This Day in History
October 3

Copyright © 2006-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
URL: http://kpolsson.com/thisday/
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What happened in history on this day: October 3?

On October 3 in ...

  • 1210 - Hermann von Salza is elected Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.
  • 1264 - Comet said to predict the death of Pope Urban IV is last seen.
  • 1430 - Jews are expelled from Eger Bohemia.
  • 1605 - Birth of Li Tzu-ch'eng Chinese revolutionary, dethroned last Ming emperor.
  • 1656 - Myles Standish Plymouth Colony leader, dies (birth date unknown).
  • 1728 - Birth of Christian d'Oriola in France; foils (Olympic-gold-1952, 1956).
  • 1789 - US President George Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26.
  • 1800 - Birth of George Bancroft; historian (Hall of Fame).
  • 1803 - Birth of John Gorrie; inventor (cold-air process of refrigeration).
  • 1804 - Birth of Townsend Harris; first Western consul to reside in Japan.
  • 1814 - Birth of Mikhail (Yurevich) Lermontov in Russia; romantic poet/novelist (Demon).
  • 1844 - Birth of Patrick Manson; "Father of tropical medicine".
  • 1849 - Edgar Allan Poe is found unconscious in Baltimore, Maryland. He may have been a victim of "cooping", forced to vote repeatedly.
  • 1854 - Birth of William Crawford Gorgas; US Surgeon-General, helps cure yellow fever.
  • 1859 - Birth of Elenora Duse in Italy; actress (Hedda Gabler).
  • 1863 - US President Abraham Lincoln designates last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
  • 1886 - Birth of Henri Alain-Fournier; French novelist (Le Grand Meaulnes).
  • 1888 - Birth of Carl von Ossietzky in Germany; journalist, pacifist (Nobel Prize 1935).
  • 1899 - Birth of Gertrude Berg in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA; actress (Molly Goldberg - The Goldbergs).
  • 1900 - Birth of Jay Irving in New York City, New York, USA; cartoonist (Draw Me a Laugh).
  • 1900 - Birth of Thomas Wolfe; American novelist (Look Homeward Angel).
  • 1904 - Birth of Charles Pedersen in the United Kingdom; biochemist (Nobel Prize 1987).
  • 1911 - Birth of Michael Hordern in England; actor (Friar Domingo - Shogun).
  • 1912 - Birth of Van Arsdale France in Seattle, Washington, USA; trained Disneyland employees, established Disney University, created Backstage Disneyland magazine for cast members, established Disneyland Alumni Club, retired 1978, named Disney Legend in 1994.
  • 1913 - US Federal Income Tax signed into law (at 1 percent).
  • 1918 - Boris becomes king of Bulgaria.
  • 1920 - American Pro Football Association plays first games.
  • 1922 - First facsimile photo sent over city telephone lines, Washington, DC.
  • 1923 - Birth of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski in Lwow, Poland; conductor (Die Zauberflöte).
  • 1925 - Birth of Gore Vidal; writer/playwright (Myra Breckinridge, Lincoln).
  • 1928 - Birth of Erik Bruhn in Copenhagen, Denmark; dancer (National Ballet of Canada).
  • 1928 - French submarine Ondine sinks returning to Toulon, drowning 42.
  • 1929 - King Alexander I changes the name of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
  • 1932 - The British Mandate to administer Iraq is relinquished, as Iraq becomes a member of the League of Nations.
  • 1934 - Birth of Madlyn Rhue in Washington, DC, USA; actress (Bracken's World, Executive Suite).
  • 1935 - Birth of Abdon Pamich in Italy; 50km walker (Olympic-gold-1964).
  • 1935 - Birth of Charles M Duke Junior in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Brigadier General US Air Force/astronaut (Apollo 16).
  • 1936 - Birth of Steve Reich in New York City, New York, USA; composer (My Name is).
  • 1937 - Birth of Eli Jacobs; baseball team owner (Baltimore Orioles).
  • 1938 - Birth of Eddie Cochran in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; rocker ("C'Mon Everybody").
  • 1939 - Birth of James Darren in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actor/singer (Gidget, Diamond Head).
  • 1940 - Birth of Jean Ratelle; NHL center (New York Rangers, Boston Bruins).
  • 1941 - Birth of Chubby Checker; singer ("The Twist").
  • 1942 - German scientists make the first successful test launch of an A-4 (V-2) rocket, from Peenemünde. Supersonic speed is achieved for the first time by a liquid-propelled rocket. The rocket reaches a height of 60 miles, travelling 120 miles at over 3000 MPH, landing 2.5 miles wide of the target.
  • 1944 - The Warsaw uprising is completely destroyed. In two months of fighting, an estimated 200,000 Poles were killed, ninety percent of them civilian. Estimated property losses: seventy percent of national wealth.
  • 1945 - Birth of Viktor Saneyev in USSR; triple jumper (Olympic-3 gold/1 silver-1968-1980).
  • 1945 - World Federation of Trade Unions formed; CIO a member.
  • 1946 - Birth of Bob Dotson in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; newscaster (Primetime Sunday).
  • 1947 - First telescope lens 200 inches (508cm) in diameter completed.
  • 1947 - Birth of Lindsey Buckingham; rocker (Fleetwood Mac - "Rumors", "Tusk").
  • 1947 - With only one out to go, New York Yankees pitcher Floyd Beven gives up a double breaking his World Series no-hit bid; it scored two runs and he lost the game (World Series #44).
  • 1947 - Bahawalpur becomes an autonomous state within Pakistan.
  • 1948 - NFL becomes first sport televised as sport of the week.
  • 1950 - Birth of Pamela Hensley in Glendale, California, USA; actress (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century).
  • 1951 - Birth of Dave Winfield; baseball outfielder (New York Yankee).
  • 1951 - Birth of Kathryn D Sullivan in Paterson, New Jersey, USA; PhD/astronaut (STS 41-G, 28, 31, 45).
  • 1951 - The New York Giants win the pennant defeating Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • 1952 - (9:24am) On Montebello islands off Western Australia, Great Britain detonates its first plutonium nuclear bomb, detonated 3m underwater. Yield is approximately 25 kilotons. The plutonium bomb had been researched since 1941 under code name Tube Alloys. Code name for the detonation is Operation Hurricane.
  • 1952 - CBS premieres the Our Miss Brooks 30-minute comedy TV show.
  • 1952 - First video recording on magnetic tape, Los Angeles, California.
  • 1954 - CBS premieres the Father Knows Best 30-minute comedy TV show, starring Robert Young.
  • 1955 - CBS debuts the Captain Kangaroo children's television show.
  • 1955 - The ABC TV network launches Disney's second TV show The Mickey Mouse Club. It is a daily one-hour series, showing cartoons and introducing the talents of the "Mouseketeers".
  • 1955 - Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes WW II mine in Baltic Sea.
  • 1956 - Birth of Hart Bochner; actor (Supergirl, Die Hard).
  • 1957 - ABC-TV debuts The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom weekly music show.
  • 1957 - ABC-TV debuts the comedy series The Real McCoys.
  • 1958 - CBS resumes airing The Jackie Gleason Show 30-minute comedy variety series.
  • 1959 - Birth of Jack Wagner; rocker/actor (General Hospital, Santa Barbara).
  • 1959 - William Bishop, actor (Steve - It's a Great Life), dies at age 42.
  • 1960 - CBS premieres The Andy Griffith Show 30-minute comedy show.
  • 1960 - San Francisco's White House department store is first to accept BankAmericard credit card.
  • 1960 - New York Yankees win 8-7, ending season on a 15-game win streak.
  • 1961 - CBS-TV airs the first episode of comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show, starring Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, and Morey Amsterdam.
  • 1961 - TV show about a talking horse Mr Ed, starring Alan Young, first appears.
  • 1962 - Birth of Tommy Lee in Greece; rock drummer (Motley Crüe).
  • 1962 - Wally Schirra in Sigma 7 launched into Earth orbit.
  • 1963 - Birth of Patrick Flatley in Ontario, Canada; right winger (New York Islanders, Olympics-4 gold-1988).
  • 1965 - Whitey Ford pitches number 232 to become New York Yankees' winningest pitcher.
  • 1965 - On the last day of the season, San Francisco Giants' outfielder Willie Mays hits his 52nd home run to break the franchise record he established in 1955. San Francisco Giants defeat Cincinnati Reds at Candlestick Park, 6-3.
  • 1965 - Death of Zachary Scott at age 51 of a malignant brain tumor; actor (Spotlight Playhouse).
  • 1967 - William Knight sets X-15 speed record of 7,297 KPH/4,534 MPH/Mach 6.72.
  • 1968 - Military coup overthrows President Fernando Belaúnde Terry in Peru.
  • 1969 - Birth of Shane Butterworth; actor (Timmy - Bad News Bears).
  • 1970 - Baseball umpires call their first strike.
  • 1971 - Billie Jean King becomes first female athlete to win $100,000.
  • 1972 - Spaceflight 71-2 launched; first flexible substrate photovoltaic flown.
  • 1972 - Steve Carlton wins 27th game for Philadelphia Phillies (almost half of their 59 wins).
  • 1974 - Nancy Wilcox disappears from Salt Lake City, Utah (possible Ted Bundy victim).
  • 1974 - Neat the coast of Peru, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurs, about 80 kilometers southwest of Lima.
  • 1974 - Watergate trial begins.
  • 1976 - The 8th parliamentary elections of the Federal Republic of Germany are held. The CDU/CSU gets 48.6 percent of the vote, the SPD 42.2 percent, the FDP 7.9 percent. A coalition government is formed between the SPD and FDP. Helmut Schmidt (SPD) continues as chancellor and Hans-Dietrich Genscher (FDP) as vice chancellor and foreign minister.
  • 1976 - NBC airs the first episode of TV show Quincy M.E. as a 90-minute movie entitled Go Fight City Hall -- to the Death!.
  • 1978 - Gold hits record US$223.50 an ounce in London, England.
  • 1979 - Charles White, artist, dies at age 61 in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1979 - A EF4 Tornado hits Windsor Locks, Connecticut, USA causing extensive damage to the town.
  • 1980 - The film The Elephant Man, starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, and directed by David Lynch, opens in New York City.
  • 1981 - Irish Nationalist at Maze Prison near Belfast ends seven-month hunger strike.
  • 1982 - Cox 4 rowing record set at 12:52 for 99 miles (Geneva, Switzerland).
  • 1982 - Record 11,763 start a 186-mile cross-country race near Stockholm, Sweden.
  • 1982 - Scott Weiland runs Detroit marathon backwards in less than five hours.
  • 1983 - John K.M. McCaffery, TV host (One Minute Please), dies at age 69.
  • 1985 - 21st Shuttle Mission (51J)-Atlantis 1-all-military flight launched.
  • 1985 - Death of Charles Collingwood at age 68 from cancer; broadcast journalist (CBS news correspondent, host of Eyewitness to History TV series, Chronicles).
  • 1985 - Maurice Copeland, actor (Ralph - Those Young Charmings), dies at age 74.
  • 1986 - Soviet Yankee-class submarine sinks off North Carolina, three die.
  • 1987 - Birth of Zuleyka Rivera; Miss Universe 2006.
  • 1987 - Michael Pruffer of France skis 135.26 MPH at Portillo, Chile.
  • 1987 - Death of Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (born 1910).
  • 1987 - Death of Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist (born 1947).
  • 1988 - 26th Space Shuttle Mission, Discovery 7 returns to Earth after four days.
  • 1988 - Franz Josef Strauss, German Federal Republic minister of defense (1956-62), dies at age 73.
  • 1988 - Generoso Pope Junior, National Enquirer owner, dies at age 61.
  • 1988 - Lebanese kidnappers release Mithileshwar Singh (held for 30 months).
  • 1989 - Panamanian Defense Force attempts coup of Manuel Noriega; fails.
  • 1990 - Reunification of Germany after 40 years of division. German Democratic Republic becomes the Federal states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen, and Berlin. Chancellor Kohl declares in a message to all nations of the world that Germany makes no territorial claims on any nation.
  • 1990 - George Brett becomes first to lead league in batting in three decades.
  • 1990 - Stefano Casiraghi, Princess Caroline of Monaco's husband, dies at age 30.
  • 1990 - Detroit Tigers' Cecil Fielder becomes 11th to hit 50 home runs (and 51st).
  • 1993 - A large scale battle erupts between U.S. forces and local militia in Mogadishu, Somalia; two Black Hawk helicopters are shot down; 19 Americans and 500 Somalis are killed.
  • 1993 - Russian troops open fire on a crowd of supporters of parliament, killing about 100.
  • 1994 - Death of Tim Asch, Anthropologist, photographer and ethnographic filmmaker.
  • 1995 - O.J. Simpson is found not guilty of double murder for the deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
  • 1998 - The television show Mortal Kombat: Conquest first airs in the US.
  • 1998 - In Australia, John Howard's coalition government is re-elected for a second term.
  • 2000 - Death of Benjamin Orr; bassist and singer (The Cars - "Drive", "You Might Think") (born 1947).
  • 2004 - The Montreal Expos play their last baseball game in their 36-year history.
  • 2004 - ABC airs the first episode of TV show Desperate Housewives.
  • 2004 - Death of John Cerutti, baseball player and announcer at age 44 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (born 1960).
  • 2005 - St. Tammany Parish Schools reopen in Louisiana, just over a month after Hurricane Katrina closed them.
  • 2005 - U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • 2006 - North Korea announces plans to conduct a nuclear test.
  • 2007 - Hundreds of witnesses report seeing a flaming ball cross the skies of Minnesota, accompanied by a sonic boom, and a rain of debris.
  • 2008 - The U.S. House of Representatives approves the modified US$700 billion bank bailout plan, voting 263 in favor, 171 against. President George Bush quickly signs the bill into law.
  • 2008 - US President George Bush tells congress the US will sell US$6.5 billion worth of weaponry to Taiwan.
  • 2011 - The Nobel Committee in Stockholm Sweden announces the 2011 recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine: Ralph Steinman (posthumous), Bruce Beutler, and Jules Hoffman, for research into the body's immune system.
  • 2015 - A United States airstrike on a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Afghanistan accidentally kills an estimated 20 people.
  • 2017 - Death of Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister and President of Iraq (born 1933).
  • 2019 - Islamist Mickaël Harpon from Martinique stabs five officers at the central police headquarters in Paris, France, killing four of them. The attacker, shot dead by other officers, was an administrative intelligence employee at the station.
  • 2021 - The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners publish a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from 14 financial services companies known as the Pandora Papers, revealing offshore financial activities that involve multiple current and former world leaders.
  • 2022 - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announces Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo is the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins.
  • 2022 - Death of Charles Fuller at age 83; playwright (A Soldier's Play, Pulitzer prize winner).

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