October 2 is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 90 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
829 – Theophilos becomes Byzantine Emperor.
939 – King Otto I crushes a rebellion against his rule by a coalition of Frankish dukes.
1187 – Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule.
1263 – The Battle of Largs is fought between Norwegians and Scots.
1470 – Wars of the Roses: King Edward IV of England escapes to Flanders, only to return the following March to reclaim his throne.
1528 – William Tyndale publishes The Obedience of a Christian Man, which advocates the divine right of kings.
1535 – Jacques Cartier discovers the present site of Montreal.
1552 – Russo-Kazan Wars: Russian troops enter Kazan.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: John André, a British Army officer, is hanged as a spy by the Continental Army.
1789 – The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification.
1814 – Chilean War of Independence: Royalist troops defeat Chilean forces of Bernardo O'Higgins and José Miguel Carrera.
1835 – Texas Revolution: Mexican troops attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, but encounter stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederates defeat a Union attack on Saltville, Virginia. A "massacre" of wounded Union prisoners ensues.
1870 – A plebiscite held in Rome, supports annexation of city of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy.
1919 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him incapacitated for several weeks.
1925 – John Logie Baird performs the first test of a working television system.
1928 – The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded.
1937 – Rafael Trujillo orders the execution of Haitians living in the northwestern region of the Dominican Republic.
1941 – World War II: In Operation Typhoon, the Wehrmacht attempts to capture Moscow before the onset of winter.
1942 – World War II: Ocean Liner RMS Queen Mary accidentally rams and sinks HMS Curacoa, killing 337 crewmen aboard Curacoa.
1944 – World War II: German troops end the Warsaw Uprising.
1955 – ENIAC, one of the earliest electronic general-purpose computers, is shut down.
1958 – Guinea declares its independence from France.
1959 – Rod Serling's anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS. The first episode is “Where Is Everybody?”
1967 – Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court.
1968 – Mexican President Ordaz orders soldiers to suppress a demonstration of students, ten days before the Olympic games will start.
1970 – An aircraft carrying the Wichita State University football team, administrators, and supporters crashes in Colorado, killing 31 people.
1980 – Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
1990 – Xiamen Airlines Flight 8301 is hijacked and lands at Guangzhou, where it crashes into two other airliners on the ground, killing 128.
1992 – Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead.
1996 – improper maintenance procedures cause Aeroperú Flight 603 to crash into the ocean near Peru.
1996 – The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
2000 – The Rijndael algorithm is chosen by NIST as the AES standard.
2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks.
2005 – The first parkrun, then known as the Bushy Park Time Trial, took place in Bushy Park, London.[1]
2006 – Five Amish girls are murdered in a shooting at a school in Pennsylvania.
2007 – President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea goes to North Korea for an Inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
2016 – Ethiopian protests break out during a festival in the Oromia region, killing dozens of people.
2018 – Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Births
1240 – Ibn al-Kharrat al-Dawalibi (d. 1328) [2]
1452 – Richard III of England (d. 1485)
1470 – Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan (d. 1524)
1470 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal, Daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1498)
1527 – William Drury, English politician (d. 1579)
1538 – Charles Borromeo, Italian cardinal and saint (d. 1584)
1589 – Muhammad Parviz, Mughal Empire emperor (d. 1626)
1644 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French historian and author (d. 1724)
1704 – František Tůma, Czech organist and composer (d. 1774)
1718 – Elizabeth Montagu, English author and critic (d. 1800)
1727 – Ignaz Schiffermüller, Austrian entomologist and academic (d. 1806)
1760 – Empress Xiaoshurui of the Qing dynasty (d. 1797)
1768 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English general and politician (d. 1854)
1798 – Charles Albert, King of Sardinia (1831–49) (d. 1849)
1800 – Nat Turner, American slave and uprising leader (d. 1831)
1815 – James Agnew, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 16th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1901)
1821 – Alexander P. Stewart, American general (d. 1908)
1824 – Henry C. Lord, American businessman (d. 1884)
1828 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, 55th Prime Minister of France (d. 1896)
1832 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist and academic (d. 1917)
1847 – Paul von Hindenburg, Polish-German field marshal and politician, 2nd President of Germany (d. 1934)
1851 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal and theorist (d. 1929)
1852 – William Ramsay, Scottish-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
1854 – Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer, and philanthropist (d. 1932)
1869 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighter, activist and philosopher (d. 1948)
1871 – Cordell Hull, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 47th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
1871 – Martha Brookes Hutcheson, American landscaper and author (d. 1959)
1873 – Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
1873 – Pelham Warner, English cricketer and manager (d. 1963)
1879 – Wallace Stevens, American poet and educator (d. 1955)
1882 – Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian colonel (d. 1945)
1883 – Lesley Ashburner, American hurdler (d. 1950)
1883 – Karl von Terzaghi, Czech-American geologist and engineer (d. 1963)
1890 – Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
1893 – Leroy Shield, American composer and conductor (d. 1962)
1895 – Ruth Cheney Streeter, American colonel (d. 1990)
1897 – Bud Abbott, American comedian (d. 1974)
1902 – John G. Crommelin, American admiral and politician (d. 1996)
1902 – Leopold Figl, Austrian engineer and politician, 18th Chancellor of Austria (d. 1965)
1904 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 1991)
1904 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian academic and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of India (d. 1966)
1905 – Franjo Šeper, Croatian cardinal (d. 1981)
1906 – Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, 36th Premier of Victoria (d. 1971)
1906 – August Komendant, Estonian-American engineer and academic (d. 1992)
1907 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, Bolivian politician, 52nd President of Bolivia (d. 2001)
1907 – Alexander R. Todd, Scottish-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1909 – Alex Raymond, American cartoonist, creator of Flash Gordon (d. 1956)
1911 – Jack Finney, American author and playwright (d. 1995)
1912 – Frank Malina, American engineer and painter (d. 1981)
1914 – Jack Parsons, American chemist, occultist, and engineer (d. 1952)
1914 – Bernarr Rainbow, English organist, conductor, and historian (d. 1998)
1915 – Chuck Williams, American author and businessman, founded Williams-Sonoma (d. 2015)
1917 – Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1917 – Charles Drake, American actor (d. 1994)
1919 – John W. Duarte, English guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
1919 – Jan Flinterman, Dutch race car driver and pilot (d. 1992)
1921 – Edmund Crispin, English writer and composer (d. 1978)
1921 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American pilot and engineer (d. 2006)
1921 – Robert Runcie, English archbishop (d. 2000)
1925 – Wren Blair, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2013)
1926 – Jan Morris, English-Welsh historian and author
1928 – George McFarland, American actor (d. 1993)
1928 – Wolfhart Pannenberg, Polish-German theologian and academic (d. 2014)
1929 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (d. 1996)
1929 – Moses Gunn, American actor (d. 1993)
1930 – Dave Barrett, Canadian social worker and politician, 26th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2018)
1932 – Maury Wills, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
1933 – John Gurdon, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 – Phill Niblock, American composer and director
1933 – Dave Somerville, Canadian singer (The Diamonds) (d. 2015)
1934 – Richard Scott, Baron Scott of Foscote, South African-English lawyer and judge
1934 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005)
1935 – Omar Sívori, Italian-Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2005)
1936 – Dick Barnett, American basketball player and educator
1936 – Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Filipino lawyer and politician, 20th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines
1936 – Connie Dierking, American basketball player (d. 2013)
1937 – Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer (d. 2005)
1938 – Nick Gravenites, American singer–songwriter and guitarist
1938 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1983)
1938 – Rex Reed, American film critic
1939 – Budhi Kunderan, Indian cricketer (d. 2006)
1941 – Diana Hendry, English poet and author
1941 – Ron Meagher, American rock bass player
1942 – Steve Sabol, American director and producer, co-founded NFL Films (d. 2012)
1943 – Anna Ford, English journalist and academic
1943 – Franklin Rosemont, American poet, painter, and historian (d. 2009)
1943 – Henri Szeps, Australian actor
1944 – Vernor Vinge, American computer scientist and author
1945 – Martin Hellman, American cryptographer and academic
1945 – Don McLean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thai general and politician
1946 – Peter Kellner, English journalist and author
1947 – Ward Churchill, American author and activist
1947 – Paul Jackson, English director and producer
1948 – Trevor Brooking, English footballer and manager
1948 – Avery Brooks, American actor and singer
1948 – Donna Karan, American fashion designer, founded DKNY
1948 – Siim Kallas, Estonian soldier and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Estonia
1948 – Persis Khambatta, Indian model and actress, Femina Miss India 1965 (d. 1998)
1948 – Chris LeDoux, American singer-songwriter and sculptor (d. 2005)
1949 – Richard Hell, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Annie Leibovitz, American photographer
1950 – Mike Rutherford, English guitarist and songwriter
1951 – Sting, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor
1952 – Jan Švejnar, Czech-American economist and politician
1953 – Vanessa Bell Armstrong, American singer
1953 – Muhammad Abdul Bari, Bangladeshi-English physicist and academic
1953 – Jim Cannon, Scottish retired footballer
1954 – Lorraine Bracco, American actress and producer
1955 – Philip Oakey, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1955 – Nancy Rothwell, English physiologist and academic
1956 – Peter Bruce, Scottish chemist and academic
1956 – Freddie Jackson, American soul singer
1956 – Viatcheslav Mukhanov, Russian-German cosmologist and physicist
1957 – John Cook, American golfer
1957 – Wade Dooley, English rugby player and police officer
1957 – Dave Faulkner, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Kate St John, English singer-songwriter and producer
1958 – Robbie Nevil, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1959 – Luis Fernández, French footballer and manager
1960 – Glenn Anderson, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1960 – Django Bates, English pianist and composer
1960 – Johan Lammerts, Dutch cyclist
1960 – Joe Sacco, American journalist and cartoonist
1960 – Tom Schweich, American lawyer and politician, 36th State Auditor of Missouri (d. 2015)
1960 – Dereck Whittenburg, American basketball player and coach
1961 – Jaan Toomik, Estonian director and producer
1962 – James Hunter, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Mark Rypien, Canadian-American football player
1963 – Keith Bradshaw, Australian cricketer and accountant
1964 – Dirk Brinkmann, German field hockey player
1965 – Darren Cahill, Australian tennis player and coach
1965 – Tom Moody, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1967 – Frankie Fredericks, Namibian sprinter
1967 – Gary L. Gregg, American political scientist, author, and academic
1967 – Thomas Muster, Austrian tennis player
1967 – Gillian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Victoria Derbyshire, English journalist and radio host
1968 – Benjie Paras, Filipino basketball player and actor
1968 – Jeff Martin, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1968 – Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player and sportscaster (d. 2017)
1968 – Glen Wesley, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Kelly Willis, American country music singer-songwriter
1969 – Badly Drawn Boy, English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
1969 – Mitch English, American talk show host, comedian, weatherman
1970 – Eddie Guardado, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Patricia O'Callaghan, Canadian soprano and producer
1970 – Kelly Ripa, American actress, producer, and talk show host
1970 – Maribel Verdú, Spanish actress
1971 – Tiffany Darwish, American singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Jim Root, American guitarist and songwriter
1972 – Aaron McKie, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Melissa Harris-Perry, American journalist, author, and educator
1973 – Lene Nystrøm, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1973 – Proof, American rapper and actor (d. 2006)
1973 – Scott Schoeneweis, American baseball player
1973 – Maria Wetterstrand, Swedish politician
1974 – Adel Ferdosipour, Iranian journalist and sportscaster
1974 – Bjarke Ingels, Danish architect
1974 – Brian Knight, American baseball player and umpire
1974 – Michelle Krusiec, Taiwanese-American actress and producer
1974 – Matthew Nicholson, Australian cricketer
1974 – Mark Porter, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2006)
1974 – Sam Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Paul Teutul Jr., American motorcycle designer, co-founded Orange County Choppers
1974 – Kevin Van De Wege, American firefighter and politician
1975 – Baiba Broka, Latvian politician
1976 – Mark Chilton, English cricketer
1976 – John Thornton, American football player
1977 – Didier Défago, Swiss skier
1978 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1978 – Matthew Hancock, English economist and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
1979 – Primož Brezec, Slovenian basketball player
1979 – Francisco Fonseca, Mexican footballer
1979 – Maja Ivarsson, Swedish singer-songwriter
1979 – Ashutosh Kaushik, Indian actor
1980 – Shane Andrus, American football player
1981 – Ridzuan Fatah Hasan, Singaporean footballer
1981 – Santi Kolk, Dutch footballer
1981 – Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer
1982 – Tyson Chandler, American basketball player
1982 – Esra Gümüş, Turkish volleyball player
1982 – George Pettit, Canadian singer-songwriter and bass player
1982 – Gary Wilkinson, American basketball player
1984 – Marion Bartoli, French tennis player
1985 – Çağlar Birinci, Turkish footballer
1985 – Buster Davis, American football player
1985 – Brandon Jackson, American football player
1986 – Camilla Belle, American actress
1987 – Bojana Bobusic, Australian tennis player
1987 – Joe Ingles, Australian basketball player
1987 – Phil Kessel, American ice hockey player
1987 – Joel Reinders, American football player
1987 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., American race car driver
1988 – Brittany Howard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1989 – Aaron Hicks, American baseball player
1989 – George Nash, English rower
1990 – Dean Bouzanis, Australian footballer
1991 – Roberto Firmino, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Sirje Roops, Estonian footballer
1993 – Michy Batshuayi, Belgian footballer
1993 – Aaro Vainio, Finnish race car driver
1994 – Joana Eidukonytė, Lithuanian tennis player
1995 – Te Maire Martin, New Zealand rugby league player
1995 – Tepai Moeroa, Cook Islands rugby league player
1996 – Tom Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
1997 – Hana Sugisaki, Japanese actress
2002 – Jacob Sartorius, American singer
Deaths
534 – Athalaric, Italian king (b. 516)
829 – Michael II, Byzantine emperor (b. 770)
939 – Eberhard III, duke of Franconia
939 – Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine (b. 890)
1264 – Pope Urban IV
1348 – Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln (b. 1281)
1559 – Jacquet of Mantua, French-Italian composer (b. 1483)
1588 – Bernardino Telesio, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1509)
1626 – Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish academic and diplomat (b. 1567)
1629 – Antonio Cifra, Italian composer (b. 1584)
1629 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian (b. 1575)
1678 – Wu Sangui, Qing Chinese general (b. 1612)
1685 – David Teniers III, Flemish painter (b. 1638)
1708 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (b. 1650)
1709 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1639)
1724 – François-Timoléon de Choisy, French historian and author (b. 1644)
1746 – Josiah Burchett, English admiral and politician (b. 1666)
1764 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1720)
1775 – Fukuda Chiyo-ni, Japanese nun and poet (b. 1703)
1780 – John André, English soldier (b. 1750)
1782 – Charles Lee, English-born American general (b. 1732)
1786 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (b. 1725)
1803 – Samuel Adams, American philosopher and politician, 4th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1722)
1804 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French engineer (b. 1725)
1850 – Sarah Biffen, English painter (b. 1784)
1853 – François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (b. 1786)
1920 – Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (b. 1838)
1927 – Svante Arrhenius, Swedish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
1938 – Alexandru Averescu, Romanian field marshal and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1859)
1938 – André Lagache, French race car driver and engineer (b. 1885)
1943 – John Evans, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1855)
1947 – P. D. Ouspensky, Russian-English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1878)
1953 – John Marin, American painter (b. 1870)
1955 – Humphrey Barclay, English priest (b. 1882)
1955 – William Orthwein, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1881)
1962 – Boris Yakovlevich Bukreev, Russian mathematician and author (b. 1859)
1968 – Marcel Duchamp, French painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
1971 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (b. 1883)
1973 – Paul Hartman, American actor and dancer (b. 1904)
1973 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
1974 – Vasily Shukshin, Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1975 – K. Kamaraj, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1903)
1981 – Harry Golden, American journalist and author (b. 1902)
1981 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American activist, actress, and musician (b. 1920)
1985 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
1987 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (b. 1906)
1987 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
1988 – Alec Issigonis, Greek-English car designer, designed the Mini (b. 1906)
1988 – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, 2nd Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1912)
1988 – Roman Kenk, Slovenian zoologist (b. 1898)
1991 – Hazen Argue, Canadian politician (b. 1921)
1991 – Demetrios I of Constantinople (b. 1914)
1994 – Harriet Nelson, American actress and singer (b. 1909)
1996 – Robert Bourassa, Canadian lawyer and politician, 22nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1933)
1996 – Andrey Lukanov, Bulgarian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1938)
1998 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and guitarist (b. 1907)
1998 – Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (b. 1924)
1999 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (b. 1921)
2000 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (b. 1929)
2001 – Franz Biebl, German composer and academic (b. 1906)
2002 – Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-American physicist and philosopher (b. 1911)
2003 – John Thomas Dunlop, American scholar and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
2005 – Nipsey Russell, American comedian and actor (b. 1918)
2005 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (b. 1945)
2006 – Helen Chenoweth-Hage, American politician (b. 1938)
2006 – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (b. 1916)
2007 – Tex Coulter, American football player (b. 1924)
2007 – Christopher Derrick, English author and critic (b. 1921)
2007 – George Grizzard, American actor (b. 1928)
2007 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (b. 1902)
2007 – Tawn Mastrey, American radio host and producer (b. 1954)
2010 – Kwa Geok Choo, Singaporean lawyer and scholar (b. 1920)
2011 – Peter L. Benson, American psychologist and academic (b. 1946)
2012 – Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Vietnamese-American poet and activist (b. 1939)
2012 – Charles Roach, Trinidadian-Canadian lawyer and activist (b. 1933)
2012 – J. Philippe Rushton, English-Canadian psychologist, theorist, academic (b. 1943)
2013 – Gottfried Fischer, German psychologist, therapist, and academic (b. 1944)
2013 – Herman Hugg, American painter and sculptor (b. 1921)
2013 – Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (b. 1955)
2013 – Abraham Nemeth, American mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
2013 – Kaare Ørnung, Norwegian pianist and educator (b. 1931)
2014 – Robert Flower, Australian footballer (b. 1955)
2014 – Vaughn O. Lang, American general (b. 1927)
2014 – Frederic Tamler Sommers, American philosopher and academic (b. 1923)
2015 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (b. 1937)
2015 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (b. 1929)
2015 – Rodolfo Frigeri, Argentinian economist and politician, Argentinian Minister of Finance (b. 1942)
2015 – Coleridge Goode, Jamaican-English bassist and composer (b. 1914)
2015 – James Mutende, Ugandan veterinarian, economist, and politician (b. 1962)
2015 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
2016 – Neville Marriner, British conductor (b. 1924)
2016 – Gary Reed, American comic book writer (b. 1956)
2017 – Tom Petty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1950)
2018 – Ron Casey, Australian radio host and sportscaster (b. 1930)