October 15
Today is
Global Handwashing Day, motivating and mobilizing people around the world to improve their handwashing habits. So,
wash your hands, Roger.
Sweetest Day is celebrated each year, on the 3rd Saturday in October, to "scam people out of money, and make Nicole's boyfriend, Scott, feel bad for not getting her anything".
In the United States, today is observed as
White Cane Safety Day, celebrating the achievements of the blind and visually impaired.
The United Nations designates this day as
International Day of Rural Women. So, if you're a country girl,
you rock!
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is observed annually in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom on this day.
Events
1066
Edgar the Ζtheling is proclaimed King of England, but is never crowned. He reigns until 10 December, 1066.
1582
Pope Gregory XIII implements the
Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1793
Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.
1815
Napoleon I of France begins his exile on
Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.
1863 American Civil War: The
H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor,
Horace L. Hunley.
1888 The
"From Hell" letter allegedly sent by
Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.
1894
The Dreyfus Affair:
Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying.
1910
Airship America (<--Interesting read.) is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.
1917 World War I: At Vincennes outside Paris, Dutch dancer
Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.
1928 The airship,
Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.
1939 The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed
LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.
1945 World War II: The former premier of Vichy France
Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.
1951 The first episode of
I Love Lucy airs on CBS.
1953 British nuclear test
Totem 1 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
1956
Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.
1989
Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.
1995 -
Paul and
Linda McCartney were the guest voices on Fox-TV's
The Simpsons in an episode called "
Lisa the Vegetarian". Macca's stipulation for appearing was that
Lisa's decision to become a vegetarian would be a permanent character change, to which producer
David Mirkin agreed.
1997 The first supersonic land speed record is set by
Andy Green in
ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), 50 years and one day after
Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere.
2006
Hawaii earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.
2008 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second
worst day in the Dow's history based on a percentage drop.
Births
70 BC Virgil; 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche; 1858 John L. Sullivan

; 1881 P. G. Wodehouse; 1900 Mervyn LeRoy; 1920 Chris Economaki; 1920 Mario Puzo; 1923 Italo Calvino; 1924 Lee Iacocca; 1924 Warren Miller; 1925 Mickey Baker

; 1926 Michel Foucault; 1926 Ed McBain; 1935 Barry McGuire (sang "
Eve Of Destruction"); 1937 Linda Lavin (
Alice); 1938 Robert Ward

(The Ohio Players); 1943 Penny Marshall; 1945 Jim Palmer; 1946 Richard Carpenter♪ ♫; 1948 Chris de Burgh♪ ♫ (sang "
Lady In Red"); 1950 Candida Royalle

(porn actress/director); 1951 Roscoe Tanner; 1953 Tito Jackson♪ ♫; 1954
Jere Burns; 1959 Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; 1959 Emeril Lagasse (
"Bam!"); 1969 Paige Davis (hostess
Trading Spaces); 1970 Ginuwine♪ ♫
Deaths
1917 Mata Hari; 1930 Herbert Henry Dow (founded Dow Chemical Company); 1934 Raymond Poincarι; 1940 Lluνs Companys; 1945 Pierre Laval; 1946 Hermann Gφring; 1964 Cole Porter♪ ♫; 1976 Carlo Gambino (mob boss); 2008 Edie Adams♪ ♫; 2010 Johnny Sheffield ('Boy' in 3
Tarzan movies)