October 18

Events

• 1016 - Battle of Ashingdon -- Danes defeat Saxons
• 1685 - Louis XIV of France revokes the Edict of Nantes, which had protected French Protestants
• 1767 - Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania completed
• 1808 - Belgium annexes Congo Free State
• 1867 - United States takes possession of Alaska
• 1898 - United States takes possession of Puerto Rico
• 1912 - Beginning of First Balkan War
• 1922 - BBC established
• 1925 - The Grand Ole Opry opens
• 1944 - Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia
  • - Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia

Births

• 1706 - Baldassare Galuppi, composer († 1785)
• 1741 - Choderlos de Laclos, author († 1803)
• 1859 - Henri Bergson, writer
• 1898 - Lotte Lenya, singer, actress († 1981)
• 1898 - Shin'ichi Suzuki, violin player and teacher, creator of the Suzuki method († 1998)
• 1902 - Mirian Hopkins, actress († 1972)
• 1911 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru
• 1918 - Bobby Troup, musician († 1999)
• 1919 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada († 2000)
  • - Anita O'Day, jazz singer
• 1920 - Melina Mercouri, actress († 1994)
• 1921 - Jesse Helms, Senator from North Carolina
• 1926 - Chuck Berry, musician
• 1926 - Klaus Kinski, actor († 1991)
• 1927 - George C. Scott, actor († 1999)
• 1928 - Keith Jackson, American football commentator
• 1929 - Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua
• 1934 - Inger Stevens, actress († 1970)
• 1935 - Peter Boyle, actor
• 1939 - Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, commentator
• 1939 - Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin (†1963)
• 1947 - Laura Nyro, singer, songwriter († 1997)
  • - Joe Morton, actor
• 1948 - Ntozake Shange, author
• 1950 - Wendy Wasserstein, playwright
  • - Om Puri, actor
• 1951 - Terry McMillan, author
• 1956 - Martina Navratilova, tennis player
• 1960 - Jean-Claude Van Damme
• 1961 - Wynton Marsalis, musician
• 1962 - Vincent Spano, actor

Deaths

• 707 - Pope John VII
• 1545 - John Taverner, composer
• 1817 - Etienne-Nicolas Méhul, composer
• 1871 - Charles Babbage, mathematician and inventor of computing machines
• 1893 - Charles Gounod, composer
• 1921 - King Ludwig III of Bavaria
• 1931 - Thomas Edison, inventor
• 1984 - Jon-Erix Hexum, actor, model
• 2000 - Gwen Verdon, dancer, actress
  • - Julie London, singer, actress
• 2001 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician
• 2002 - Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut

Holidays

• Christianity - Feast of Saint Luke
• Alaska: Alaska Day

October 17 - October 19 - September 18 - November 18 - more historical anniversaries

Referenced By