October 23

is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining.

Events

4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the proleptic Julian calendar), the universe was created, according to the archbishop James Ussher in his Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
42 BC - Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi - Brutus's army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. He commits suicide.
425 - Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
502 - The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discarges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
1086 - At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI
1641 - Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - anniversary commemorated by Irish Protestants for over 200 years
1694 - American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phips, fail to seize Quebec.
1707 - The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
1739 - War of Jenkins' Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
1812 - Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he was now the commandant of Paris. De Malet was executed on October 29.
1813 - The Pacific Fur Company trading post in Astoria, Oregon is turned over to the rival British North West Company (the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest was dominated for the next three decades by the United Kingdom).
1855 - Kansas Free State forces set up a competing government under their Topeka, Kansas, constitution, which outlaws slavery in the United States territory.
1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Westport - Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
1867 - 72 Senators were summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
1906 - Alberto Santos-Dumont flies the 14-bis in the first officially-recognised heavier-than-air flight at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
1911 - First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot takes off from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Turco-Italian War.
1915 - Woman's suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march up Fifth Avenue to demand the right to vote.
1929 - Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
1929 - The first transcontinental air service begins from New York City to Los Angeles.
1930 - The first miniature golf tournament finished in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1935 - Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz are fatally shot in a bar in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
1941 - World War II: Georgy Zhukov assumes command of Red Army efforts to stop the German advance into Russia.
1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein starts - At El Alamein in Egypt, British forces begin a major offensive against Axis forces.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf begins - The largest naval battle in history begins in Leyte Gulf, the Red Army enters Hungary
1946 - The United Nations General Assembly convened in New York for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing Meadow.
1956 - Thousands of Hungarians protest Soviet influence and occupation in their nation (Hungarian Revolution is put down on November 4).
1958 - Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters The Smurfs.
1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Silver Bayonet - The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launch a new operation, seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleku Province in II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
1973 - Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations about the scandal.
1973 - A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
1983 - Lebanon Civil War: U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut hit by truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. servicemen. French barracks also hit the same morning, killing 58.
1987 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork on a 58-42 vote.
1989 - The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic).
1992 - Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
1993 - The Toronto Blue Jays win their second straight World Series.
1996 - The civil trial of former American football player O.J. Simpson opens in Santa Monica, California.
1998 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land-for-peace" agreement.
1998 - Abortion in the United States: In Amherst, New York, abortion doctor Barnett Slepian is killed in his home by a sniper.
1998 - Swatch Internet Time introduced
1999 - Apple Computer's Mac OS 9 is released and sold
2001 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks encouraged by American President Bill Clinton.
2001 - iPod released in USA.
2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.
2004 - Brazil's "Operation Cajuana" launches its first rocket into space, the VSB-30, just 14 months after its space program was devastated by a deadly launch pad accident.
2004 - A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

Births

1698 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d. 1782)
1705 - Maximilian Ulysses Reichsgraf von Browne, Austrian field marshal (d. 1757)
1715 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (d. 1730)
1762 - Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)
1766 - Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)
1771 - Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)
1790 - Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator and lexicographer (d. 1860)
1796 - Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1857)
1801 - Albert Lortzing, German composer (d. 1851)
1805 - John Bartlett, American lexicographer (d. 1905)
1813 - Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d. 1848)
1817 - Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer and encyclopedist
1835 - Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States
1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)
1844 - Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
1865 - Neltje Blanchan, U.S. nature writer (d. 1918)
1870 - Bishop Francis Kelley, the Second Bishop of Oklahoma (d. 1948)
1875 - Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist
1876 - Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d. 1970)
1880 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)
1885 - Lawren Harris, Group of Seven Founder, Canadian Painter (d. 1970)
1892 - Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
1896 - André Lévêque, French engineer and scientist (d. 1930)
1904 - Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
1905 - Felix Bloch, Swiss-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
1906 - Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
1908 - Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
1909 - Zellig Harris, American linguist
1923 - Ned Rorem, American composer
1923 - Frank Sutton, American actor (d. 1974)
1925 - Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)
1927 - Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher
1931 - Jim Bunning, baseball player and U.S. Senator
1931 - Diana Dors, British actress
1934 - Samuel Anthony, Jr. American Architect
1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez, Puerto Rican golfer
1936 - Philip Kaufman, American film director
1940 - Pelé, Brazilian footballer
1941 - Igor Smirnov, President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
1942 - Michael Crichton, American writer
1946 - Melquiades Martinez, U.S. Senator from Florida
1946 - Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela and widow of Samora Machel
1948 - Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born technological entrepreneur
1949 - Nick Tosches, American writer
1951 - Fatmir Sejdiu, Kosova president
1951 - Charly Garcia, Argentine rock star
1954 - Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director and producer
1956 - Dwight Yoakam, American singer, songwriter, and actor
1959 - Sam Raimi, American film director and producer
1959 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American musical parodist
1962 - Doug Flutie, American football player
1964 - Robert Trujillo, American bass guitarist (Metallica)
1965 - Al Leiter, baseball player
1974 - Sander Westerveld, Dutch soccer player
1975 - Jessicka, American singer, songwriter, and artist Scarling.
1975 - Keith Van Horn, American basketball player
1975 - Odalys Garcia, Cuban actress, model and singer
1976 - Ryan R. Reynolds, Canadian actor
1978 - Steve Harmison, English cricketer
1978 - Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
1979 - Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
1984 - Izabel Goulart, Brazilian supermodel
1987 - Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (Play)
1990 - Stevie Brock, American singer

Deaths

42 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)
930 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)
1456 - Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)
1550 - Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)
1581 - Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)
1616 - Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)
1688 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)
1730 - Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)
1764 - Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)
1774 - Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b. 1715)
1872 - Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)
1910 - Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (b. 1853)
1915 - W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b. 1848)
1921 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b. 1840)
1939 - Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)
1944 - Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
1950 - Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)
1978 - Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b. 1909)
1983 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b. 1947)
1984 - James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)
1986 - Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893
1990 - Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b. 1918)
1997 - Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)
1998 - Barnett Slepian, American physician (b. 1946)
2001 - Ronald William Kirby, British artist (b. 1928)
2003 - Bill Nicholson, English football player and manager (b. 1919)
2003 - Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1944)
2004 - Robert Merrill, American baritone (b. 1919)
2005 - Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b. 1945)
2005 - John Muth, American economist (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

R.C. Saints - Saint Giovanni da Capistrano; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Also see October 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Hungary - National Day (revolution of 1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in 1989)
Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio in Western tropical astrology.
Chemistry: Mole Day
French Republican Calendar - Céleri (Celery) Day, second day in the Month of Brumaire

External links

BBC: On This Day

October 22 - October 24 - September 23 - November 23 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: October 23

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links