1396 Richard II of England married Isabella of Valois on October 31, 1396. She was aged just six and the wedding was a move for peace with France. The wedding was celebrated with grand festivities at the French royal court, before they continued to the English enclave of Calais, where the formal ceremony took place. Isabella died in childbirth at the age of 19, leaving one daughter, Joan.
1451 Christopher Columbus was born sometime before October 31, 1451 in Genoa. His birthplace is now a historic attraction. He was the son of Domenico Colombo, an Italian wool weaver and Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool weaver. Christopher's father also owned a cheese stand and later, a tavern. Although he was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, his four voyages initiated Spain's colonization.
1517 The papacy was earning a good income by the indulgences system that allowed Christians to purchase remission from penance in purgatory. Appalled at the indulgences system, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed up on the church door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, his Ninety-five Theses, (the standard way of raising issues for debate), arguing that a Christian has had a full pardon from God and no need of indulgences. The Protestant Reformation had begun.
1728 On October 31, 1728, a few weeks after he turned 19, the writer Samuel Johnson entered Pembroke College, Oxford. After thirteen months, a shortage of funds forced Johnson to leave Oxford without a degree, and he returned to Lichfield. Following a failed attempt to found a school, Johnson left Lichfield in 1737 with one of his former pupils, David Garrick, to make their fortune in London.
1451 Christopher Columbus was born sometime before October 31, 1451 in Genoa. His birthplace is now a historic attraction. He was the son of Domenico Colombo, an Italian wool weaver and Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a wool weaver. Christopher's father also owned a cheese stand and later, a tavern. Although he was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, his four voyages initiated Spain's colonization.
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| Portrait of a man said to be Christopher Columbus |
1517 The papacy was earning a good income by the indulgences system that allowed Christians to purchase remission from penance in purgatory. Appalled at the indulgences system, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed up on the church door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, his Ninety-five Theses, (the standard way of raising issues for debate), arguing that a Christian has had a full pardon from God and no need of indulgences. The Protestant Reformation had begun.
1728 On October 31, 1728, a few weeks after he turned 19, the writer Samuel Johnson entered Pembroke College, Oxford. After thirteen months, a shortage of funds forced Johnson to leave Oxford without a degree, and he returned to Lichfield. Following a failed attempt to found a school, Johnson left Lichfield in 1737 with one of his former pupils, David Garrick, to make their fortune in London.
1795 The romantic poet John Keats was born at the Swan and Hoop inn at Moorgate, London on October 31, 1795. His father, Thomas Keats, worked as a hostler at the stables attached to the Swan and Hoop Inn, an establishment he later managed, and where the growing family lived for some years. Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime he is now acclaimed for such works as "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "Ode to a Nightingale,"
1822 Mexico became independent in 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. The first leader of independent Mexico was Emperor Agustin de Iturbide. On October 31, 1822 Iturbide closed down the congress and two days later, he created a military junta to legislate in its place, answering only to him.
1828 British physicist and chemist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan was born on October 31, 1828. He is known as an independent early developer of an incandescent light bulb. Swan's primitive electric light utilized a filament of carbonized paper in an evacuated glass bulb. The lack of a good vacuum and an adequate electric source, however, resulted in a short lifetime for the bulb and inefficient light.
1837 Proctor & Gamble was founded on October 31, 1837 by brothers in law candlemaker William Procter and soapmaker James Gamble in Cincinnati. It was Alexander Norris, their father-in-law, who persuaded his sons-in-law to become business partners. By the end of the 1850s, sales had reached $1 million per annum. By that point, about 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble.
1862 The Bramley apple is a cooking apple named after Matthew Bramley, a butcher in Southwell, Northamptonshire, England, who first grew it in his garden in the mid 19th century. The first recorded sale of a Bramley apple was on October 31, 1862 when Englishman Henry Merryweather’s accounts include "three Bramley apples for two shillings."
1864 The Nevada Territory separated from the Utah Territory on March 2, 1861. Its current name is shortened from Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snow-covered mountain range"). Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state on October 31, 1864, in part to help ensure Abraham Lincoln's re-election as President of the United States eight days later.
1882 The Jewish philanthropist Ida Silverman was born on October 31, 1882. Between 1925 and the late 1940s she logged over 600,000 air-miles traveling throughout the world, speaking and fund raising for the creation of a Jewish state.
1903 Hampden Park in Glasgow was first opened on October 31, 1903. Hampden was the biggest stadium in the world when it was opened, with a capacity in excess of 100,000. This was increased further between 1927 and 1937, reaching a peak of 150,000. The attendance there of 149,415, for a 1937 Scotland v England match, is the European record for an international football game.
1904 The English music hall star Dan Leno died on October 31, 1904. He was best known for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 1888 to 1904. Leno turned the character from an incidental role into the main attraction of Christmas theater.
1917 The October 31, 1917 World War I Battle of Beersheba featured the last successful cavalry charge in history. The Australian Mounted Division's 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments conducted a mounted infantry charge with bayonets in their hands, capturing Beersheba and part of the Yildirim Army Group garrison as it was withdrawing.
1922 After three years of political turmoil in Italy, Benito Mussolini took power by having his "Black Shirts," march on Rome and threaten to take over the government. King Vittorio Emanuele III gave in, asked him to form a government on and made him prime minister on October 31, 1922.
1926 Harry Houdini, died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital at 1:26 p.m. on October 31, 1926.
Twelve days before, Houdini had been commentating to a group of students about the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students, J. Gordon Whitehead, punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The blows ruptured his appendix, which poisoned his system.
1941 The carving of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota, USA was completed on October 31, 1941 after 14 years of construction by Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum and 400 stone masons. The total cost of the project was $989,992.32, and 85 percent of that cost was funded by Congress. Despite the dangerous nature of the job, none of the crew died during construction.
1950 The architect Zaha Mohammad Hadid was born on October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq, to an upper-class Iraqi family. The designer of the London Olympics 2012 Aquatics Centre, she was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize regarded as the ‘Nobel Prize for architecture’ eight years earlier.
1956 On October 31, 1956 humans set foot at the South Pole for the first time since Captain Robert F. Scott and his team in 1912, when a party led by Admiral George J. Dufek of the US Navy landed there in an R4D-5L Skytrain aircraft.
1961 Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953, at the age of 73, and was buried four days later. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until October 31, 1961, when de-Stalinization was taking place in the Soviet Union. Stalin's body was then buried by the Kremlin walls in a nondescript grave.
1822 Mexico became independent in 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. The first leader of independent Mexico was Emperor Agustin de Iturbide. On October 31, 1822 Iturbide closed down the congress and two days later, he created a military junta to legislate in its place, answering only to him.
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| Agustin I, Constitutional Emperor of Mexico at the National Palace |
1828 British physicist and chemist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan was born on October 31, 1828. He is known as an independent early developer of an incandescent light bulb. Swan's primitive electric light utilized a filament of carbonized paper in an evacuated glass bulb. The lack of a good vacuum and an adequate electric source, however, resulted in a short lifetime for the bulb and inefficient light.
1837 Proctor & Gamble was founded on October 31, 1837 by brothers in law candlemaker William Procter and soapmaker James Gamble in Cincinnati. It was Alexander Norris, their father-in-law, who persuaded his sons-in-law to become business partners. By the end of the 1850s, sales had reached $1 million per annum. By that point, about 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble.
1862 The Bramley apple is a cooking apple named after Matthew Bramley, a butcher in Southwell, Northamptonshire, England, who first grew it in his garden in the mid 19th century. The first recorded sale of a Bramley apple was on October 31, 1862 when Englishman Henry Merryweather’s accounts include "three Bramley apples for two shillings."
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| Bramley's Seedling' apples from Nottinghamshire, England By Marcin Floryan |
1864 The Nevada Territory separated from the Utah Territory on March 2, 1861. Its current name is shortened from Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snow-covered mountain range"). Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state on October 31, 1864, in part to help ensure Abraham Lincoln's re-election as President of the United States eight days later.
1882 The Jewish philanthropist Ida Silverman was born on October 31, 1882. Between 1925 and the late 1940s she logged over 600,000 air-miles traveling throughout the world, speaking and fund raising for the creation of a Jewish state.
1903 Hampden Park in Glasgow was first opened on October 31, 1903. Hampden was the biggest stadium in the world when it was opened, with a capacity in excess of 100,000. This was increased further between 1927 and 1937, reaching a peak of 150,000. The attendance there of 149,415, for a 1937 Scotland v England match, is the European record for an international football game.
1904 The English music hall star Dan Leno died on October 31, 1904. He was best known for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 1888 to 1904. Leno turned the character from an incidental role into the main attraction of Christmas theater.
1917 The October 31, 1917 World War I Battle of Beersheba featured the last successful cavalry charge in history. The Australian Mounted Division's 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments conducted a mounted infantry charge with bayonets in their hands, capturing Beersheba and part of the Yildirim Army Group garrison as it was withdrawing.
1922 After three years of political turmoil in Italy, Benito Mussolini took power by having his "Black Shirts," march on Rome and threaten to take over the government. King Vittorio Emanuele III gave in, asked him to form a government on and made him prime minister on October 31, 1922.
1926 Harry Houdini, died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital at 1:26 p.m. on October 31, 1926.
Twelve days before, Houdini had been commentating to a group of students about the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students, J. Gordon Whitehead, punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The blows ruptured his appendix, which poisoned his system.
1941 The carving of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota, USA was completed on October 31, 1941 after 14 years of construction by Danish-American sculptor Gutzon Borglum and 400 stone masons. The total cost of the project was $989,992.32, and 85 percent of that cost was funded by Congress. Despite the dangerous nature of the job, none of the crew died during construction.
1950 The architect Zaha Mohammad Hadid was born on October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq, to an upper-class Iraqi family. The designer of the London Olympics 2012 Aquatics Centre, she was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize regarded as the ‘Nobel Prize for architecture’ eight years earlier.
1956 On October 31, 1956 humans set foot at the South Pole for the first time since Captain Robert F. Scott and his team in 1912, when a party led by Admiral George J. Dufek of the US Navy landed there in an R4D-5L Skytrain aircraft.
1961 Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953, at the age of 73, and was buried four days later. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until October 31, 1961, when de-Stalinization was taking place in the Soviet Union. Stalin's body was then buried by the Kremlin walls in a nondescript grave.
1969 Wal-Mart was incorporated as Wal-Mart, Inc. on October 31, 1969 seven years after Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas. It was Walton's assistant, Bob Bogle, who came up with the name "Wal-Mart" for the chain.
1996 The current flag of Ethiopia was adopted on October 31, 1996. This flag is a tricolor featuring three horizontal stripes of green, yellow, and red from top to bottom. They date back to Emperor Menelik (r. 1889–1913) and were first used in a flag in 1897. It is known as the "Flag of Ethiopia" or the "Green, Yellow, and Red," and it replaced the previous flag, which had a different design.
2002 On October 31, 2002 AS Adema beat SO I'Emyrne 149-0 breaking the world record for the highest scoreline in an Association football match. SO l'Emyrne intentionally lost the game against their arch-rivals AS Adema in protest over refereeing decisions that had gone against them during a four-team playoff tournament. This led them to scoring a torrent of own goals as a protest.
2003 Mahathir Mohamad retired from being Malaysia's Prime Minister on October 31, 2003. His 22 years in office made him one of Asia's longest-serving political leaders. His political career spanned more than 70 years since he first joined a newly-formed UMNO in 1946.
2011 The United Nations declared October 31, 2011 to be 'The Day of Seven Billion' when the world population officially reached that figure. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke at the United Nations building in New York City on this new milestone about the size of world population and the issues it raises.
2013 The Guinness Book of World Records states that the fastest time to carve a face into a pumpkin is 16.47 seconds achieved by Stephen Clarke of the United States. Clarke accomplished the feat on New York City's PIX11 Morning News on October 31, 2013. This record-breaking attempt involved carving a complete face, including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
2015 American Pharoah is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who became the first horse to win the "Grand Slam" of American horse racing —the Triple Crown plus the Breeders' Cup Classic. He completed the quadruple by winning the 2015 Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31, 2015, setting a track record with a time of 2:00.07 and breaking the old track record by more than five seconds.
2018 Pakistani Christian mother-of-five Asia Bibi was safely resettled in Canada in April 2019 after spending nearly eight years on death row. She was sentenced to death under Pakistan's blasphemy law but released after the Supreme Court acquitted her on October 31, 2018.
2018 The Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world at 182 m (597 ft) was unveiled in the Narmada district of Gujarat, India on October 31, 2018. The Statue of Unity depicts Indian freedom fighter and the country's first deputy prime minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950).
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