What famous people do you share your birthday with?

* 625 - Honorius I becomes Pope.
* 939 - Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
* 1553 - Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
* 1644 - Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
* 1682 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.
* 1795 - The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
* 1797 - Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
* 1810 - United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
* 1838 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state.
* 1870 - Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
* 1904 - First New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes biggest in United States of America, and one of the biggest in world.
* 1916 - Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
* 1924 - The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.
* 1936 - Mrs Wallis Simpson filed for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.
* 1946 - First commercially-sponsored television program airs (Geographically Speaking, sponsored by Bristol-Myers).
* 1948 - Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
* 1949 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
* 1953 - British nuclear test Totem 2 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
* 1954 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
* 1958 - Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who was appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
* 1961 - NASA launched the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
* 1962 - Major Rudolph Anderson of the US Air Force became the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane was shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
* 1971 - Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
* 1973 - The Canyon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
* 1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
* 1990 - Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
* 1991 - Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union.
* 1995 - Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
* 1997 - Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
* 1998 - Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor of Germany for the first time.
* 2002 - Anaheim Angels win the baseball World Series
* 2002 - Trades unionist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as President of Brazil.
* 2002 - LWT (London Weekend Television) is broadcast for the last time. It is replaced by ITV1 (London Weekends). All other ITV Regions (except UTV, Channel, Scottish TV & Grampian TV) broadcast regionally for the last time before joining a single networked ITV1.
* 2004 - Curse of the Bambino: The Boston Red Sox defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of the World Series, winning their first championship since 1918.
* 2005 - Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers

[edit] Births

* 1156 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (d. 1222)
* 1401 - Catherine of Valois, queen of Henry V of England (d. 1437)
* 1466 - Erasmus, Dutch humanist and theologian (d. 1536)
* 1728 - James Cook, British naval captain and explorer (d. 1779)
* 1744 - Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
* 1760 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
* 1782 - Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
* 1811 - Isaac Singer, American inventor (d. 1875)
* 1811 - Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
* 1842 - Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (d. 1928)
* 1844 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1916)
* 1854 - Sir William Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade (d.1914)
* 1858 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1919)
* 1873 - Emily Post, etiquette author (d. 1960)
* 1877 - George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
* 1894 - Oliver Leese, British general (d. 1978)
* 1906 - Earle Cabell, American politician (d. 1975)
* 1910 - Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
* 1911 - Leif Erickson, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
* 1914 - Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
* 1917 - Oliver Tambo, South African freedom fighter (d. 1993)
* 1918 - Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
* 1920 - Nanette Fabray, American actress
* 1920 - K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India
* 1921 - Warren Allen Smith, encyclopedist (Philosopedia.org)
* 1922 - Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
* 1922 - Ralph Kiner, Major League Baseball player
* 1923 - Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (d. 1997)
* 1924 - Ruby Dee, American actress
* 1924 - Michel Galabru, French actor
* 1925 - Albert Medwin, American inventor
* 1926 - H.R. Haldeman, American political personality (d. 1993)
* 1928 - Gilles Vigneault, Québécois poet, singer and songwriter
* 1931 - Nawal el-Saadawi, Egyptian writer
* 1932 - Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
* 1932 - Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor
* 1933 - Floyd Cramer, American popular pianist (d. 1997)
* 1939 - John Cleese, British actor and writer
* 1940 - John Gotti, American gangster (d. 2002)
* 1945 - Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
* 1946 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
* 1946 - Ivan Reitman, film actor, producer and director
* 1949 - Garry Tallent, American bass player (E Street Band)
* 1951 - Carlos Frenk, Mexican/British cosmologist
* 1950 - Fran Lebowitz, American writer
* 1952 - Hameed Haroon, Pakistani publisher
* 1952 - Roberto Benigni, Italian director and actor
* 1953 - Peter Firth, British actor
* 1957 - Jeff East, American actor
* 1957 - Glenn Hoddle, English footballer
* 1958 - Simon Le Bon, English singer (Duran Duran)
* 1960 - Tom Nieto, baseball player
* 1963 - Marla Maples, American actress and model
* 1964 - Mark Taylor, Australian test cricket captain (1944-1999)
* 1967 - Scott Weiland, American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver)
* 1970 - Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth)
* 1972 - Evan Coyne Maloney, American filmmaker
* 1972 - Brad Radke, baseball player
* 1972 - Marika Krook, Finnish singer (Edea)
* 1972 - Maria Mutola, Mozambican athlete
* 1973 - Jason Johnson - baseball pitcher (Cincinnati Reds)
* 1977 - Jiří Jarosík, Czech footballer
* 1978 - Vanessa-Mae, Singapore musician
* 1978 - Sergei Samsonov, National Hockey League player
* 1980 - Tanel Padar, Estonian singer
* 1980 - Cassia Riley, American model
* 1982 - Patrick Fugit, American actor
* 1984 - Kelly Osbourne, English television personality

[edit] Deaths

* 939 - King Athelstan I of England
* 1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
* 1312 - John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
* 1327 - Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert I of Scotland
* 1331 - Abu al-Fida, Arab historian and geographer (b. 1273)
* 1430 - Vytautas the Great, Grand Prince of Lithuania
* 1439 - Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1397)
* 1449 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid ruler and astronomer (b. 1394)
* 1505 - Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
* 1553 - Michael Servetus, Spanish theologian and doctor (burned at the stake) (b. 1511)
* 1561 - Lope de Aguirre, Spanish conquistador
* 1573 - Laurentius Petri, first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1499)
* 1605 - Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed, Mughal Emperor (born 1542)
* 1617 - Ralph Winwood, English politician
* 1670 - Vavasor Powell, Welsh non-conformist leader (b. 1617)
* 1674 - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
* 1675 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
* 1789 - John Cook, American farmer and Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
* 1917 - Arthur Rhys Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)
* 1949 - Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
* 1949 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
* 1953 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
* 1962 - Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
* 1968 - Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
* 1975 - Rex Stout, American novelist (b. 1886)
* 1977 - James M. Cain, American novelist (b. 1892)
* 1980 - Steve Peregrin Took, English singer and songwriter (b. 1949)
* 1980 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
* 1980 - Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, author and broadcaster (b. 1924)
* 1990 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
* 1990 - Elliott Roosevelt, American war hero, author, and advertising executive (b. 1910)
* 1990 - Jacques Demy, French film director (b. 1931)
* 1990 - Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (b. 1922)
* 1992 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)
* 1996 - Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
* 1996 - Arthur Tremblay, French Canadian politician (b. 1917)
* 1999 - Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
* 1999 - Charlotte Perriand, French architect and designer (b. 1903)
* 2000 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
* 2003 - Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
* 2004 - Serginho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1974)

[edit] Holidays and observances

* R.C. saints - October 27th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
o St. Abraham the Poor
o St. Abban of Murnevin
o St. Capitolina
o St. Desiderius
o St. Elesbaan
o St. Florentius
o St. Frumentius, the saint who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia.
o St. Gaudiosus
o St. Namatius
o St. Odhran
o St. Vincent, Sabina, & Christeta

* Turkmenistan - Independence Day (from USSR, 1991)
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Independence Day (from Britain, 1979)