelly is a former rugby union player who played for Montpellier in the Top 14. He also made 15 appearances for the All Blacks since 2009 and played for Otago Rugby Football Union. He moved into a coaching career at Otago from 2017. Read more
• 01 Oct 1981: Johnny Oduya, Swedish ice hockey player David Johnny Oduya is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). Oduya is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015. Read more
• 01 Oct 1980: Sarah Drew, American actress Sarah Drew is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Stacy Rowe in the MTV animated series Daria (1997–2001), Hannah Rogers in The WB family drama series Everwood (2004–2006), and Dr. April Kepner in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy. She currently plays the lead role of Emily Lane in the Hallmark Christmas mystery series Mistletoe Murders (2024–present). Read more
• 01 Oct 1980: Antonio Narciso, Italian footballer Antonio Narciso is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: Curtis Axel, American wrestler Joseph Curtis Hennig is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2007 to 2020, where he performed under the ring name Curtis Axel. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: Rudi Johnson, American football player (died 2025) Burudi Ali Johnson was an American professional football player who was a running back for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played college football for the Auburn Tigers and was selected by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL draft. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: Gilberto Martínez, Costa Rican footballer Gilberto Martínez Vidal is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who played as a defender. Read more
• 01 Oct 1979: Ryan Pontbriand, American football player Ryan David Pontbriand is an American former professional football player who was a long snapper and center in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Rice Owls and was selected in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. He has the distinction of being the highest-drafted pure long snapper in the history of the NFL draft. Read more
• 01 Oct 1978: Nicole Atkins, American singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins is an American singer-songwriter. Her influences include 1950s crooner music, 1960s psychedelia, soul music, and the Brill Building style of writing. Atkins has been compared to Roy Orbison and singers from the Brill Building era. Read more
• 01 Oct 1976: Denis Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player Denis Gauthier, Jr. is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. A first round selection of the Calgary Flames at the 1995 NHL entry draft, Gauthier played for the Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings during his ten-season National Hockey League (NHL) career. Read more
• 01 Oct 1976: Ümit Karan, Turkish footballer Ümit Karan is a Turkish football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Menemenspor. Read more
• 01 Oct 1976: Richard Oakes, English guitarist and songwriter Richard John Oakes is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the guitarist, occasional pianist, backing vocalist and co-songwriter of the English band Suede. Read more
• 01 Oct 1976: Mark Švets, Estonian footballer Mark Švets is a retired Estonian professional footballer. Read more
• 01 Oct 1975: Justin Leppitsch, Australian rules footballer Justin Leppitsch is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the former coach of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Read more
• 01 Oct 1974: Keith Duffy, Irish singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately in 1993. The band decided to focus on solo projects in 2000, since which Duffy has taken acting roles in soap operas such as Coronation Street and Fair City. He has also presented The Box and You're a Star. Read more
• 01 Oct 1974: Sherri Saum, American actress Sherri Saum is an American actress. Saum is best known for her co-lead role as Lena Adams Foster in the Freeform drama series The Fosters (2013–2018) as well as a subsequent guest star role in its spinoff Good Trouble (2019–2024). She is also known for her television roles in Beggars and Choosers, Rescue Me, In Treatment and Locke & Key, as well as for her roles in the daytime soap operas Sunset Beach and One Life to Live. Read more
• 01 Oct 1973: Christian Borle, American actor and singer Christian Dominique Borle is an American actor and singer. He is a two-time Tony Award winner for his roles as Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher and as William Shakespeare in Something Rotten!. Borle also originated the roles of Prince Herbert, et al. in Spamalot, Emmett in Legally Blonde, and Joe in Some Like It Hot on Broadway, earning Tony nominations for the latter two. He starred as Marvin in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos, which also earned him a Tony nomination. His first leading role on Broadway was Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie. He would later also star as Bert in Mary Poppins and Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also portrayed Orin Scrivello in the Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors. Borle starred as Tom Levitt on the NBC musical-drama television series Smash and Vox in the adult animated black comedy musical series Hazbin Hotel. Read more
• 01 Oct 1973: Jana Henke, German swimmer Jana Henke is a former freestyle swimmer from Germany, becoming two times European champion in 800 m freestyle. Read more
• 01 Oct 1973: John Mackey, American composer John Mackey is an American composer of contemporary classical music, with an emphasis on music for wind band, as well as orchestra. For several years, he focused on music for modern dance and ballet. Read more
• 01 Oct 1972: Ronen Altman Kaydar, Israeli author and poet Ronen Elimelech Altman Kaydar is an Israeli writer and poet. Read more
• 01 Oct 1972: Nicky Morgan, British politician Nicola Ann Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2019 to 2020. She was the first woman to chair the Treasury Select Committee. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough from 2010 to 2019. She is the current Chair of the Advertising Standards Authority, having succeeded Lord Currie of Marylebone in November 2024. Read more
• 01 Oct 1972: Ayşe Yiğit, Belgian politician Ayşe Yiğit is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, she has represented Hainaut since June 2024. She had previously been a member of the Senate from 2019 to 2024. Read more
• 01 Oct 1971: Andrew O'Keefe, Australian lawyer and television host Andrew Patrick O'Keefe is an Australian former television presenter and lawyer. He co-hosted the weekend edition of breakfast program Weekend Sunrise from 2005 until 2017 as well as the Australian versions of game shows Deal or No Deal, and The Chase Australia. Since 2021, he has been convicted of drug and domestic violence offences. Read more
• 01 Oct 1970: Simon Davey, Welsh footballer and manager Simon Davey is a Welsh former professional footballer and football manager. He is now Executive Director of a youth club in America called Southern Soccer Academy. He played for Swansea City, Carlisle United and Preston North End and had a short loan spell with Darlington, making a total of 271 appearances in the Football League. After retiring as a player, he spent eight years as a coach at Preston, before going on to manage Barnsley, Darlington and, until October 2010, Hereford United. Read more
• 01 Oct 1970: Alexei Zhamnov, Russian ice hockey player and manager Alexei Yuryevich "Alex" Zhamnov is a former professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins. He is currently serving the head coach of HC Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He previously served as general manager of Vityaz Chekhov and Atlant Moscow Oblast and was the head coach of the Russia men's national ice hockey team. Read more
• 01 Oct 1970: Vince Zampella, American video game designer (died 2025) Vincent Walter Zampella II was an American video game designer. He was best known for being a co-founder and the former studio head of Infinity Ward, the head of Respawn Entertainment, and the former CEO of Ripple Effect Studios. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Zach Galifianakis, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Zachary Knight Galifianakis is an American comedian, actor and writer. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Joseph Patrick Moore, American musician, composer, and producer Joseph Patrick Moore is an American musician from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. He is a bass player, composer, arranger and record producer who has played alongside Colonel Bruce Hampton, Earl Klugh, Stewart Copeland, John Popper, and Derek Trucks. In 2003, he founded Blue Canoe Records, the internet's first all-digital independent jazz label; he co-owns the label with Travis Prescott. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Ori Kaplan, Israeli-American saxophonist and producer Ori Kaplan is an Israeli jazz saxophonist and a music producer. He moved to the United States in 1991. He has worked with many artists including Shotnez Tom Abbs, Firewater, Gogol Bordello, and Balkan Beat Box. He is also known as DJ Shotnez. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Marcus Stephen, Nauruan weightlifter and politician, 27th President of Nauru Marcus Ajemada Stephen is a Nauruan politician and former sportsperson who previously was a member of the Cabinet of Nauru, and who served as President of Nauru from December 2007 to November 2011. The son of Nauruan parliamentarian Lawrence Stephen, Stephen was educated at St Bedes College and RMIT University in Victoria, Australia. Initially playing Australian rules football, he opted to pursue the sport of weightlifting, in which he represented Nauru at the Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games between 1990 and 2002, winning seven Commonwealth gold medals. Read more
• 01 Oct 1969: Igor Ulanov, Russian ice hockey player Igor Sergeevich Ulanov is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Ulanov was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the tenth round of the 1991 NHL entry draft. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Rob Collard, English race car driver Robert John Collard is a British auto racing driver from Hampshire, best known for racing in the British Touring Car Championship, winning two races in a West Surrey Racing MG, and claiming the Independent's Cup title in 2003. In 2008, he returned to running the series full-time, driving for the Motorbase Performance team, where he remained for 2009, before returning to West Surrey Racing. Collard also owns his own demolition firm, R Collard Ltd. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Phil de Glanville, English rugby player Philip Ranulph de Glanville is a former English rugby union player who played at centre for Bath and England. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Mark Durden-Smith, British television presenter Mark Durden-Smith is an English television presenter best known for presenting ITV shows such as I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! NOW! and This Morning Summer, Sky 1 shows such as The Match and Double or Nothing, and 5's rugby union coverage. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Kevin Griffin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Kevin Michael Griffin is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Better Than Ezra, with whom he has released nine studio albums. He has also issued one solo record. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Jon Guenther, American author and engineer Jon Guenther is an American author of nearly forty novels in a variety of genres. In addition to books under his own name, he has written many novels in The Executioner series created by Don Pendleton about the fictional character Mack Bolan. He is also creator of the Christian Pulp brand and genre. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Jay Underwood, American actor and pastor Jay Underwood is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a teen actor in the mid-1980s, he is perhaps best known for his starring feature film roles; portraying Eric Gibb in The Boy Who Could Fly, Chip Carson in Not Quite Human, Grover Dunn in The Invisible Kid, Sonny Bono in The Sonny and Cher Story, Bug in Uncle Buck, and Ernest Hemingway in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also portrayed the Human Torch in the 1994 unreleased film Fantastic Four. Read more
• 01 Oct 1967: Mike Pringle, American-Canadian football player Michael A. Pringle is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He set or tied almost every significant league record for the position. He played college football for the Cal State Fullerton Titans, earning third-team All-American honors. He was twice signed by National Football League (NFL) teams, though he saw very limited playing time. Read more
• 01 Oct 1967: Scott Young, American ice hockey player and coach Scott Allen Young is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player who most recently served as an assistant coach for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Young previously served as director of player development for the Canucks as well as for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Read more
• 01 Oct 1966: George Weah, Liberian footballer and politician, 25th President of Liberia George Manneh Oppong Weah is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who served as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Before his election for the presidency, Weah served as senator from Montserrado County. He played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career which ended in 2003. Weah is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state, and the only African Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner in history, winning both awards in 1995. He won the African Footballer of the Year three times and is considered one of the greatest strikers ever. Read more
• 01 Oct 1966: José Ángel Ziganda, Spanish footballer and manager José Ángel "Cuco" Ziganda Lakunza is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-forward. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: Andreas Keller, German field hockey player Andreas Keller is a former field hockey player from West Germany, who competed at three Summer Olympics for his native country. He won the gold medal with Germany at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, after securing silver at the two previous Olympics in Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988), with West Germany. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: Cindy Margolis, American actress and model Cynthia Dawn Margolis is an American glamour spokesmodel and actress. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: Mia Mottley, Barbadian prime minister Mia Amor Mottley is a Barbadian politician and lawyer who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold both positions. Having overseen the abolition of the Barbadian monarchy, she is the first prime minister of the Barbadian republic. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: Chris Reason, Australian journalist Chris Reason is a journalist, foreign correspondent and news anchor for the Seven Network Australia. Read more
• 01 Oct 1965: Cliff Ronning, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Clifford John Ronning is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the seventh round of the 1984 NHL entry draft, 134th overall. During a National Hockey League (NHL) career that spanned 18 years, Ronning played for the Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders. Read more
• 01 Oct 1964: Harry Hill, English comedian and author Matthew Keith Hall, known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an offbeat, energetic performance style that fused elements of surrealism, observational comedy, slapstick, satire and music. When performing, he usually wears browline glasses and a dress shirt with a distinctive oversized collar and cuffs. Read more
• 01 Oct 1964: Max Matsuura, Japanese songwriter, producer, and manager Masato Matsuura , better known by his stage name Max Matsuura , is a Japanese record producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Avex Group, one of the largest music labels. He is known mainly for discovering and developing new artists into stars, as well as for reviving Ami Suzuki's career after she was dismissed by her previous record label. Read more
• 01 Oct 1964: Jonathan Sarfati, Australian-New Zealand chess player and author Jonathan David Sarfati is a New Zealand young Earth creationist who writes articles for Creation Ministries International (CMI), a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry. Sarfati has a PhD in chemistry, and was New Zealand national chess champion in 1987 and 1988. Read more
• 01 Oct 1963: Jean-Denis Delétraz, Swiss race car driver Jean-Denis Delétraz is a Swiss racing driver. He participated in three Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Before reaching Formula One, he scored two third places in the 1988 Formula 3000 season, but principally earned his three Formula One drives as a pay driver. After Formula One, he competed in sports car racing, with two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Read more
• 01 Oct 1963: Mark McGwire, American baseball player and coach Mark David McGwire, nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals from 1986 to 2001. He won two World Series championships, one with Oakland as a player in 1989 and one with St. Louis as a coach in 2011. One of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, McGwire hit 583 home runs during his career, which ranked 5th-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement and currently ranks 11th. He holds the major-league career record for at bats per home run ratio (10.6), and is the former record holder for both home runs in a single season and home runs hit by a rookie. McGwire was one of several central figures in baseball's steroids scandal. Read more
• 01 Oct 1962: Attaphol Buspakom, Thai footballer and manager (died 2015) Attaphol Buspakom, nicknamed "Tak" ; was a Thai retired national footballer and football manager. He was given the role at Muangthong United and Buriram United after TTM Samut Sakhon folded after the 2009 season. Read more
• 01 Oct 1962: Nico Claesen, Belgian footballer and coach Nicolaas "Nico" Pieter Claesen is a former Belgian football player who works as head coach of RFC Liège. Read more
• 01 Oct 1962: Esai Morales, American actor Esai Manuel Morales Jr. is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films Bad Boys with Sean Penn and La Bamba with Lou Diamond Phillips. His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series American Family, the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd. (2000–2002), portraying Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue (2001–2004), played Major Edward Beck in the second season of the post -apocalyptic series Jericho opposite Skeet Ulrich (2006), Joseph Adama in the science fiction series Caprica (2009–2010), Camino del Rio in the Netflix original series Ozark (2017), and the DC Comics supervillain Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in the superhero series Titans (2019). Read more
• 01 Oct 1962: Paul Walsh, English footballer and sportscaster Paul Anthony Walsh is an English former professional footballer who now works as a television pundit. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: Gary Ablett Sr., Australian footballer Gary Robert Ablett Sr. is a former professional Australian rules footballer who represented Hawthorn and Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "God", Ablett is widely regarded as one of Australian football's greatest players, and was especially renowned for his high-flying spectacular marks and his prolific goalkicking. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: Rico Constantino, American wrestler and manager Americo Sebastiano Costantino is a retired American professional wrestler. He performed under the ring names Rico Costantino and Rico in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1998 to 2004. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: Corrie van Zyl, South African cricketer and coach Cornelius Johannes Petrus Gerthardus van Zyl is a former South African cricketer who played two One Day Internationals in 1992. As of 2018 he was employed by Cricket South Africa as general manager of cricket. Read more
• 01 Oct 1960: Joshua Wurman, American scientist, Doppler on Wheels inventor, and storm chaser Joshua Michael Aaron Ryder Wurman is an American atmospheric scientist and inventor known for creating the Doppler on Wheels and pioneering tornado, tropical cyclone, and weather radar research. He currently serves as the executive director of the FARM Facility and has served as a principal investigator for various field projects including ROTATE, IHOP, and VORTEX 2. Read more
• 01 Oct 1959: Mark Aizlewood, Welsh footballer and manager Mark Aizlewood is a Welsh manager and former professional footballer who manages Cymru South side Carmarthen Town. Read more
• 01 Oct 1959: Brian P. Cleary, American author and poet Brian P. Cleary is an American humorist, poet, and author. He is best known for his books written for grade-school children that explore grammar in humorous ways; he also controls a line of gift books for grownups. He is the senior editor for digital content at American Greetings, and his greetings have been performed by Dolly Parton, Christina Aguilera, Smokey Robinson, William Shatner, Meghan Trainor and others. Read more
• 01 Oct 1959: Youssou N'Dour, Senegalese singer-songwriter, musician, and politician Youssou "Madjiguène" N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and politician. N'Dour helped develop a style of popular Senegambian music known as mbalax, a genre that has sacred origins in the Serer music njuup tradition and ndut initiation ceremonies. From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister of Tourism. Read more
• 01 Oct 1958: Martin Cooper, English saxophonist, composer, and painter Martin Cooper is an English musician. He is the secondary keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for the band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, whom he first joined in 1980. Read more
• 01 Oct 1958: Masato Nakamura, Japanese bass player and producer Masato Nakamura is a Japanese musician, bass guitarist, and record producer. He is a member of the J-pop band Dreams Come True, which was formed in 1988 and went on to sell over 50 million CDs. He also composed the soundtracks for the video games Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992). Read more
• 01 Oct 1957: Kang Seok-woo, South Korean actor Kang Seok-woo is a South Korean actor. He made his acting debut in 1978 in the Kim Soo-yong film Yeosu , then starred in his first television drama Ordinary People in 1982. Kang was most active on the big screen in the 1980s, but has worked exclusively in television since 1995. He has also displayed his artwork in several exhibitions. Read more
• 01 Oct 1957: Éva Tardos, Hungarian mathematician and educator Éva Tardos is a Hungarian mathematician and the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University, known for her work in theoretical computer science. For her work, she has received the Fulkerson Prize (1988), the Dantzig Prize (2006), and the IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2019). Read more
• 01 Oct 1956: Andrus Ansip, Estonian engineer and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip is an Estonian politician, a former member of the European Parliament, the former European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission, in office from 2014 until 2019. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Estonia from 2005 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal Estonian Reform Party from 2004 to 2014. Read more
• 01 Oct 1956: Theresa May, English politician, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead, is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead from 1997 to 2024, and has been a member of the House of Lords since August 2024. May was the second female British prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, and the first woman to have held two of the Great Offices of State. May is a one-nation conservative. Read more
• 01 Oct 1955: Howard Hewett, American singer-songwriter Howard Hewett Jr. is an American singer–songwriter. Hewett rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the group Shalamar. In 1985, he left the group to pursue his solo career, but he later returned to the group in 2001. He signed with Elektra Records. In 1986, he released his debut solo album I Commit to Love. Hewett and his group Shalamar contributed material to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. The soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media in 1986. Read more
• 01 Oct 1955: Morten Gunnar Larsen, Norwegian pianist and composer Morten Gunnar Larsen is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer, well known for several ragtime and stride piano recordings and collaborations. Read more
• 01 Oct 1955: Jeff Reardon, American baseball player Jeffrey James Reardon is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1979–1994 with the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Yankees. Reardon was nicknamed "the Terminator" for his intimidating presence on the mound and 98 mph fastball.
  A long-time closer, Reardon became MLB's all-time saves leader in 1992 with his 342nd save, breaking Rollie Fingers' previous record of 341. Reardon's record was broken the following season by Lee Smith. Reardon currently ranks 12th on the all-time saves list with 367. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Pete Falcone, American baseball player Peter Frank Falcone is an American former professional baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Viljar Loor, Estonian volleyball player (died 2011) Viljar Loor was among the most accomplished Estonian volleyball players. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Loor won the gold medal with the Soviet Union men's national volleyball team. He also won gold medals with the Soviet team at the 1978 FIVB World Championship in Italy and the 1982 FIVB World Championship in Argentina. He was a middle blocker. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Miguel Lopez, Salvadorian-American soccer player Miguel Angel López was a soccer defender who played one season in the North American Soccer League. Born in El Salvador, he played for the U.S. national team. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Grete Waitz, Norwegian runner and coach (died 2011) Grete Waitz, née Andersen was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons, women's division, between 1978 and 1988, the highest number of victories in a single big city marathon in history. She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: Klaus Wowereit, German civil servant and politician, Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections; after the 2011 elections the SPD's coalition partner changed from the Left to the Christian Democratic Union. He was also sometimes mentioned as a possible SPD candidate for the Chancellorship of Germany (Kanzlerkandidatur), but that never materialized. Read more
• 01 Oct 1952: Jacques Martin, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager Jacques Martin is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach. In the National Hockey League (NHL), he has served as head coach of the St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. Martin also served as the general manager of the Panthers and has served as an assistant coach with the Canadian men's national ice hockey team. Martin is a Franco-Ontarian, and a two-time Stanley Cup champion. Read more
• 01 Oct 1952: Bob Myrick, American baseball player (died 2012) Robert Howard Myrick was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was the great-nephew of longtime Washington Senators second baseman Buddy Myer. Read more
• 01 Oct 1952: Ivan Sekyra, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2012) Ivan Sekyra was a Czech rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, director, and screenwriter. He learned to play the violin as a child. In 1978, he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Life Sciences in Prague. In 1976, he co-founded the group Abraxas. Later, he was a member of Projektil and Drakar. He eventually founded the heavy metal band Silent Garden. Read more
• 01 Oct 1952: Earl Slick, American rock guitarist and songwriter Earl Slick is an American guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Robert Smith. He has also worked with John Waite, Tim Curry and David Coverdale, in addition to releasing several solo recordings, and two records with Phantom, Rocker & Slick, the band he formed with Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker. Read more
• 01 Oct 1951: Brian Greenway, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Brian Gilbert Greenway is a Canadian musician who is the longest-serving member of the rock band April Wine, which he joined in 1977 and performs guitar, harmonica, and vocals duties. Prior to joining April Wine he was a member of the bands Mashmakhan and the Dudes. Greenway initially performed with April Wine from 1977 to 1986 when the band split, and again from 1992 to the present day. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Elpida, Greek singer-songwriter Elpida Karayiannopoulou is a Greek singer who was one of the most successful singers in Greece and the Greek diaspora in the 1970s and 1980s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Yvette Freeman, American actress Yvette Freeman is an American actress, singer and director. Predominantly active as a stage actress, she made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the original production of Ain't Misbehavin'. She won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her portrayal of Dinah Washington in the 1998 Off-Broadway play Dinah Was. On television, she is best known for her roles as Haleh Adams in the NBC medical drama series ER, Evelyn Smalley in the TV series Working, and Irma Lerman in Orange Is the New Black. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Susan Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, English neuroscientist, academic, and politician Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, is an English scientist, writer, broadcaster and member of the House of Lords. Her research has focused on the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. She is also interested in the neuroscience of consciousness and the impact of technology on the brain. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Mark Helias, American bassist and composer Mark Helias is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Sigbjørn Johnsen, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Finance Sigbjørn Johnsen is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party and was Norwegian Minister of Finance in the periods 1990–1996 and 2009–2013. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (died 2015) Boris Vladimirovich Morukov was a Russian physician at the State Research Center RF-Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP). He trained with the Russian Federal Space Agency as a research-cosmonaut and flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-106 as a mission specialist Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Randy Quaid, American actor Randy Randall Rudy Quaid is an American actor. Read more
• 01 Oct 1949: Isaac Bonewits, American singer-songwriter, liturgist, and author (died 2010) Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits was an American Neo-Druid who wrote a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic. Bonewits was a public speaker, liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founder of the Neopagan organizations Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF) and the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League. Read more
• 01 Oct 1949: Sheila Gilmore, Scottish lawyer and politician Sheila Gilmore is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh East from 2010 to 2015. Gilmore stood for the seat following the decision of Gavin Strang to stand down; she is a former councillor at the City of Edinburgh Council. Read more
• 01 Oct 1949: André Rieu, Dutch violinist, composer, and conductor André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known as the founder of the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Read more
• 01 Oct 1948: Cub Koda, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2000) Michael John "Cub" Koda was an American rock and roll musician, songwriter, and critic. Rolling Stone magazine considered him best known for writing the song "Smokin' in the Boys Room", recorded by his band Brownsville Station, which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (died 2009) David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental early role-playing game (RPG) genre work pioneered now-archetypical devices, such as: cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win"; and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Dalveer Bhandari, Indian lawyer and judge Dalveer Bhandari is an Indian jurist. He is currently one of the judges of the International Court of Justice. He is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and former chief justice of the Bombay High Court. Bhandari was also a judge of the Delhi High Court. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Buzz Capra, American baseball player and coach Lee William Capra was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, from 1971 to 1977. Nicknamed "Buzz", by a neighbor as a child, Capra was a National League (NL) All-Star and the NL earned run average (ERA) leader in 1974. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate Aaron Ciechanover is an Israeli biologist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for characterizing the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins using ubiquitin. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Stephen Collins, American actor and director Stephen Weaver Collins is an American former actor. He is known for playing Eric Camden on the WB/CW television series 7th Heaven from 1996 to 2007. Afterwards, Collins played the roles of Dayton King on the ABC television series No Ordinary Family and Gene Porter in the NBC television series Revolution, father of Elizabeth Mitchell's character, Rachel Matheson. Before 7th Heaven, Collins was known for his roles as Commander Willard Decker in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture and pilot Jake Cutter in the ABC television series Tales of the Gold Monkey.
  In 2014, his career came to an end after he confessed to sexual abuse against multiple minors. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Nevill Drury, English-Australian journalist and publisher (died 2013) Nevill Drury was an English and Australian editor and publisher, as well as the author of over 40 books on subjects ranging from shamanism and western magical traditions to art, music, and anthropology. His books have been published in 26 countries and in 19 languages. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Adriano Tilgher, Italian politician Adriano Tilgher is an Italian far-right and neo-fascist politician. Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Martin Turner, English singer-songwriter and bass player Martin Robert Turner is an English musician best known for his time as the bass guitarist, lead vocalist and a founding member of the rock band, Wishbone Ash. Turner is now the lead singer and bassist for "Martin Turner Ex-Wishbone Ash". Read more
• 01 Oct 1947: Mariska Veres, Dutch singer (died 2006) Maria Elisabeth Ender, better known as Mariska Veres, was a Dutch musician who was the lead vocalist of the rock group Shocking Blue. She was known for her sultry voice, eccentric performances, and her striking appearance which featured kohl-rimmed eyes, and high and long jet-black hair, which was actually a wig. Read more
• 01 Oct 1946: Dave Holland, English bassist, composer, and bandleader David Holland is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1946: Tim O'Brien, American novelist and short story writer Tim O'Brien is an American author who served as a soldier in the Vietnam War. Much of his writing is about wartime Vietnam, and his work later in life often explores the postwar lives of its veterans. Read more
• 01 Oct 1945: Rod Carew, Panamanian-American baseball player and coach Rodney Cline Carew is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, first baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels. The most accomplished contact hitter in Twins history, he won the 1977 AL Most Valuable Player Award, setting a Twins record with a .388 batting average. Carew appeared in 18 consecutive All-Star Games and led the AL in hits three times, with his 239 hits in 1977 ranking as the 12th most in a season at the time and the 16th most as of 2024, tied with Willie Keeler's 239 hits from 1897. He won seven AL batting titles, the second most AL batting titles in history behind Ty Cobb, and on July 12, 2016, the AL batting title was renamed the Rod Carew American League batting title. Read more
• 01 Oct 1945: Donny Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (died 1979) Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", "Jealous Guy" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020. Read more
• 01 Oct 1945: Ram Nath Kovind, 14th President of India Ram Nath Kovind is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh as well as the first member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to become the president of India. Prior to his presidency, he served as the Governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and as a Member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh for two successive terms. Prior to entering politics, he was a lawyer and he practised in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India until 1993. Read more
• 01 Oct 1943: Jean-Jacques Annaud, French director, producer, and screenwriter Jean-Jacques Annaud is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed Black and White in Color (1976), Quest for Fire (1981), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Bear (1988), The Lover (1992), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Black Gold (2011), and Wolf Totem (2015). Read more
• 01 Oct 1943: Angèle Arsenault, Canadian singer-songwriter (died 2014) Angèle Arsenault, was a Canadian-Acadian singer, songwriter and media host. Read more
• 01 Oct 1943: Jerry Martini, American saxophonist Gerald L. Martini is an American musician, best known for being the saxophonist for Sly and the Family Stone. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as a member of Sly and the Family Stone. Read more
• 01 Oct 1943: Robert Slater, American author and journalist (died 2014) Robert Slater was an American author and journalist known for over two dozen books, including biographies of political and business figures such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, George Soros, and Donald Trump. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Herb Fame, American R&B singer Peaches & Herb is an American vocal duo. Herb Fame has remained a constant as "Herb" since the duo was created in 1966; seven different women have filled the role of "Peaches", most notably Francine Edna "Peaches" Hurd Barker, the original "Peaches" who lent her nickname to the duo, and Linda Greene Tavani, the third "Peaches", who appeared on the duo's biggest hits "Shake Your Groove Thing" (1978) and "Reunited" (1979). Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Jean-Pierre Jabouille, French race car driver and engineer (died 2023) Jean-Pierre Alain Jabouille was a French racing driver and engineer, who competed in Formula One from 1974 to 1981. Jabouille won two Formula One Grands Prix across seven seasons. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Bob Lanigan, Australian rugby league player (died 2024) Robert Lanigan was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. He played for Newtown in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Robert Lelièvre, French singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1973) Robert Lelièvre was a French singer, songwriter and guitar player. He is best remembered as a member of the folk rock trio Cy, Maia & Robert, and for fronting the Danish progressive rock band Pan. Their eponymous debut album is considered amongst the best in the history of Danish rock music. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: David Stancliffe, English bishop and scholar David Staffurth Stancliffe is a British retired Anglican bishop in the Church of England. He was provost of Portsmouth Cathedral from 1982 to 1993 and Bishop of Salisbury from 1993 to 2010. He is the third generation of his family to be in ordained ministry. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Günter Wallraff, German journalist and author Günter Wallraff is a German writer and undercover journalist. Read more
• 01 Oct 1940: Phyllis Chesler, American feminist psychologist Phyllis Chesler is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is a second-wave feminist psychologist and the author of 20 books, including the best-sellers Women and Madness (1972), With Child: A Diary of Motherhood (1979), and An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir (2013). Chesler has written extensively about topics such as gender, mental illness, divorce and child custody, surrogacy, second-wave feminism, pornography, prostitution, incest, and violence against women. Read more
• 01 Oct 1940: Steve O'Rourke, English race car driver and manager (died 2003) Steve O'Rourke was an English music manager and racing driver. He was the manager of Pink Floyd, a position he held from 1968 until his death. Among his accomplishments was negotiating Pink Floyd's split with bass player and main songwriter Roger Waters. Read more
• 01 Oct 1940: Marc Savoy, American accordion player, created the Cajun accordion Marc Savoy is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion. Read more
• 01 Oct 1939: George Archer, American golfer (died 2005) George William Archer was an American professional golfer who won 13 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the Masters in 1969. Read more
• 01 Oct 1939: Geoffrey Whitehead, English actor Geoffrey Whitehead is an English actor. He has appeared in a range of television, film and radio roles. Read more
• 01 Oct 1938: Tunç Başaran, Turkish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2019) Tunç Başaran was a Turkish screenwriter, film director, film producer and actor. Read more
• 01 Oct 1938: Mary McFadden, American fashion designer (died 2024) Mary McFadden was an American fashion designer of women's clothing and other high-fashion items, including historically inspired form-fitting dresses. Read more
• 01 Oct 1938: Stella Stevens, American actress and director (died 2023) Stella Stevens was an American actress. Stevens began her acting career in 1959 in the musical Say One for Me, winning the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. She then starred in films such as Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), The Nutty Professor (1963), How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Read more
• 01 Oct 1937: Saeed Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer (died 2024) Saeed Ahmed was a Pakistani Test cricketer who captained the national team, and later became a preacher and member of Tablighi Jamaat. Read more
• 01 Oct 1936: Duncan Edwards, English footballer (died 1958) Duncan Edwards was an English footballer who played as a left-half for Manchester United and the England national team. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid-1950s, playing 177 matches for the club. He was noted for his physical strength, toughness, and level of authority on the pitch, and has been ranked amongst the toughest players of all time. One of eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster, he survived initially but succumbed to his injuries in hospital two weeks later. Many of his contemporaries have described him as one of the best, if not the best, players with whom they had played. Read more
• 01 Oct 1935: Julie Andrews, English actress and singer Dame Julie Andrews is an English actress, singer, author and theater director. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards and nominations for three Tony Awards. One of the biggest box office draws of the 1960s, Andrews has been honoured with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. She was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2000 New Year Honours. Read more
• 01 Oct 1935: Walter De Maria, American sculptor and drummer (died 2013) Walter Joseph De Maria was an American artist, sculptor, illustrator and composer, who lived and worked in New York City. Walter de Maria's artistic practice is connected with minimal art, conceptual art, and land art of the 1960s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1934: Emilio Botín, Spanish banker and businessman (died 2014) Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos, iure uxoris Marquess of O'Shea was a Spanish banker. He was the executive chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander. In 1993 his bank absorbed Banco Español de Crédito (Banesto), and in 1999 it merged with Banco Central Hispano creating Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), which became Spain's largest bank, of which he was co-president with Central Hispano's José María Amusategui, until Amusategui retired in 2002. In 2004, BSCH acquired the British bank Abbey National, making BSCH the second largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation. He was known for his obsession with growth and performance as well as regularly visiting branches. Read more
• 01 Oct 1932: Albert Collins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1993) Albert Gene Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and a capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title "The Master of the Telecaster". Read more
• 01 Oct 1931: Sylvano Bussotti, Italian violinist and composer (died 2021) Sylvano Bussotti was an Italian composer of contemporary classical music and also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and manager, and writer and professor. His compositions employ graphic notation, which has often created special problems of interpretation. He was known as a composer for the stage. His first opera was La Passion selon Sade, which premiered in Palermo in 1965. Later Bussotti operas and ballets were premiered at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro Lirico di Milano, Teatro Regio di Torino, and Piccola Scala di Milano, among other venued. He was artistic director of La Fenice in Venice, the Puccini Festival, and the music section of the Venice Biennale. He taught internationally, for a decade at the Fiesole School of Music. He is regarded as a leading composer of Italy's avantgarde, and a having been a Renaissance man with many talents who combined the arts expressively. Read more
• 01 Oct 1931: Anwar Shamim, Pakistani general (died 2013) Mohammad Anwar Shamim was a former fighter pilot who was the Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force, serving in the post from 1978 until retiring in 1985. Read more
• 01 Oct 1931: Alan Wagner, American radio host and critic (died 2007) Alan Cyril Wagner was an American television executive, radio personality, writer, and opera historian and critic. He served as the East Coast vice president of programming at CBS from 1976 to 1982. After he left CBS, he became the first president of Disney Channel, but only served in the role for a year. Read more
• 01 Oct 1930: Frank Gardner, Australian race car driver and manager (died 2009) Frank Gardner OAM was a racing driver from Australia. Born in Sydney, he was best known for touring car racing, winning the British Saloon Car Championship three times, and sports car racing driver but he was also a top flight open wheeler driver. He was European Formula 5000 champion, and participated in nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 July 1964. He scored no championship points. Read more
• 01 Oct 1930: Richard Harris, Irish actor (died 2002) Richard St John Francis Harris was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous accolades including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe. In 2020 he was listed at number 3 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Read more
• 01 Oct 1930: Naimatullah Khan, Pakistani lawyer and politician, Mayor of Karachi (died 2020) Naimatullah Khan was a Pakistani politician who served as the City Nazim (Mayor) of Karachi from August 2001 to June 2005. Read more
• 01 Oct 1930: Philippe Noiret, French actor (died 2006) Philippe Noiret was a French film actor. Read more
• 01 Oct 1929: Ken Arthurson, Australian rugby player and coach Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM is an Australian rugby league football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Later he ran the NSWRL, and then the Australian Rugby League during the 1990s' Super League war, resigning in 1997 as part of the peace process for creating the unified National Rugby League. Read more
• 01 Oct 1929: Grady Chapman, American singer (died 2011) Grady Chapman was best known as the American lead singer of doo wop group The Robins. Read more
• 01 Oct 1929: Bonnie Owens, American singer-songwriter (died 2006) Bonnie Owens was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later to Merle Haggard. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-English actor, director, and producer (died 1973) Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and immigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in the United Kingdom after World War II. In a career that spanned a quarter of a century, Harvey appeared in stage, film and television productions primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: Willy Mairesse, Belgian race car driver (died 1969) Willem Edouard Numa Ghislain Mairesse was a Formula One and sports-car driver from Belgium. He participated in 13 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 19 June 1960. He achieved one podium and scored a total of seven championship points. He committed suicide in a hotel room in Ostend after a crash at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans forced an end to his career. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: George Peppard, American actor (died 1994) George Peppard was an American actor. He secured a major role as struggling writer Paul Varjak when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and later portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964). On television, he played the title role of millionaire insurance investigator and sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s mystery series Banacek. He played Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad in the 1980s action television series The A-Team. Read more
• 01 Oct 1928: Sivaji Ganesan, Indian actor (died 2001) Vettaithidal Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema and theatre during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ganesan is acknowledged as one of the greatest Indian actors of all time and among the most imitated one by other actors. He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which also gave him the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam. In a nearly five-decade career, he acted in 288 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. He is the only actor in Tamil cinema to have played the lead role in over 250 films. Read more
• 01 Oct 1927: Tom Bosley, American actor (died 2010) Thomas Edward Bosley was an American actor, television personality and entertainer. Bosley is most notable for portraying Howard Cunningham on the ABC sitcom Happy Days (1974–1984) for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nomination. Bosley also did a variety of voiceover work such as playing the lead character, Harry Boyle, in the animated series Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, and the narrator of the syndicated film history documentary series That's Hollywood. He was also known for his role as Sheriff Amos Tupper in the Angela Lansbury-led CBS mystery series Murder, She Wrote (1984–1988), and as the title character in the NBC/ABC series Father Dowling Mysteries (1989–1991). Read more
• 01 Oct 1927: Sherman Glenn Finesilver, American lawyer and judge (died 2006) Sherman Glenn Finesilver was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Read more
• 01 Oct 1927: Sandy Gall, Malaysian-Scottish journalist and author (died 2025) Henderson Alexander Gall was a Scottish journalist, author and Independent Television News (ITN) news presenter whose career as a journalist spanned more than 50 years. He began his career in journalism as a sub-editor at the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1952 and became a foreign correspondent for the Reuters international news agency from 1953 to 1963. Gall joined ITN as a foreign reporter and troubleshooter in 1963, and also worked as a newscaster on News at Ten between 1970 and 1991. He was the Rector of the University of Aberdeen from 1978 to 1981 and founded the Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal charity with his wife in 1986. Read more
• 01 Oct 1924: Jimmy Carter, American naval lieutenant, politician, 39th President of the United States, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) James Earl Carter Jr. was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975 and in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967. He lived longer than any other president in U.S. history, reaching age 100. Read more
• 01 Oct 1924: Bob Geigel, American wrestler and promoter (died 2014) Robert Frederick Geigel was an American professional wrestling promoter and professional wrestler. He operated the Kansas City, Missouri-based Heart of America Sports Attractions promotion from 1963 to 1986, and served three terms as the president of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1978 to 1980, from 1982 to 1985, and finally from 1986 to 1987. Read more
• 01 Oct 1924: Leonie Kramer, Australian academic (died 2016) Dame Leonie Judith Kramer, was an Australian academic, educator and professor. She is notable as the first female professor of English in Australia, first woman to chair the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the first female chancellor of the University of Sydney. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a Companion of the Order of Australia. Read more
• 01 Oct 1924: William Rehnquist, American lawyer and jurist, 16th Chief Justice of the United States (died 2005) William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American attorney who served as the 16th chief justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005, having previously been an associate justice from 1972 to 1986. Considered a staunch conservative, Rehnquist favored a conception of federalism that emphasized the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states. Read more
• 01 Oct 1924: Roger Williams, American pianist (died 2011) Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. Described by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the most popular instrumentalists of the mid-20th century", and "the rare instrumental pop artist to strike a lasting commercial chord," Williams had 22 hit singles – including the chart-topping "Autumn Leaves" in 1955 and "Born Free" in 1966 – and 38 hit albums between 1955 and 1972. Read more
• 01 Oct 1922: Chen-Ning Yang, Chinese-American physicist, academic, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 2025) Yang Chen-Ning also known as C.N. Yang and Franklin Yang, was a Chinese-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrable systems, gauge theory, particle physics and condensed matter physics. Read more
• 01 Oct 1921: James Whitmore, American actor (died 2009) James Allen Whitmore Jr. was an American actor who appeared in over 150 stage, film, and television roles over a 50-year career. He received numerous honors, notably a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. He was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor for Battleground (1949) and Best Actor for Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975). Read more
• 01 Oct 1920: David Herbert Donald, American historian and author (died 2009) David Herbert Donald was an American historian, best known for his 1995 biography of Abraham Lincoln. He twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, for books about Thomas Wolfe and Charles Sumner; he published more than 30 books on United States political and literary figures and the history of the American South. Read more
• 01 Oct 1920: Walter Matthau, American actor (died 2000) Walter John Matthau was an American actor, known for his "hangdog face" and for playing world-weary characters. He starred in 10 films alongside his real-life friend Jack Lemmon, including The Odd Couple (1968) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). The New York Times called this "one of Hollywood's most successful pairings". Among other accolades, Matthau won an Academy Award, one BAFTA Award, and two Tony Awards. Read more
• 01 Oct 1919: Bob Boyd, American baseball player (died 2004) Robert Richard Boyd was an American first baseman in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball. Read more
• 01 Oct 1919: Majrooh Sultanpuri, Indian poet and songwriter (died 2000) Asrar ul Hassan Khan, better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dominant musical forces in Indian cinema in the 1950s and early 1960s, and was an important figure in the Progressive Writers' Movement. He is considered one of the finest avant-garde Urdu poets of 20th century literature. Read more
• 01 Oct 1917: Cahal Daly, Irish cardinal and theologian (died 2009) Cahal Brendan Daly KGCHS was a Roman Catholic cardinal, theologian and writer from County Antrim. Read more
• 01 Oct 1915: Jerome Bruner, American psychologist and author (died 2016) Jerome Seymour Bruner was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology. Bruner was a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law. He received a BA in 1937 from Duke University and a PhD from Harvard University in 1941. He taught and conducted research at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and New York University. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Bruner as the 28th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Read more
• 01 Oct 1914: Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, lawyer, author, and 12th Librarian of Congress (died 2004) Daniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in 1975 and served until 1987. He was instrumental in the creation of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. Read more
• 01 Oct 1913: Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (died 2009) Hélio Gracie was a Brazilian martial artist who together with his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao Jr, George and Carlos Gracie founded and developed the self-defense martial art system of Gracie jiu-jitsu, also known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Read more
• 01 Oct 1913: Harry Lookofsky, American violinist and producer (died 1998) Harry William Lookofsky was an American jazz violinist. He was also the father of keyboardist-songwriter Michael Brown, who most notably was a founding member of the Left Banke and Stories. Read more
• 01 Oct 1912: Kathleen Ollerenshaw, English mathematician, astronomer, and politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (died 2014) Dame Kathleen Mary Ollerenshaw, was a British mathematician and politician who was Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1975 to 1976 and an advisor on educational matters to Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1911: Irwin Kostal, American songwriter, screenwriter, and publisher (died 1994) Irwin Kostal was an American musical arranger of films and an orchestrator of Broadway musicals. Read more
• 01 Oct 1911: Heinrich Mark, Estonian lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (died 2004) Heinrich Mark was an Estonian politician and Prime Minister of the Estonian Government in Exile. Read more
• 01 Oct 1910: Fritz Köberle, Austrian-Brazilian physician and pathologist (died 1983) Fritz Köberle was an Austrian-Brazilian physician, pathologist and scientist, discoverer of the neurogenic mechanism of the chronic phase of Chagas disease, a human parasitic disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan. Read more
• 01 Oct 1910: José Enrique Moyal, Australian physicist and engineer (died 1998) José Enrique Moyal was an Australian mathematician and mathematical physicist who contributed to aeronautical engineering, electrical engineering and statistics, among other fields. Read more
• 01 Oct 1910: Bonnie Parker, American criminal (died 1934) Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow were an outlaw couple who roamed the Central United States with their criminal gang during the Great Depression, committing a series of criminal acts such as store robberies, bank robberies, kidnappings and murders between 1932 and 1934. The couple were particularly infamous for their bank robberies and multiple murders, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations, and are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and three civilians. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. On May 23, 1934, the couple were ambushed and killed on Louisiana Highway 154 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, by a law enforcement posse led by retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Read more
• 01 Oct 1910: Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Polish-Israeli rabbi and scholar (died 2012) Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg was a Polish-born, American-raised, Israeli Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva who, from 1965, made his home in the Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. He was the rosh yeshiva of the Torah Ore yeshiva in Kiryat Mattersdorf and Yeshivas Derech Chaim in Brooklyn. He was a posek, Gadol HaDor, and one of the last living Torah scholars to have been educated in the yeshivas of prewar Europe. He was often consulted on a range of communal and personal halachic issues. He was one of the rabbinic leaders of Kiryat Mattersdorf, together with Rabbi Yisroel Gans and Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld. He was also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Israel. Read more
• 01 Oct 1909: Sam Yorty, American captain, politician, and 37th Mayor of Los Angeles (died 1998) Samuel William Yorty was an American politician, attorney, and radio host from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, but he is most remembered for his turbulent three terms as the 37th mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973. Although Yorty spent almost all of his political career as a Democrat, he became a Republican in 1973. Read more
• 01 Oct 1908: Herman David Koppel, Danish pianist and composer (died 1998) Herman David Koppel, known in Denmark as Herman D. Koppel, was a Danish composer and pianist of Jewish origin. Born in Copenhagen, he fled the Nazis with his family to Sweden in 1943. He wrote 7 symphonies, numerous concertos, 6 string quartets and other chamber music, piano works, operas and film music. Read more
• 01 Oct 1907: Maurice Bardèche, French journalist, author, and critic (died 1998) Maurice Bardèche was a French art critic and journalist, better known as one of the leading exponents of neo-fascism and Holocaust denial in post–World War II Europe. Viewed as the "father-figure of Holocaust denial", Bardèche introduced in his works many aspects of neo-fascist and Holocaust denial propaganda techniques, methodology and ideological structures; his work is deemed influential in regenerating post-war European far-right ideas at a time of the identity crisis in the 1950–1960s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1907: Ödön Pártos, Hungarian-Israeli viola player and composer (died 1977) Ödön Pártos [alternate transcription in English: Oedoen Partos, Hungarian: Pártos Ödön, Hebrew: עֵדֶן פרטוש ] was a Hungarian-Israeli violist and composer. A recipient of the Israel Prize, he taught and served as director of the Rubin Academy of Music, now known as the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. Read more
• 01 Oct 1906: S. D. Burman, Indian composer and singer (died 1975) Sachin Dev Burman was an Indian music director and singer. He was a member of the Tripura royal family. He started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one of the most successful and influential Indian film music composers. Burman composed the soundtracks for over 100 movies, including Bengali films and Hindi. Read more
• 01 Oct 1904: Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-English physicist and academic (died 1979) Otto Robert Frisch was an Austrian physicist who worked on nuclear physics. With Otto Stern and Immanuel Estermann, he first measured the magnetic moment of the proton. With his aunt, Lise Meitner, he advanced the first theoretical explanation of nuclear fission and first experimentally detected the fission by-products. Later, with his collaborator, Rudolf Peierls, he designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1940. Leading the Los Alamos Critical Assemblies experiments in 1945, he oversaw the world's first prompt criticality in the Dragon device. Read more
• 01 Oct 1904: A. K. Gopalan, Indian educator and politician (died 1977) Ayillyath Kuttiari Gopalan Nambiar, popularly known as A. K. Gopalan or AKG, was an Indian communist politician. He was one of sixteen Communist Party of India members elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1952, and later became one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Read more
• 01 Oct 1903: Vladimir Horowitz, Russian-born American pianist and composer (died 1989) Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Read more
• 01 Oct 1903: Pierre Veyron, French race car driver (died 1970) Pierre Veyron was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver active from 1933 through 1953. Read more
• 01 Oct 1900: Tom Goddard, English cricketer (died 1966) Thomas William John Goddard was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Read more
• 01 Oct 1900: Ashfaqulla Khan, Indian activist (died 1927) Ashfaqulla Khan was an Indian freedom fighter and martyr in the Indian independence movement against British rule, and the co-founder of the Hindustan Republican Association, later to become the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Read more
• 01 Oct 1899: Ernest Haycox, American author (died 1950) Ernest James Haycox was an American writer of Western fiction. Read more
• 01 Oct 1896: Ted Healy, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (died 1937) Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of the Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy that they later made famous, he had a successful stage and film career of his own and was cited as a formative influence by several later comedy stars. Read more
• 01 Oct 1895: Liaquat Ali Khan, Indian-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan (died 1951) Liaquat Ali Khan was a Pakistani lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Pakistan from 1947 until his assassination in 1951. He played a key role in consolidating the state of Pakistan, much as Muhammad Ali Jinnah did in founding it. A leading figure in the Pakistan Movement, he is revered as Quaid-e-Millat and Shaheed-e-Millat. Read more
• 01 Oct 1894: Edgar Krahn, Estonian mathematician and academic (died 1961) Edgar Krahn was an Estonian mathematician. Krahn was born in Sootaga, Governorate of Livonia, as a member of the Baltic German minority. He died in Rockville, Maryland, United States. Read more
• 01 Oct 1893: Cliff Friend, American pianist and songwriter (died 1974) Cliff Friend was an accomplished American songwriter and pianist. A member of Tin Pan Alley, Friend co-wrote several hits including "Lovesick Blues", "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" and "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", also known as the theme song to the Looney Tunes cartoon series. Read more
• 01 Oct 1893: Ip Man, Chinese martial artist (died 1972) Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, was a Chinese martial arts grandmaster. He became a teacher of the martial art of Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, the most famous among them being Bruce Lee. Read more
• 01 Oct 1890: Stanley Holloway, English actor (died 1982) Stanley Augustus Holloway was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career. Read more
• 01 Oct 1887: Ned Hanlon, Australian politician, 26th Premier of Queensland (died 1952) Edward Michael Hanlon, nicknamed the "Digger Premier", was an Australian politician and soldier, who was Premier of Queensland from 1946 until his death in 1952. Read more
• 01 Oct 1887: Shizuichi Tanaka, Japanese general (died 1945) Shizuichi Tanaka was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Japanese Military Governor of the Philippines during World War II. Read more
• 01 Oct 1885: Louis Untermeyer, American poet, anthologist, and critic (died 1977) Louis Michael Untermeyer was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961. Read more
• 01 Oct 1881: William Boeing, American engineer and businessman who founded the Boeing Company (died 1956) William Edward Böing was an American aviation pioneer. He founded the Pacific Airplane Company in 1916, which was renamed to Boeing a year later. The company is now the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value and among the largest aerospace manufacturers in the world. Read more
• 01 Oct 1878: Othmar Spann, Austrian economist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1950) Othmar Spann was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist. His radical anti-liberal and anti-socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. and popularized in his books and lecture courses, helped antagonise political factions in Austria during the interwar years. Read more
• 01 Oct 1865: Paul Dukas, French composer, scholar, and critic (died 1935) Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical and abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-known work is the orchestral piece The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the fame of which has eclipsed that of his other surviving works, largely due to its usage in the 1940 Disney film Fantasia. Among these are the opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, his Symphony in C and Piano Sonata, the Variations, Interlude and Finale on a Theme by Rameau, and a ballet, La Péri. Read more
• 01 Oct 1857: John Mackenzie Moore, Canadian architect (died 1930) John Mackenzie Moore was a Canadian architect and politician who served as the mayor of London, Ontario, from 1926 to 1927. An apprentice of William Robinson and Thomas Henry Tracy, Moore worked as a hydraulic engineer and surveyor. He remained with their firm after George F. Durand took control, but left after a dispute over the terms of a gentlemen's agreement. In 1891, two years after Durand's death, Moore partnered with former staff member Fred Henry to continue the firm's operations. He remained its primary architect into the 1920s. Read more
• 01 Oct 1847: Annie Besant, English-Indian activist and author (died 1933) Annie Besant was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, educationist, and activist involved in women's rights, Home Rule, and Indian nationalism. She gave support to both Irish and Indian self-rule. She had been the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917. Read more
• 01 Oct 1846: Nectarios of Aegina, Greek metropolitan and saint (died 1920) Nectarios of Aegina, Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, is one of the most renowned Greek saints, venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church. On 20 April 1961, Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople glorified him as a saint. His feast day is celebrated every year on 9 November. Read more
• 01 Oct 1842: S. Subramania Iyer, Indian lawyer and jurist (died 1924) Sir Subbier Subramania Iyer ; was an Indian lawyer, jurist and freedom fighter who, along with Annie Besant, founded the Indian Home Rule Movement. He was popularly known as the "Grand Old Man of South India". Read more
• 01 Oct 1842: Charles Cros, French poet and author (died 1888) Charles Cros or Émile-Hortensius-Charles Cros was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude. Read more
• 01 Oct 1835: Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician and anatomist (died 1920) Ádám Politzer was a Hungarian and Austrian physician and one of the pioneers and founders of otology. Read more
• 01 Oct 1832: Caroline Harrison, American educator, 24th First Lady of the United States (died 1892) Caroline Lavinia Harrison was an American music teacher, artist, and the first lady of the United States from 1889 until her death in 1892. She was married to President Benjamin Harrison, and was the second first lady to die while serving in the role. Read more
• 01 Oct 1832: Henry Clay Work, American composer and songwriter (died 1884) Henry Clay Work was an American songwriter and composer. He is best remembered for his musical contributions to the Union in the Civil War: songs documenting the afflictions of slavery, the hardships of army life, and Northern triumphs in the conflict. Besides patriotic pieces, he wrote sentimental ballads and songs supporting the growing temperance movement. Many of Work's compositions were performed at minstrel shows. Read more
• 01 Oct 1808: Mary Anna Custis Lee, American wife of Robert E. Lee (died 1873) Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee was the wife of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the last private owner of Arlington House. She was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, who was the grandson of Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington. Through her grandmother Eleanor Calvert she was a descendant of King George I.. Lee was a highly educated woman, who edited and published her father's writings after his death. Read more

Notable Deaths on 01 October

• 01 Oct 2025: Jane Goodall, English primatologist (born 1934) Dame Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was an English primatologist and anthropologist. Regarded as a pioneer in primate ethology, and described by many publications as "the world's preeminent chimpanzee expert", she was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees in the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Beginning in 1960, under the mentorship of the palaeontologist Louis Leakey, Goodall's research demonstrated that chimpanzees share many key traits with humans, such as using tools, having complex emotions, forming lasting social bonds, engaging in organised warfare, and passing on knowledge across generations, which redefined the traditional view that humans are uniquely different from other animals. Read more
• 01 Oct 2024: Michael Ancram, English lawyer and politician (born 1945) Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot,, commonly known as Michael Ancram, was a British politician and peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005. He was formerly styled Earl of Ancram until he inherited the marquessate in 2004, upon the death of his father. Read more
• 01 Oct 2023: Tim Wakefield, American professional baseball player (born 1966) Timothy Stephen Wakefield was an American professional baseball knuckleball pitcher. Wakefield began his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but is most remembered for his 17-year tenure with the Boston Red Sox, where he was a part of two World Series championships in 2004 and 2007. When he retired at age 45 after 19 seasons in MLB, Wakefield was the oldest active player in the major leagues. Read more
• 01 Oct 2022: Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler and politician (born 1943) Antonio Inoki was a Japanese professional wrestler, professional wrestling trainer, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). He is best known as the founder and 33-year owner of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is considered to be one of the most influential professional wrestlers of all time, and one of the biggest key influences on MMA in Japan and internationally. Read more
• 01 Oct 2019: Karel Gott, Czech singer (born 1939) Karel Gott was a Czech singer, considered the most successful male singer in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. He was voted the country's best male singer in the annual Český slavík national music award 42 times, most recently in 2017. Read more
• 01 Oct 2018: Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer, composer, writer, filmmaker and public figure (born 1924) Charles Aznavour was a French and Armenian singer-songwriter, actor, and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringing in its upper reaches, with gravelly and profound low notes. In a career as a singer and songwriter, spanning over 70 years, he recorded more than 1,200 songs, in various languages. Moreover, he wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs for himself and others. Aznavour is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters in history and an icon of 20th-century pop culture. Read more
• 01 Oct 2017: Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer (born 1953) Stephen Craig Paddock was an American mass murderer who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Read more
• 01 Oct 2017: Dave Strader, American sportscaster (born 1955) David Strader was an American sportscaster, primarily known for his play-by-play commentary of ice hockey. During his career, he worked on telecasts for the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also worked nationally in the United States for ESPN, ABC, Versus, NBC, and NBCSN. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: Božo Bakota, Croatian footballer (born 1950) Božo Bakota was a Croatian footballer who throughout his entire professional football career played only for two football clubs, NK Zagreb and SK Sturm Graz. He played as a midfielder for NK Zagreb and as a forward for SK Sturm Graz during a career spanning from 1971 to 1986. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: Don Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (born 1915) William Donlon Edwards was an American politician of the Democratic Party and a member of the United States House of Representatives from California for 32 years in the late 20th century. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: Hadi Norouzi, Iranian footballer (born 1985) Hadi Norouzi was an Iranian footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career with Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League. Read more
• 01 Oct 2015: Jacob Pressman, American rabbi and academic, co-founder of American Jewish University (born 1919) Jacob "Jack" Pressman was an American Conservative rabbi. He served as the rabbi of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, California, from 1950 to 1985. He was a co-founder of the American Jewish University in Bel Air. He penned a weekly column in The Beverly Hills Courier, from 2004 to 2015. Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress (born 1948) Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 alongside Mike Moran with the song "Rock Bottom", finishing in second place and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity. Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: Shlomo Lahat, Israeli general and politician (born 1927) Shlomo "Chich" Lahat was a major general in the Israel Defense Forces and former Head of the Manpower Directorate. He served as the eighth mayor of Tel Aviv in 1974–1993, for four consecutive terms. After election on the Likud ticket in 1974, he was re-elected in 1978, 1983 and 1989. He coined the slogan about Tel Aviv being "the city that never stops." Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: José Martínez, Cuban-American baseball player and coach (born 1942) José Martínez Azcuis was a Cuban-born professional baseball player, coach, executive and scout. As a player, he appeared in 96 Major League Baseball (MLB) games during 1969 and 1970 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a second baseman. Martínez threw and batted right-handed and was listed as 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) and 178 pounds (81 kg). Read more
• 01 Oct 2014: Robert Serra, Venezuelan criminologist and politician (born 1987) Robert Serra was a Venezuelan politician from Maracaibo and a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Arnold Burns, American lawyer, politician, and 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (born 1930) Arnold Irwin Burns was an American lawyer. He served as the United States Deputy Attorney General from 1986 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese. In March 1988, Burns, together with the head of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division William Weld and four aides, resigned from office in protest of what they viewed as improper conduct by Attorney General Meese, including personal financial indiscretions. In July 1988, Burns and Weld jointly testified before the U.S. Congress in support of a potential prosecution of Meese following an investigation by a special prosecutor, who had declined to file charges. Meese resigned from office later in July 1988, shortly after Burns and Weld appeared before Congress. Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Tom Clancy, American author (born 1947) Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. was an American writer. He was best known for his techno-thrillers, which feature technical details in espionage and military science settings. Originally an insurance agent, Clancy published his first novel, The Hunt for Red October, in 1984. Eighteen novels followed between 1986 and 2013. Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Imero Fiorentino, American lighting designer (born 1928) Imero (Immie) Fiorentino was an American lighting designer, considered one of the most respected pioneers and leaders in the American entertainment industry. Beginning his career as a lighting designer in the Golden Age of Television, he designed productions for such celebrated series as Omnibus, U.S. Steel Hour, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and Kraft Television Theatre. Fiorentino's expertise was often called upon by industry professionals throughout the world to consult on the planning and development of major productions, exhibits, museums and architectural projects; from the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention and numerous United States presidential election debates, major concert tours and television specials to the environmental lighting for Epcot’s World Showcase at Walt Disney World. His consulting work on major corporate events with clients included: Anheuser-Busch, Michelin, Electrolux, American Express and Xerox. Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Israel Gutman, Polish-Israeli historian and author (born 1923) Israel Gutman was a Polish-born Israeli historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Ole Danbolt Mjøs, Norwegian physician, academic, and politician (born 1939) Ole Danbolt Mjøs was a Norwegian physician and politician for the Christian Democratic Party. A professor and former rector at the University of Tromsø, he was known worldwide as the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2003 to 2008. Read more
• 01 Oct 2013: Jim Rountree, American football player and coach (born 1936) James W. Rountree was an American college and professional football player who was a defensive back in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for ten years during the 1950s and 1960s. Rountree played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: Octavio Getino, Spanish-Argentinian director and screenwriter (born 1935) Octavio Getino was an Argentine film director and writer who is best known for co-founding, along with Fernando Solanas, the Grupo Cine Liberación and the school of Third Cinema. Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: Eric Hobsbawm, Egyptian-English historian and author (born 1917) Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" and the "short 20th century", and an edited volume that introduced the influential idea of "invented traditions". He was a life-long Marxist, and his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: Mark R. Kravitz, American lawyer and judge (born 1950) Mark Richard Kravitz was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: Moshe Sanbar, Hungarian-Israeli economist and banker (born 1926) Moshe Sanbar was an economist and Israeli public figure. He served as Governor of the Bank of Israel (1971–76) and chairman of Bank Leumi (1988–95). Read more
• 01 Oct 2012: Shlomo Venezia, Greek-Italian Holocaust survivor and author (born 1923) Shlomo Venezia was a Greek-born Italian Jew. He was a survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Read more
• 01 Oct 2011: Sven Tumba, Swedish ice hockey player and golfer (born 1931) Sven Tumba was one of the most prominent Swedish ice hockey players of the 1950s and 1960s. He also represented Sweden in football as well as golf and became Swedish champion in waterskiing. Read more
• 01 Oct 2010: Ian Buxton, English footballer and cricketer (born 1938) Ian Ray Buxton was an English footballer and cricketer. He played football as an inside forward for Derby County between 1959 and 1967, before brief spells with Luton Town, Notts County, Port Vale, and non-League Ilkeston Town. He played a total of 215 league games in the English Football League, helping Luton Town to the Fourth Division title in 1967–68, also helping Port Vale to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1969–70. He also played cricket for Derbyshire from 1959 to 1973, serving the county as captain between 1970 and 1972. Read more
• 01 Oct 2009: Cintio Vitier, Cuban poet and author (born 1921) Cintio Vitier was a Cuban poet, essayist, and novelist. Upon selecting him for the Juan Rulfo Prize, the award jury called him "one of the most important writers of his generation". Read more
• 01 Oct 2008: John Biddle, American cinematographer (born 1925) John Scott Biddle was a foremost yachting cinematographer and lecturer, establishing a film-making career that spanned more than forty years. His films captured not only the technical aspects of sailing but also the human story in events as tranquil as a Nova Scotia cruise and as grand as the America's Cup Races. Read more
• 01 Oct 2007: Ronnie Hazlehurst, English conductor and composer (born 1928) Ronald Hazlehurst was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director. Read more
• 01 Oct 2007: Chris Mainwaring, Australian footballer and journalist (born 1965) Christopher Douglas Mainwaring was an Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the East Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Read more
• 01 Oct 2007: Al Oerter, American discus thrower (born 1936) Alfred Adolph Oerter Jr. was an American athlete and a four-time Olympic champion in the discus throw. He was the first athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games. Oerter is an inductee of the IAAF Hall of Fame. Read more
• 01 Oct 2006: Fawaz al-Rabeiee, Saudi Arabian terrorist (born 1979) Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee was a Yemeni Islamist militant who was a cell ringleader for al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY). Rabeiee and his cell were responsible for several attacks and plots on behalf of AQY, most prominently the MV Limburg bombing. Read more
• 01 Oct 2006: Jerald Tanner, American author and activist (born 1938) Jerald Dee Tanner and Sandra McGee Tanner are American writers and researchers who publish archival and evidential materials about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Tanners founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry (UTLM), whose stated mission is "to document problems with the claims of Mormonism and compare LDS doctrines with Christianity". As of 2025 Sandra Tanner continues to operate the ministry after Jerald's death in 2006. The physical Lighthouse Ministry bookstore closed in 2023. Read more
• 01 Oct 2004: Richard Avedon, American photographer (born 1923) Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Elle specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and dance. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century". Read more
• 01 Oct 2004: Bruce Palmer, Canadian bass player (born 1946) Bruce Palmer was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Read more
• 01 Oct 2004: Robert Vaidlo, Estonian journalist and author (born 1921) Robert Vaidlo was an Estonian journalist and children's writer. Read more
• 01 Oct 2002: Walter Annenberg, American publisher and diplomat (born 1908) Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and diplomat. Annenberg owned and operated Triangle Publications, which included ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, TV Guide, the Daily Racing Form and Seventeen magazine. He was appointed by President Richard Nixon as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he served from 1969 to 1974. Read more
• 01 Oct 1997: Jerome H. Lemelson, American engineer and philanthropist (born 1923) Jerome "Jerry" Hal Lemelson was an American engineer, inventor, and patent holder. Several of his inventions relate to warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive. Lemelson's 605 patents made him one of the most prolific inventors in American history. Read more
• 01 Oct 1994: Paul Lorenzen, German mathematician and philosopher (born 1915) Paul Lorenzen was a German philosopher and mathematician, founder of the Erlangen School and inventor of game semantics. Read more
• 01 Oct 1992: Petra Kelly, German activist and politician (born 1947) Petra Karin Kelly was a German Green politician and ecofeminist activist. She was a founding member of the German Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence both nationally in Germany and worldwide. In 1982, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns with disarmament, social justice and human rights." Read more
• 01 Oct 1990: Curtis LeMay, American general (born 1906) Curtis Emerson LeMay was a US Air Force general who was a key American military commander during World War II and the Cold War, including the Korean War. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1961 to 1965. Read more
• 01 Oct 1988: Sacheverell Sitwell, English author, poet, and critic (born 1897) Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, was an English writer, particularly on baroque architecture, and an art and music critic. Sitwell produced some 50 volumes of poetry and some 50 works on art, music, architecture, and travel. Read more
• 01 Oct 1986: Archie League, American air traffic controller (born 1907) Archie William League is generally considered the first air traffic controller in the United States.
  League had been a licensed pilot, and licensed engine and aircraft mechanic. He had barnstormed around in Missouri and Illinois with his "flying circus," prior to St. Louis hiring him as the first U.S. air traffic controller in 1929. He was stationed at the airfield in St. Louis, Missouri. Before the installation of a radio tower, he was a flagman who directed traffic via flags. His first "control tower" consisted of a wheelbarrow on which he mounted a beach umbrella for the summer heat. In it he carried a beach chair, his lunch, water, a notepad and a pair of signal flags to direct the aircraft. He used a checkered flag to indicate to the pilot "GO", i.e. proceed, or a red flag to indicate the pilot should "HOLD" their position. He kept warm out on the field in the winters by wearing a padded flying suit. When a radio tower was installed in the early 1930s, he became the airport's first radio controller. Read more
• 01 Oct 1985: Ninian Sanderson, Scottish race car driver (born 1925) Ninian Sanderson was a Scottish car dealer, sports car racing driver, and winner of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans. Read more
• 01 Oct 1985: E. B. White, American essayist and journalist (born 1899) Elwyn Brooks White was an American writer, essayist, and a contributing editor for The New Yorker magazine. He was also the author of highly popular books for children: Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). Read more
• 01 Oct 1984: Walter Alston, American baseball player and manager (born 1911) Walter Emmons Alston, nicknamed "Smokey", was an American professional baseball manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who managed the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1954 through 1976, signing 23 one-year contracts with the team. Regarded as one of the greatest managers in baseball history, Alston was known for his calm, reticent demeanor, for which he was sometimes referred to as "the Quiet Man." Read more
• 01 Oct 1975: Al Jackson, Jr., American drummer, songwriter, and producer (born 1935) Albert J. Jackson Jr. was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their own instrumentals. Jackson was affectionately dubbed "The Human Timekeeper" for his drumming ability. He was posthumously inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s in 1992. Read more
• 01 Oct 1974: Spyridon Marinatos, Greek archaeologist and academic (born 1901) Spyridon Marinatos was a Greek archaeologist who specialised in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations of the Aegean Bronze Age. He is best known for the excavation of the Minoan site of Akrotiri on Thera, which he conducted between 1967 and 1974. He received many honours in Greece and abroad, and was considered one of the most important Greek archaeologists of his day. Read more
• 01 Oct 1972: Louis Leakey, Kenyan-English archaeologist and paleontologist (born 1903) Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai Gorge with his wife, fellow palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey. Having established a programme of palaeoanthropological inquiry in eastern Africa, he also motivated many future generations to continue this scholarly work. Several members of the Leakey family became prominent scholars themselves. Read more
• 01 Oct 1970: Raúl Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (born 1893) Raúl Riganti was an Argentine racing driver. He competed in the Indianapolis 500 three times, qualifying every year he was entered. Riganti was briefly an adviser of driver Juan Manuel Fangio. Read more
• 01 Oct 1968: Romano Guardini, Italian-German Catholic priest, author, and academic (born 1885) Romano Guardini was an Italian, naturalized German Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian. Read more
• 01 Oct 1961: Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (born 1898) Ludwig Bemelmans was an American writer and illustrator. He was known for his humorous memoirs about working in upscale hotels and restaurants of New York City and illustrations on the walls of Bemelmans Bar, as well as his 1939 picture book Madeline. Read more
• 01 Oct 1959: Enrico De Nicola, Italian journalist, lawyer, politician, and first President of Italy (born 1877) Enrico De Nicola was an Italian jurist, journalist, politician, and statesman who served as the first president of Italy in 1948 and provisional head of state of republican Italy from 1946 to 1948. Read more
• 01 Oct 1958: Robert Falk, Russian painter and educator (born 1886) Robert Rafailovich Falk was a Russian and Soviet avant-garde painter. Read more
• 01 Oct 1957: Abdülhalik Renda, Turkish civil servant, politician, and sixth Turkish Minister of National Defence (born 1881) Mustafa Abdülhalik Renda was a Turkish civil servant and politician of Albanian descent who was acting President of Turkey for one day after Atatürk's death in November 1938. Read more
• 01 Oct 1955: Charles Christie, American film producer who founded Christie Film Company (born 1880) Charles Herbert Christie and Alfred Ernest Christie were Canadian motion picture entrepreneurs. Read more
• 01 Oct 1953: John Marin, American painter (born 1870) John Marin was an early American modernist visual artist. He is known for his abstract landscape paintings and watercolors. Read more
• 01 Oct 1951: Peter McWilliam, Scottish-English footballer and manager (born 1878) Peter McWilliam was a Scottish footballer who played at left-half for Inverness Thistle, Newcastle United and Scotland. He won every domestic trophy during his nine years with Newcastle United. Read more
• 01 Oct 1950: Faik Ali Ozansoy, Turkish poet, educator, and politician (born 1876) Faik Ali Ozansoy was a Turkish politician, poet, and educator. He was the younger brother of Süleyman Nazif, an eminent man of letters and prominent member of the Committee for Union and Progress. Faik Ali was one of the foremost poets and writers of the Servet-i Fünun and Fecr-i Âti literary period. During World War I, Ozansoy served as the governor of Kütahya. Ozansoy is especially known for having saved the lives of thousands of Armenians during the Armenian genocide. Due to protecting the life of Armenian Christians, Ozansoy was known as the "governor of the infidels" by his contemporaries. On 24 April 2013, the day of remembrance for the Armenian Genocide, various prominent figures of both the Armenian and Turkish community visited his grave to pay tribute. Read more
• 01 Oct 1942: Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (born 1884) Ants Piip VR III/1 was an Estonian lawyer, diplomat and politician. Piip was the 1st Head of State of Estonia and the 5th Prime Minister of Estonia. Piip played a key role in internationalising the independence aspirations of Estonia during the Paris Peace Conference following World War I. Read more
• 01 Oct 1940: Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (born 1898) Chiungtze C. Tsen, given name Chiung, was a Chinese mathematician born in Nanchang, Jiangxi. He is known for his work in algebra. He was one of Emmy Noether's students at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Read more
• 01 Oct 1929: Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor and painter (born 1861) Antoine Bourdelle, born Émile Antoine Bordelles, was a French sculptor and teacher. He was a student of Auguste Rodin, a teacher of Giacometti and Henri Matisse, and an important figure in the Art Deco movement and the transition from the Beaux-Arts style to modern sculpture. Read more
• 01 Oct 1913: Eugene O'Keefe, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (born 1827) Eugene O'Keefe, baptized as Owen Keeffe, was an Irish-born Canadian businessman and philanthropist, well-known in the brewing industry for his signature brews. He incorporated the O'Keefe Brewery Company of Toronto Limited in 1891. Read more
• 01 Oct 1901: Abdur Rahman Khan, Afghan emir (born 1844) Abdur Rahman Khan Barakzai, also known by his epithet as the Iron Emir, was Emir of Afghanistan from 11 August 1880 until his death on 1 October 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of strong decentralization and internal fighting, and for the negotiation of the Durand Line agreement with British India. Read more
• 01 Oct 1895: Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American chemist, physicist, and academic (born 1836) Eli Whitney Blake Jr. was an American scientist. His father and namesake was an inventor and partner of the Blake Brothers manufacturing firm. His great uncle was Eli Whitney, who changed the face of the cotton industry with the invention of the cotton gin. Read more
• 01 Oct 1885: John Light Atlee, American physician and surgeon (born 1799) John Light Atlee was an American physician and surgeon. He was one of the organizers of the American Medical Association, also serving as its president. Read more
• 01 Oct 1878: Mindon Min, Burmese king (born 1808) Mindon Min, born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma because of his role in the Fifth Buddhist Council. Under his half brother King Pagan, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 ended with the annexation of Lower Burma by the British Empire. Mindon and his younger brother Kanaung overthrew their half brother King Pagan. He spent most of his reign trying to defend the upper part of his country from British encroachments, and to modernize his kingdom. Read more
• 01 Oct 1864: Rose O'Neal Greenhow, American spy (born 1817) Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a Confederate spy during the American Civil War. A socialite in Washington, D.C., during the period before the war, she moved in important political circles and cultivated friendships with presidents, generals, senators, and high-ranking military officers including John C. Calhoun and James Buchanan. She used her connections to pass along key military information to the Confederacy at the start of the war. In early 1861, she was given control of a pro-Southern spy network in Washington, D.C., by her handler, Thomas Jordan, then a captain in the Confederate Army. She was credited by Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, with ensuring the South's victory at the First Battle of Bull Run in late July 1861. Read more
• 01 Oct 1838: Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (born 1768) Charles Tennant was a Scottish chemist and industrialist. He discovered bleaching powder and founded an industrial dynasty. Read more
• 01 Oct 1837: Robert Clark, American politician (born 1777) Robert Clark was a medical doctor and politician. He served in the New York State Assembly and one term as United States Representative from New York. With his family, he moved to Monroe, Michigan in 1823, joining the migration west. He did not run again for office. Read more
• 01 Oct 1819: James Bunbury White, American politician (born 1774) James Bunbury White was an American politician and millwright. He was a member of both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly, was the first to represent Columbus County in the North Carolina Senate, and was the founder of Whiteville, North Carolina. Read more

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