What happened on October 12? There are more than 307 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About October 12
October 12 is the 286th day of the year 2024. There are 80 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday. This day falls under the 41st week of the year 2024.
On this day in Atlanta, Georgia 31131 sunrise occured at 07:39 AM and sunset occured at 07:08 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Libra. The modern birthstone for this month is Opal while the mystical birthstone is Jasper.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 109 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For October 12
- 539 BCThe army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.
- 1216King John of England loses his crown jewels in The Wash, probably near Fosdyke, perhaps near Sutton Bridge
- 1279Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon
- 1398The Treaty of Salynas is signed between Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Teutonic Knights, who received Samogitia.
- 1492Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached India
- 1582Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1654The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
- 1692The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.
- 1773America‘s first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds’in Virginia
- 1792First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York
- 1793The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina
- 1810First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
- 1822Peter I of Brazil is proclaimed the emperor of the Brazil
- 1823Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.
- 1871Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) enacted by British rule in India, which named over 160 local communities 'Criminal Tribes', i.e. hereditary criminals. Repealed in 1949, after Independence of India.
- 1892The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.
- 1901President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the “Executive Mansion” to the White House.
- 1915World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium
- 1917World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history.
- 1918A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota.
- 1928An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children’s Hospital, Boston
- 1933The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice
- 1942World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.
- 1944World War II: The Liberation of Athens from the German invaders.
- 1945World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
- 1953“The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York
- 1959At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
- 1960Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe
- 1960Inejiro Asanuma, Chair of the Japanese Socialist Party, is assassinated in Japan by Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year-old. The cameras were rolling at the time, so the moment was caught on film.
- 1962Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages
- 1964The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits
- 1967Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives are futile because of North Vietnam’s opposition
- 1968Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain
- 1970Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas
- 1979The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
- 1979The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
- 1983Japan’s former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail.
- 1984Brighton hotel bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Thatcher escapes but the bomb kills five people and wounds 31.
- 1986Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People’s Republic of China
- 1988Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap.
- 1988Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down executional style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia.
- 1991Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic’s Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
- 1994NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus (the spacecraft presumably burned up in the atmosphere).
- 1997Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
- 1999Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
- 1999The Day of Six Billion: The proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born.
- 1999The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia
- 2000The USS Cole is badly damaged in Aden, Yemen, by two suicide bombers, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39
- 2002Terrorists detonate bombs in the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.
- 2005The second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 launched carrying Fèi Jùnlóng and Niè Hǎishèng for five days in orbit.
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Who Were Born On October 12?
- 1006Emperor Go-Ichijō of Japan (d. 1036)
- 1350Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscovy (d. 1389)
- 1490Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (d. 1548)
- 1537King Edward VI of England (d. 1553)
- 1558Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (d. 1618)
- 1558Jacques Sirmond, French scholar and Jesuit (d. 1651)
- 1576Thomas Dudley, English-born American colonial magistrate (d. 1653)
- 1602William Chillingworth, English religious leader (d. 1644)
- 1710Jonathan Trumbull, American politician and 16th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1785)
- 1712William Shippen, American physician and statesman (d. 1801)
- 1725Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (d. 1810)
- 1792Christian Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1860)
- 1798Pedro I of Brazil (d. 1834)
- 1801Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Swiss statesman (d. 1873)
- 1815William J. Hardee, American Confederate general (d. 1873)
- 1840Helena Modjeska, Polish actress (d. 1909)
- 1855Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (d. 1922)
- 1860Elmer Sperry, American inventor (d. 1930)
- 1865Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
- 1866Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1937)
- 1872Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)
- 1874Jimmy Burke, American baseball player (d. 1942)
- 1875Aleister Crowley, English occultist and author (d. 1947)
- 1880Louis Hémon, French novelist (d. 1913)
- 1887Paula von Preradović, Croatian-Austrian poet (d. 1951)
- 1891Edith Stein, Carmelite Catholic nun (d. 1942)
- 1892Gilda dalla Rizza, Italian soprano (d. 1975)
- 1893Velvalee Dickinson, American spy (d. 1980)
- 1894Elisabeth of Romania (d. 1956)
- 1896Eugenio Montale, Italian poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- 1904Ding Ling, Chinese writer (d. 1986)
- 1904Lester Dent, American writer (d. 1959)
- 1906Joe Cronin, American baseball player and executive (d. 1984)
- 1906John Murray, American playwright (d.1984)
- 1908Ann Petry, American novelist (d. 1997)
- 1908Paul Engle, American writer (d. 1991)
- 1910Robert Fitzgerald, American poet and translator (d. 1985)
- 1913Alice Chetwynd Ley, British romance writer (d. 2004)
- 1916Alice Childress, American actress and playwright (d. 1994)
- 1917Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (d. 2004)
- 1919Gilles Beaudoin, Quebec politician (d. 2007)
- 1920Christopher Soames, Baron Soames, British politician (d. 1987)
- 1920Christy Ring, Irish hurler (d. 1979)
- 1921Art Clokey, American animator (Gumby) (d. 2010)
- 1921Jaroslav Drobný, Czech-Egyptian-British tennis player (d. 2001)
- 1923Goody Petronelli, American boxing trainer and manager
- 1924Doris Grau, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1924Leonidas Kyrkos, Greek politician (d. 2011)
- 1925Denis Lazure, Quebec politician (d. 2008)
- 1929Magnús Magnússon, Icelandic television presenter (d. 2007)
- 1929Nappy Brown, American R&B singer (d. 2008)
- 1929Robert Coles, American psychologist and author
- 1930Denis Brodeur, French-Canadian hockey photographer
- 1930Milica Kacin Wohinz, Slovenian historian
- 1931Ole-Johan Dahl, Norwegian computer scientist (d. 2002)
- 1932Dick Gregory, American comedian and activist
- 1932Ned Jarrett, American race car driver
- 1933Guido Molinari, Canadian painter (d. 2004)
- 1934Albert Shiryaev, Russian mathematician
- 1934Richard Meier, American architect
- 1935Don Howe, English football player and manager
- 1935Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (d. 2007)
- 1935Sam Moore, American R&B singer (Sam & Dave)
- 1935Tony Kubek, American baseball player
- 1937Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (d. 1969)
- 1937Robert Mangold, American artist
- 1938Bob Miller, American NHL broadcaster
- 1941Michael Mansfield, English barrister
- 1942Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter (Black Panther Party) (d. 1969)
- 1942Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress and singer
- 1942Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1995)
- 1944Angela Rippon, British television personality
- 1945Aurore Clément, French actress
- 1945Dusty Rhodes, American professional wrestler
- 1947Chris Wallace, American journalist
- 1947George Lam, Hong Kong singer
- 1948Hans Sprenger, German footballer
- 1948Rick Parfitt, British musician (Status Quo)
- 1949Dave Lloyd, British cyclist
- 1949Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, Venezuelan international terrorist
- 1949Paul Went, English footballer
- 1949Stan Hansen, American professional wrestler
- 1950Caroline Ellis, English actress
- 1950Dave Freudenthal, American politician and 31st Governor of Wyoming
- 1950Kaga Takeshi, Japanese actor
- 1950Robin Askwith, English actor
- 1950Susan Anton, American actress
- 1951Ed Royce, American politician
- 1951Sally Little, South-African-born American golfer
- 1952Danielle Proulx, Quebec actress
- 1953Les Dennis, British comedian and presenter
- 1953Serge Lepeltier, French politician
- 1954Linval Thompson, Jamaican musician and record producer
- 1955Aggie MacKenzie, Scottish television presenter
- 1955Ante Gotovina, Croatian general
- 1955Brigitte Lahaie, French talk show host and actress
- 1955Einar Jan Aas, Norwegian footballer
- 1955Jane Siberry, Canadian musician
- 1956David Vanian, British singer, (The Damned)
- 1957Kristen Bjorn, British film director
- 1958Bryn Merrick, British musician, (The Damned)
- 1958Steve Austria, American politician
- 1959Anna Escobedo Cabral, 42nd Treasurer of the United States
- 1960Carlo Perrone, Italian football manager and player
- 1960Hiroyuki Sanada, Japanese actor
- 1962Amanda Castro, Hondurian poet
- 1962Branko Crvenkovski, Macedonian politician
- 1962Carlos Bernard, American actor
- 1962Chris Botti, American jazz musician
- 1962Deborah Foreman, American actress
- 1962John Coleman, English football manager and player
- 1963Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer
- 1963Lane Frost, American professional bull rider (d. 1989)
- 1963Luis Polonia, Dominican baseball player
- 1963Raimond Aumann, German footballer
- 1963Satoshi Kon, Japanese anime director (d. 2010)
- 1965Jean-Jacques Daigneault, Canadian hockey player
- 1965Scott O'Grady, American military officer
- 1966Brian Kennedy, Northern Irish musician and author
- 1966Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor
- 1966Wim Jonk, Dutch football player
- 1967Paul Laine Canadian singer/composer
- 1968Adam Rich, American actor
- 1968Bill Auberlen, American race car driver
- 1968Hugh Jackman, Australian actor and singer
- 1969Željko Milinovič, Slovenian footballer
- 1969Dwayne Roloson, Canadian hockey player
- 1969José Valentín, American baseball player
- 1969Judit Mascó, Spanish model
- 1969Martie Maguire, American musician (Dixie Chicks)
- 1970Charlie Ward, American pro basketball player
- 1970Julian, American pornographic actor
- 1970Kirk Cameron, American actor
- 1970Tanyon Sturtze, American baseball player
- 1971Steve Johnston, Australian speedway rider
- 1971Tony Fiore, American baseball player
- 1972Juan Manuel Silva, Argentine racing driver
- 1972Tom Van Mol, Belgian football player
- 1973Lesli Brea, Dominican baseball player
- 1973Martin Corry, English rugby player
- 1974Kate Beahan, Australian actress
- 1974Marie Wilson, Canadian actress
- 1974Stephen Lee, English snooker player
- 1975Ahmad, American rapper
- 1975Marion Jones, American track and field athlete
- 1976Sarah Lane, American television personality
- 1977Bode Miller, American alpine ski-racer
- 1977Javier Toyo, Venezuelan footballer
- 1977Jessica Barker, Canadian actress
- 1978Baden Cooke, Australian cyclist
- 1978Marko Jaric, Serbian basketball player
- 1979Jordan Pundik, American singer (New Found Glory)
- 1979Steven Agnew, Northern Irish politician
- 1980Ledley King, English footballer
- 1981Brian J. Smith, American actor
- 1981Brian Kerr, Scottish footballer
- 1981Shola Ameobi, English footballer
- 1981Sneha, Indian actress
- 1981Sun Tiantian, Chinese tennis player
- 1981Tom Guiry, American actor
- 1983Alex Brosque, Australian soccer player
- 1983Carlton Cole, English footballer
- 1983Katie Piper, English campaigner and television presenter
- 1985Mike Green, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986Emmanuel Nwachi, Nigerian footballer
- 1986Ioannis Maniatis, Greek footballer
- 1986Sergio Peter, German footballer
- 1986Tyler Blackburn, American actor and singer
- 1988Sam Whitelock, New Zealand rugby player
- 1990Henri Lansbury, English footballer
- 1991Nicolao Dumitru, Italian footballer
- 1992Josh Hutcherson, American actor
- 1992Taylor Horn, American singer
- 2001Raymond Ochoa, American actor
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Who Died On October 12?
- 632Edwin of Northumbria (b.c. 586)
- 638Pope Honorius I
- 642Pope John IV
- 1095Margrave Leopold II of Austria (b. 1050)
- 1176William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, English politician (b.c. 1109)
- 1320Michael IX Palaeologus (b. 1277)
- 1491Fritz Herlen, German artist (b.c. 1449)
- 1492Piero della Francesca, Italian painter
- 1565Jean Ribault, French explorer and colonizer (b. 1520)
- 1576Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1527)
- 1590Kano Eitoku, Japanese painter (b. 1543)
- 1600Luis Molina, Spanish Jesuit (b. 1535)
- 1632Kutsuki Mototsuna, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1549)
- 1646François de Bassompierre, Marshal of France (b. 1579)
- 1678Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate (b. 1621)
- 1679William Gurnall, English writer (b. 1617)
- 1685Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian jurist (b. 1628)
- 1730King Frederick IV of Denmark (b. 1671)
- 1758Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth, British field marshal (b. 1680)
- 1845Elizabeth Fry, British social reformer and philanthropist (b. 1780)
- 1870Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1807)
- 1875Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (b. 1827)
- 1896Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish nobleman and politician (b. 1817)
- 1898Calvin Fairbank, American abolitionist minister (b. 1816)
- 1915Edith Cavell, English nurse (b. 1865)
- 1920Yu Gwan-sun, Korean independence leader (b. 1904)
- 1924Anatole France, French author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
- 1932Ioannis Chrysafis, Greek gymnast (b. 1873)
- 1933John Lister, English politician (b. 1847)
- 1940Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)
- 1946Joseph Stilwell, American general (b. 1883)
- 1948Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1885).
- 1954George Welch, American pilot (b. 1918)
- 1956Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
- 1958Gordon Griffith, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
- 1960Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese politician (b. 1898)
- 1965Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- 1967Ram Manohar Lohia, Indian Socialist politician leader (b. 1910)
- 1969Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (b. 1912)
- 1970Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani poet (b. 1930)
- 1971Dean Acheson, American statesman (b. 1893)
- 1971Gene Vincent, American rock musician (b. 1935)
- 1973Peter Aufschnaiter, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1899)
- 1978Nancy Spungen, American groupie and murder victim (b. 1958)
- 1983Ernie Roth, American pro wrestling manager (b. 1929)
- 1984Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (b. 1925)
- 1985Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (b. 1910)
- 1985Ricky Wilson, American musician (The B-52's) (b. 1953)
- 1987Alf Landon, American politician (b. 1887)
- 1988Coby Whitmore, American painter and magazine illustrator (b. 1913)
- 1988Ruth Manning-Sanders, Welsh poet and children’s book author (b. 1886)
- 1989Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (b. 1913)
- 1989Jay Ward, American animator (Rocky and Bullwinkle) (b. 1920)
- 1990Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian author and mountaineer (b. 1899)
- 1991Arkady Strugatsky, Russian novelist (b. 1925)
- 1991Sheila Florance, Australian film and television actress (b. 1916)
- 1993Leon Ames, American actor (b. 1902)
- 1993Tofik Bakhramov, Azerbaijani linesman (b. 1926)
- 1994Gérald Godin, Québécois poet and politician (b. 1938)
- 1996René Lacoste, French tennis player (b. 1904)
- 1996Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (b. 1911)
- 1997John Denver, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1998Mario Beaulieu, French Canadian politician (b. 1930)
- 1998Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
- 1999Robert Marsden Hope, Australian jurist (b. 1919)
- 1999Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (b. 1936)
- 2001Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, British politician (b. 1907)
- 2002Audrey Mestre, French diver (b. 1974)
- 2002Ray Conniff, American bandleader and musician (b. 1916)
- 2003Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
- 2003Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (b. 1928)
- 2003Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
- 2005C. Delores Tucker, American politician and civil rights activist (b. 1927)
- 2006Gillo Pontecorvo, Italian film director (b. 1919)
- 2007Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (b. 1934)
- 2007Noel Coleman, British Actor (b. 1919)
- 2008Karl Chircop, Maltese politician (b. 1965)
- 2009Dickie Peterson American musician (b. 1948)
- 2009Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian cyclist (b. 1974)
- 2010Belva Plain, American novelist (b. 1919)
- 2010Woody Peoples, American football player (b. 1943)
- 2011Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist (b. 1941)
- 2011Heinz Bennent, German actor (b. 1921)
- 2011Patricia Breslin, American actress (b. 1931)
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