October 30

Christopher Columbus born (1451); President John Adams born (1735); Orson Welles broadcasts The War of the Worlds radio hoax, causing mass panic in US (1938); Muhammad Ali defeats George Foreman in historic Rumble in the Jungle (1974); HBD Ivanka Trump (1981).

October 28

RIP English philosopher John Locke (1704); "Gulliver’s Travels" is first published (1726); Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk born (1914); HBD Bill Gates (1955); HBD Julia Roberts (1967).

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini was a famed magician/illusionist who became popular at the turn into the 20th century. He was also involved in World War I. Houdini would train American soldiers and show them how to escape handcuffs, in case they were caught by the Germans.

October 29

Sir Walter Raleigh is executed (1618); International Red Cross is formed (1863); "Joy of Painting" host Bob Ross born (1942); HBD Gabrielle Union (1972); Astronaut John Glenn becomes the oldest person in space at age 77 (1998).

Barack Hussein Obama II

 (born August 4, 1961) was the 44th President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

October 25

Artist Pablo Picasso born (1881); Benjamin O. Davis, Sr becomes first African American general in US Army (1940); HBD Katy Perry (1984); Hall of Fame golfer Payne Stewart dies in plane crash (1999).

October 24

First National Women’s Rights Convention begins (1850); Comedian and Tonight Show host Johnny Carson born (1925); HBD soccer legend Pelé (1940); Suicide bombings at US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon kills 241 US servicemen (1983); 130 die in Moscow theater hostage crisis (2002).

October 24

Black Thursday US stock market crash, exchange falls 11% in one day (1929); HBD rapper Drake (1986); RIP Jackie Robinson (1972); RIP Rosa Parks (2005); Bloody Friday worldwide stock market crash with most indices dropping 10% in single day (2008).

October 22

Metropolitan Opera House opens in NYC (1883); Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine born (1917); Actress Annette Funicello born (1942); President Kennedy addresses nation on Cuban Missile Crisis (1962); HBD reggae artist Shaggy (1968).

October 21

USS Constitution first launched (1797); Thomas Edison files patents for incandescent light bulb (1879); Actress Carrie Fisher born (1956); RIP poet and novelist Jack Kerouac (1969); HBD Kim Kardashian (1980).

October 18

Moby-Dick is first published (1851); US purchases Alaska from Russia (1867); RIP Thomas Edison (1931); HBD Hall of Fame football player and coach Mike Ditka (1938); HBD Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn (1984).

October 16

Marie Antoinette is executed (1793); Author Oscar Wilde born (1854); Walt Disney Co. is founded (1923); HBD actress Angela Lansbury (1925); RIP Tony, Academy, and Emmy Award-winning actress Shirley Booth (1992).

October 17

HBD Mae Jemison, first African-American woman in space (1956); HBD Eminem (1972); Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize (1979); Earthquake near San Francisco kills 63 (1989); RIP civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy (1990).

October 15

I Love Lucy airs for first time (1951); HBD Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, the Duchess of York (1959); Black Panther Party is created (1966); Wayne Gretzky becomes all-time NHL points leaders (1989); RIP Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (2018).

October 11

Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria kills 230,000 (1138); Eleanor Roosevelt born (1884); Saturday Night Live premieres (1975); Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes first American woman to perform spacewalk (1984); HBD rapper Cardi B (1992).

October 10

United States Naval Academy opens (1845); American actress Helen Hayes born (1900); RIP Orson Welles (1985); Hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship ends (1985); RIP Superman actor Christopher Reeve (2004).

October 9

John Lennon born (1940); Landslide in Itlay kills over 2,000 (1963); Che Guevara is executed (1967); Oskar Schindler dies (1974); Malala Yousafzai survives assassination attempt (2012).

Sigourney Weaver

Did you know...
... that today is the Birthday of Sigourney Weaver (1949)? Born Susan Alexandra Weaver, this American actress, best known for her role as Ellen Ripley in the Alien film series, began using the name "Sigourney Weaver" in 1963 after a minor character (Sigourney Howard) in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. Happy birthday, Sigourney!

October 8

RIP American politician John Hancock (1793); HBD civil rights leader Jesse Jackson (1941); HBD Sigourney Weaver (1949); Cats debuts on Broadway (1982); Office of Homeland Security is created in wake of 9/11 attacks (2001).

Albert Einstein

(14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and the most influential physicist of the 20th century.

October 7

RIP Edgar Allan Poe (1849); World’s oldest airlines still operating, KLM, is founded (1919); HBD Nobel Prize-winner Desmond Tutu (1931); Mother Teresa starts her Missionaries of Charity (1950); Russian President Vladimir Putin born (1952).

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word dalai meaning “Ocean” and the Tibetan word bla-ma (with a silent “b”) meaning “teacher”

October 4

RIP Rembrandt (1669); Orient Express makes first run from Paris to Romania (1883); Hollywood star Charlton Heston born (1923); Sputnik 1 is first satellite to orbit Earth (1957); RIP Janis Joplin (1970).

Chubby Checker

 (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock 'n roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularising many dance styles including the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B hit "The Twist" and the Pony with hit "Pony Time". In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1958, an honor it maintained for an August 2013 update of the list.^[1] He also popularized the "Limbo Rock" and its trademark limbo dance, as well as various dance styles such as The Fly.

Ernest Evans, later known as Chubby Checker, was born in Spring Gully, South Carolina.^[2] He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans,^[3] and two brothers.^[4] By age eight Evans formed a street-corner harmony group, and by the time he entered high school, took piano lessons at Settlement Music School. He entertained his classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino.^[5] One of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School was Fabiano Forte, who would become a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s as Fabian.^[4]

After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, including Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market on Ninth Street and at the Produce Market, with songs and jokes. It was his boss at the Produce Market, "Tony A.", who gave Evans the nickname "Chubby". The owner of Fresh Farm Poultry, Henry Colt, was so impressed by the boy's performances for the customers that he, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records,^[6] arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. At this recording session Evans got his stage name from Clark's wife, who asked Evans what his name was. "Well", he replied, "my friends call me 'Chubby'". As he had just completed a Fats Domino impression, she smiled and said, "As in Checker?" That little play on words ("chubby" describing a degree of fatness and "checkers" being, like "dominoes", a tabletop game) got an instant laugh, and stuck: from then on, Evans would use the name "Chubby Checker".^[7]

October 3

HBD American singer/songwriter Chubby Checker (1941); HBD Gwen Stefani (1969); East and West Germany are unified (1990); OJ Simpson acquitted of murdering ex-wife and her friend (1995); RIP Psycho actress Janet Leigh (2004).

October 2

Mahatma Gandhi born (1869); HBD fashion designer Donna Karan (1948); Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first African-American Supreme Court justice (1967); Rock Hudson is first major US celebrity to die from AIDS (1985); RIP Tom Petty (2017).

October 1

Yosemite National Park is established (1890); HBD Jimmy Carter (1924); HBD Julie Andrews (1935); Walt Disney World opens (1971); 58 killed, 851 injured in mass shooting in Las Vegas (2017).