October 9
Today is
World Post Day, recognizing the importance of the postal services.
Fire Prevention Week begins today in the United States, and Canadia.
The United States, Iceland, & Norway observe today as
Leif Erikson Day, celebrating the Norse explorer who led the first Europeans thought to have set foot in North America.
Events
1410 – The first known mention of the
Prague astronomical clock.
1604 –
Supernova 1604, the most recent
supernova to be observed in the Milky Way.
1804 –
Hobart, capital of
Tasmania, is founded.
1812 –
War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships:
HMS Detroit and
HMS Caledonia.
1874 –
General Postal Union is created as a result of the
Treaty of Bern.
1919 –
Black Sox Scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.
1936 – Generators at
Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles.
1963 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the
Vajont Dam causes a
giant wave of water to overtop it.
1967 – A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary
Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
1969 – In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the
"Chicago Eight" that began on September 24.
1970 – The
Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
1980 –
Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the
Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
2012 – Members of the Pakistani Taliban make a failed attempt to assassinate an outspoken schoolgirl,
Malala Yousafzai.
Births
1859 – Alfred Dreyfus; 1873 – Charles Rudolph Walgreen (founded Walgreens); 1890 – Aimee Semple McPherson; 1911 – Joe Rosenthal; 1920 – Jason Wingreen (voice of 'Boba Fett' in
The Empire Strikes Back); 1922 – Philip "Fyuvsh" Finkel; 1939 – O. V. Wright♪ ♫;
1940 – John Lennon♪ ♫; 1941 – Trent Lott; 1944 – John Entwistle
(The Who); 1944 – Nona Hendryx♪ ♫(Labelle); 1948 – Jackson Browne
; 1949 – Rod Temperton
(Heatwave); 1952 – Sharon Osbourne; 1953 – Tony Shalhoub (
Monk); 1954 – Scott Bakula (
Quantum Leap, NCIS: New Orleans); 1954 – John O'Hurley ('J. Peterman' on
Seinfeld); 1957 – Ini Kamoze (
sang rapped "
Here Comes The Hotstepper"); 1958 – Alan Nunnelee; 1958 – Mike Singletary
; 1964 – Guillermo del Toro; 1966 – David Cameron; 1969 – PJ Harvey♪ ♫; 1969 – Steve McQueen (no, not
that one, this one directed
12 Years A Slave); 1970 – Annika Sörenstam;
1975 – Sean Lennon♪ ♫; 1993 – Scotty McCreery♪ ♫
Deaths
1941 – Helen Morgan♪ ♫; 1967 – Che Guevara; 1967 – Joseph Pilates (yeah,
that Pilates); 1974 – Oskar Schindler (yeah, the one with the list); 1987 – Clare Boothe Luce; 1988 – Felix Wankel (of Wankel engine fame); 2000 – David Dukes (the actor, not the racist); 2005 – Louis Nye; 2007 – Carol Bruce ('Mother Carlson' on
WKRP In Cincinnati); 2014 – Jan Hooks