14th October

Events

• 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman invasion forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England.
• 1812 - work on London's Regent's Canal starts.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Bristol Station - Confederate General Robert E. Lee forces fail to drive the Union army out of Virginia.
• 1912 - While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper William Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt still delivers his scheduled speech.
• 1926 - The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is published for the first time.
• 1944 - World War II: Given the choice between a public treason trial and a certain death by firing squad or suicide with honor, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel chooses the latter.
• 1947 - Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
• 1960 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps.
• 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed.
• 1964 - Leonid Brezhnev becomes general secretary of the CPSU and leader of the Soviet Union, ousting Nikita Khrushchev.
• 1964 - American civil rights movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
• 1966 - The city of Montreal inaugurates its metro system (see Montreal Metro).
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
• 1979 - The first gay rights march in the United States takes place in Washington, DC, involving many tens of thousands of people.
• 1981 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.
• 1987 - 18 month old Jessica McClure ("Baby Jessica") falls down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas (her nationally televised rescue takes 58 hours).
• 1998 - Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with 6 bombings including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.

Births

• 1630 - Sophia of Hanover
• 1633 - James II of England and VII of Scotland
• 1644 - William Penn, English founder of Pennsylvania († 1718)
• 1842 - Joe Start, baseball player († 1927)
• 1857 - Elwood Haynes, automobile pioneer
• 1861 - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer
• 1873 - Ray Ewry, American athlete
• 1882 - Eamon de Valera, Irish politician and patriot († 1975)
• 1890 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, US General of the Army, 34th president of the United States
• 1893 - Lillian Gish, actress († 1993)
• 1894 - E. E. Cummings, American poet († 1962)
• 1904 - Christian Pineau, French World War II resistance fighter
• 1906 - Hannah Arendt, intellectual
• 1910 - John Wooden, basketball coach
• 1911 - Le Duc Tho, Nobel Peace Prize recipient († 1990)
• 1916 - C. Everett Koop, United States Surgeon General
• 1927 - Roger Moore, actor
• 1930 - Joseph Mobutu, president of Zaire († 1997)
• 1935 - La Monte Young, American composer
• 1938 - John W. Dean III, former White House counsel, Watergate figure
• 1938 - Empress Farah Diba of Iran
• 1939 - Ralph Lauren, fashion designer
• 1940 - Cliff Richard, British rock singer
• 1941 - Jerry Glanville, American football coach and commentator
• 1944 - Udo Kier, actor
• 1946 - Craig Venter, American biologist
• 1946 - Justin Hayward, musician ("The Moody Blues")
• 1946 - Demond Wilson, actor ("Sanford and Son")
• 1958 - Thomas Dolby, rock musician
• 1969 - David Strickland, American actor († 1999)
• 1978 - Usher Raymond, singer, actor

Deaths

• 1066 - Harold Godwinson, king of England
• 1660 - Thomas Harrison, English soldier
• 1944 - Erwin Rommel, German Feldmarschall
• 1959 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor
• 1976 - Dame Edith Evans, actress
• 1977 - Bing Crosby, American singer, actor
• 1977 - Keenan Wynn, American actor
• 1990 - Leonard Bernstein, American composer, conductor
• 1997 - Harold Robbins, American novelist
• 1998 - Frankie Yankovic, polka musician
• 1998 - Cleveland Amory, writer, animal rights activist
• 2003 - Patrick Dalzel-Job, inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond

Holidays

October 13 - October 15 - September 14 - November 14 - more historical anniversaries