today.nukz.net: Almanac October 4

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".

Events

610 – Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
1227 – Assassination of Caliph al-Adil.
1363 – End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.
1511 – Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.
1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
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.
1636 – The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.
1693 – Battle of Marsaglia: Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.
1725 – Foundation of Rosario in Argentina.
1777 – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
1779 – The Fort Wilson Riot takes place.
1795 – Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence with a "Whiff of Grapeshot", using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention).
1824 – Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.
1830 – Creation of the Kingdom of Belgium after separation from the Netherlands.
1853 – Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
1876 – Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.
1883 – First run of the Orient Express.
1883 – First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.
1895 – The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
1917 – The Battle of Broodseinde fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.
1918 – An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey. Fires and explosions continue for three days forcing massive evacuations and spreading ordnance over a wide area, pieces of which were still being found as of 2007.
1927 – Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.
1940 – Meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini at the Brenner Pass.
1941 – Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.
1943 – World War II: U.S. captures Solomon Islands.
1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
1957 – Avro Arrow roll-out ceremony at Avro Canada plant in Malton, Ontario.
1957 – Leave It To Beaver premieres on CBS.
1958 – Fifth Republic of France is established.
1960 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 of 72 on board.
1963 – Hurricane Flora, kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.
1965 – Becoming the first Pope to ever visit the United States of America and the Western hemisphere, Pope Paul VI arrives in New York.
1966 – Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.
1967 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
1974 – Founding of the New Democracy party in Greece.
1976 – Official launch of the Intercity 125 High Speed Train (HST).
1983 – Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019 km/h), driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.
1985 – Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.
1988 – U.S. televangelist Jim Bakker is indicted for fraud.
1991 – The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.
1992 – The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16 year civil war in Mozambique.
1992 – El Al Flight 1862: an El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.
1993 – Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
1997 – The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million in cash which had been taken.
2001 – NATO confirms invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
2001 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: a Sibir Airlines Tupolev TU-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. 78 people are killed.
2003 – Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
2010 – The Ajka plant accident in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.

Births

1160 – Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France (d. 1220)
1276 – Margaret of Brabant, Queen of Germany (d. 1311)
1289 – King Louis X of France (d. 1316)
1331 – James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormonde (d. 1382)
1379 – King Henry III of Castile (d. 1406)
1515 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)
1542 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (d. 1621)
1550 – King Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)
1562 – Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (d. 1647)
1570 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal (d. 1637)
1585 – Anna of Tyrol, Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1618)
1625 – Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy (d. 1661)
1626 – Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (d. 1712)
1657 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (d. 1747)
1720 – Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (d. 1778)
1723 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (d. 1798)
1759 – Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician (d. 1803)
1787 – François Guizot, French statesman (d. 1874)
1807 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, French Canadian politician (d. 1864)
1814 – Jean-François Millet, French painter (d. 1875)
1822 – Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (d. 1893)
1836 – Juliette Adam, French writer (d. 1936)
1841 – Prudente José de Morais Barros, President of Brazil (d. 1912)
1841 – Maria Sophie of Bavaria, queen of the Two Sicilies (d. 1925)
1858 – Michael I. Pupin, Serbian-born telephone pioneer (d. 1935)
1861 – Walter Rauschenbusch, Christian Theologian and Baptist Minister (d. 1918)
1861 – Frederic Remington, American painter (d. 1909)
1862 – Edward Stratemeyer, American author (d. 1930)
1868 – Marcelo T. de Alvear, Argentine politician (d. 1942)
1875 – Bob McKinney, American baseballer (d. 1946)
1876 – Hugh McCrae, Australian writer (d. 1958)
1877 – Razor Smith, English cricketer (d. 1946)
1880 – Damon Runyon, American writer (d. 1946)
1881 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (d. 1948)
1881 – Henry Potter, American golfer (d. 1955)
1883 – Charles Healy, American water polo player (death date unknown)
1884 – Subramaniya Siva, Indian revolutionary figure (d. 1925)
1886 – Luis Alberni, Spanish actor (d. 1962)
1888 – Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1954)
1890 – Dr. Alan L. Hart, American transsexual, radiologist, and novelist (d. 1962)
1892 – Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician (d. 1934)
1892 – Hermann Glauert, British aerodynamicist (d. 1934)
1895 – Buster Keaton, American comedian (d. 1966)
1895 – Richard Sorge, German spy who worked for the Soviet Union (d. 1944)
1903 – Bona Arsenault, French Canadian politician, historian and genealogist (d. 1993)
1903 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American computer pioneer (d. 1995)
1903 – Pierre Garbay, French army general and military governor of Paris (d. 1980)
1903 – Ernst Kaltenbrunner, German military officer and senior Nazi (d. 1946)
1910 – Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1911 – Sir Michael Hordern, British actor (d. 1995)
1913 – Martial Célestin, Prime Minister of Haiti (d. 2011)
1914 – Jim Cairns, Australian politician (d. 2003)
1914 – Brendan Gill, American writer (d. 1997)
1916 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2009)
1916 – Jan Murray, American comedian (d. 2006)
1916 – George Sidney, American film director (d. 2002)
1917 – Violeta Parra, Chilean folklorist and visual artist (d. 1967)
1918 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
1922 – Malcolm Baldrige, 26th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1987)
1922 – Shin Kyuk-Ho, Japanese businessman
1923 – Charlton Heston, American actor (d. 2008)
1924 – Donald Sobol, American children's author (d. 2012)
1928 – Alvin Toffler, American writer
1928 – Torben Ulrich, Danish musician and filmmaker
1929 – Scotty Beckett, American child actor (d. 1968)
1929 – Leroy Van Dyke, American singer
1931 – Sir Terence Conran, English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer
1931 – Basil D'Oliveira, South African born cricketer (d. 2011)
1931 – Richard Rorty, American academic (d. 2007)
1932 – Milan Chvostek, Canadian television director
1934 – Sam Huff, American football player
1934 – Dimosthenis Sofianos, Greek journalist
1936 – Charlie Hurley, Irish footballer
1937 – Jackie Collins, British author
1937 – Jim Sillars, Scottish politician
1938 – Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate
1940 – Vic Hadfield, Canadian ice hockey player
1940 – Silvio Marzolini, Argentine footballer
1940 – Steve Swallow, American jazz bassist and composer
1940 – Alberto Vilar, Cuban-American investor and philanthropist
1941 – Roy Blount, Jr., American writer
1941 – Karl Oppitzhauser, Austrian racing driver
1941 – Anne Rice, American novelist
1941 – Robert Wilson, American theatre director
1942 – Bernice Johnson Reagon, American musician (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
1942 – Karl W. Richter, American aviator (d. 1967)
1942 – Johanna Sigurdardottir, Prime Minister of Iceland
1942 – Christopher Stone, American actor (d. 1995)
1943 – H. Rap Brown, American civil rights activist
1943 – Karl-Gustav Kaisla, Finnish ice hockey referee (d. 2012)
1943 – Dietmar Mürdter, German footballer
1943 – Florian Pittis, Romanian artist (d. 2007)
1943 – Jimy Williams, American baseball manager
1944 – Tony La Russa, American baseball manager
1944 – Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (d. 2006)
1945 – Clifton Davis, American actor
1946 – Chuck Hagel, American politician
1946 – Michael Mullen, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1946 – Susan Sarandon, American actress and activist
1946 – Bridget St John, English singer/songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Julien Clerc, French singer
1947 – Jim Fielder, American bassist (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1947 – Ann Widdecombe, British politician
1948 – Linda McMahon, American CEO of WWE
1948 – Duke Robillard, American blues guitarist
1949 – Armand Assante, American actor
1949 – Stephen Gyllenhaal, American director
1949 – Marion Pruett, American spree killer (d. 1999)
1950 – Meg Bennett, American writer and actress
1951 – Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov, Kazakh poet
1951 – Gil Moore, Canadian musician (Triumph)
1953 – Tchéky Karyo, Turkish-French actor
1953 – Andreas Vollenweider, Swiss harpist/musician
1955 – Jorge Valdano, Argentine footballer
1956 – Christoph Waltz, Austrian actor
1957 – Bill Fagerbakke, American actor
1957 – Russell Simmons, American entrepreneur
1957 – Kyra Schon, American actress
1957 – Alexander Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast
1958 – Anneka Rice, British television presenter
1959 – Chris Lowe, British musician (Pet Shop Boys)
1959 – Tony Meo, English snooker player
1960 – Joe Boever, American baseball player
1961 – Philippe Russo, French singer
1961 – Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author
1962 – Carlos Carsolio, Mexican alpinist
1962 – Jon Secada, Cuban singer and songwriter
1963 – A. C. Green, American basketball player
1963 – Koji Ishikawa, Japanese children's author
1965 – Olaf Backasch, German footballer
1965 – Skip Heller, American musician
1965 – Micky Ward, American boxer
1967 – Marcus Bentley, British voice actor
1967 – Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin, Hong Kong actor and Cantopop singer
1967 – Liev Schreiber, American actor
1968 – Richard Hancox, English footballer
1968 – Tim Wise, American writer and activist
1969 – Abraham Benrubi, American actor
1971 – Friderika Bayer, Hungarian singer
1971 – Darren Middleton, Australian guitarist
1972 – Kurt Thomas, American basketball player
1973 – Chris Parks, American wrestler
1974 – Paco León, Spanish actor
1975 – Daniella Deutscher, American actress
1975 – Cristiano Lucarelli, Italian football player
1976 – Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine-Italian footballer
1976 – Santiago, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Alicia Silverstone, American actress
1976 – Ueli Steck, Swiss mountaineer
1977 – Cabral Ibacka, Romanian actor and television presenter
1977 – Richard Parry, Canadian musician and composer (Arcade Fire)
1978 – Phillip Glasser, American actor and producer
1978 – Kyle Lohse, American baseball player
1978 – Ko Soo, South Korean television and movie actor
1979 – Brandon Barash, American actor
1979 – Stefan Booth, British actor
1979 – Rachael Leigh Cook, American actress
1979 – Bjorn Phau, German tennis player
1979 – Adam Voges, Australian cricketer
1980 – Me'Lisa Barber, American athlete
1980 – Sarah Fisher, American racing driver and team owner
1980 – Mellisa Hollingsworth, Canadian skeleton racer
1980 – James Jones, American basketball player
1980 – Kristina Lenko, Canadian ice skater
1980 – Tim Peper, American actor
1980 – Tomáš Rosický, Czech footballer
1981 – Scott Hammond, American photographer
1981 – Juka, Japanese singer
1981 – Justin Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Tony Gwynn Jr., American baseball player
1982 – Jered Weaver, American baseball player
1983 – Dan Clarke, British racing driver
1983 – Risa Kudo, Japanese gravure idol
1983 – Marios Nicolaou, Greek-Cypriot footballer
1983 – Chansi Stuckey, American football player
1983 – Kurt Suzuki, American baseball player
1983 – Ueda Tatsuya, Japanese boy band singer (KAT-TUN)
1984 – Lena Katina, Russian singer (t.A.T.u.)
1984 – Álvaro Parente, Portuguese racing driver
1985 – Shontelle, Barbadian singer
1985 – Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player
1986 – Yuridia, Mexican singer
1987 – Rawez Lawan, Swedish footballer
1987 – Will Puddy, English footballer
1987 – Marina Weisband, German politician
1988 – Derrick Rose, American basketball player
1989 – Dakota Johnson, American actress
1989 – Lil Mama, American rapper
1989 – Stacey Solomon, English singer
2005 – Prince Emmanuel of Belgium

Deaths

1052 – Vladimir of Novgorod (b. 1020)
1250 – Herman VI, Margrave of Baden (b. 1226)
1305 – Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b. 1249)
1582 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish nun and saint (b. 1515)
1597 – Sarsa Dengel, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1550)
1646 – Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English statesman (b. 1586)
1660 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)
1661 – Jacqueline Pascal, French nun (b. 1625)
1669 – Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Dutch painter (b. 1606)
1680 – Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer, designed the Canal du Midi (b. 1609)
1743 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (b. 1678)
1749 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
1754 – Tanacharison, American tribal chief (b. 1700)
1785 – David Brearley, American politician, signed the United States Constitution (b. 1703)
1821 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (b. 1761)
1827 – Grigorios Zalykis, Greek diplomat and lexicographer (b. 1785)
1851 – Manuel de Godoy, Prince of the Peace, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1767)
1852 – James Whitcomb, American politician, 8th Governor of Indiana (b. 1795)
1859 – Karl Baedeker, German publisher, founded Baedeker (b. 1801)
1864 – Joseph Montferrand, Canadian logger and strongman (b. 1802)
1867 – Francis Xavier Seelos German-American priest and missionary (b. 1819)
1871 – Sarel Cilliers South African spiritual leader and preacher (b. 1801)
1890 – Catherine Booth, English co-founder of The Salvation Army (b. 1829)
1903 – Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)
1904 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (b. 1834)
1904 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (b. 1847)
1910 – Sergey Muromtsev, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1850)
1935 – Jean Béraud, French painter (b. 1849)
1935 – Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German soprano (b. 1874)
1943 – Irena Illakowicz, Polish lieutenant and intelligence agent (b. 1906)
1944 – Al Smith, American politician, 42nd Governor of New York (b. 1873)
1946 – Barney Oldfield, American race car driver (b. 1878)
1947 – Max Planck, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
1951 – Henrietta Lacks, American patient, HeLa cells derived from her cervical cancer (b. 1920)
1951 – Willie Moretti, Italian-American gangster (b. 1894)
1955 – Alexander Papagos, Greek general and politician, 152nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1883)
1958 – Ida Wüst, German actress (b. 1884)
1961 – Metropolitan Benjamin, Russian bishop and missionary (b. 1880)
1969 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (b. 1912)
1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (Big Brother and the Holding Company) (b. 1943)
1974 – Anne Sexton, American poet (b. 1928)
1975 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1903)
1977 – José Ber Gelbard, Argentine activist and politician (b. 1917).
1981 – Freddie Lindstrom, American baseball player (b. 1905)
1982 – The Amazing Criswell, American psychic and actor (b. 1907)
1982 – Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (b. 1932)
1982 – Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, 165th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1898)
1989 – Secretariat, American race horse (b. 1970)
1989 – Graham Chapman, English comedian and actor (b. 1941)
1990 – Alyn Ainsworth, English singer and bandleader (b. 1924)
1990 – Avis Bunnage, English actress (b. 1923)
1991 – J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (b. 1941)
1992 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1936)
1994 – Danny Gatton, American guitarist (b. 1945)
1996 – Larry Gene Bell, American murderer (b. 1949)
1997 – Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game designer, created Game Boy (b. 1941)
1999 – Erik Brødreskift, Norwegian drummer (Immortal and Borknagar) (b. 1969)
1999 – Bernard Buffet, French painter (b. 1928)
1999 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player (b. 1928)
2000 – Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1914)
2000 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
2001 – Blaise Alexander, American race car driver (b. 1976)
2001 – John Collins, American guitarist (b. 1913)
2001 – Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (b. 1917)
2002 – André Delvaux, Belgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2003 – Sid McMath, American politician (b. 1912)
2004 – Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
2004 – Rio Diaz, Filipino actress (b. 1959)
2005 – Stanley K. Hathaway, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1924)
2006 – Tom Bell, English actor (b. 1933)
2007 – Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian general (b. 1925)
2009 – Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (b. 1928)
2009 – Günther Rall, German pilot (b. 1918)
2009 – Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer and activist (b. 1935)
2010 – Norman Wisdom, English actor and singer (b. 1915)
2012 – Razia Butt, Pakistani author (b. 1924)
2012 – K. C. N. Gowda, Indian film producer (b. 1928)
2012 – Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1941)
2012 – Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (b. 1944)
2012 – Pramote Teerawiwatana, Thai badminton player (b. 1967)
2012 – Erhard Wunderlich, German handball player (b. 1956)