What happened on October 23? There are more than 257 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 23
October 23 is the 297th day of the year 2024. There are 69 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 43rd week of the year 2024.
On this day in Glendale, Arizona 85304 sunrise will occur at 06:39 AM and sunset will occur at 05:46 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 98 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 18 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For October 23
- 42 BCRoman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat Brutus’s army. Brutus commits suicide.
- 425Valentinian III is elevated as Roman Emperor, at the age of 6.
- 502The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
- 1086At the Battle of az-Zallaqah, the army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI.
- 1157The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.
- 1295The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.
- 1641Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
- 1642Battle of Edgehill: First major battle of the First English Civil War.
- 1694British/American colonial forces, led by Sir William Phipps, fail to seize Quebec from the French.
- 1707The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
- 1739War of Jenkins’ Ear starts: British Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, reluctantly declares war on Spain.
- 1812Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he is now the commandant of Paris.
- 1850The first National Women’s Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.
- 1861U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C., for all military-related cases.
- 1864American Civil War: Battle of Westport – Union forces under General Samuel R. Curtis defeat Confederate troops led by General Sterling Price at Westport, near Kansas City.
- 186772 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Canadian Senate.
- 1870Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Metz concludes with a decisive Prussian victory.
- 1906Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe at Champs de Bagatelle, Paris, France.
- 1911First use of aircraft in war: An Italian pilot takes off from Libya to observe Turkish army lines during the Turco-Italian War.
- 1912First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
- 1915Woman’s suffrage: In New York City, 25,000-33,000 women march on Fifth Avenue to advocate their right to vote.
- 1917Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
- 1929Great Depression: After a steady decline in stock market prices since a peak in September, the New York Stock Exchange begins to show signs of panic.
- 1929The first North American transcontinental air service begins between New York City and Los Angeles, California.
- 1935Dutch Schultz, Abe Landau, Otto Berman, and Bernard “Lulu” Rosencrantz are fatally shot at a saloon in Newark, New Jersey in what will become known as The Chophouse Massacre.
- 1941Walt Disney’s animated film Dumbo is released.
- 1941World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.
- 1942All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner are killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is award-winning composer and songwriter Ralph Rainger (“Thanks for the Memory”, “Love in Bloom”, “Blue Hawaii”).
- 1942World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein: – At El Alamein in northern Egypt, the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal Montgomery begins a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt.
- 1942World War II: The Battle for Henderson Field begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on October 26.
- 1944World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf – The largest naval battle in history begins in the Philippines.
- 1944World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.
- 1946The United Nations General Assembly convenes for the first time, at an auditorium in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
- 1956Thousands of Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
- 1958The Smurfs, a fictional race of blue dwarves, later popularized in a Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon series, appear for the first time in the story La flute à six schtroumpfs, a Johan and Peewit adventure by Peyo which is serialized in the weekly comics magazine Spirou.
- 1958The Springhill Mine Bump – An underground earthquake traps 174 miners in the No. 2 colliery at Springhill, Nova Scotia, the deepest coal mine in North America at the time. By November 1, rescuers from around the world had dug out 100 of the victims, marking the death toll at 74.
- 1965Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (United States) (Airmobile), in conjunction with South Vietnamese forces, launches a new operation seeking to destroy North Vietnamese forces in Pleiku in the II Corps Tactical Zone (the Central Highlands).
- 1970Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
- 1972Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months.
- 1973A United Nations sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Syria.
- 1973The Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations.
- 1983Lebanon Civil War: The U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
- 1989Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas kills 23 and injures 314.
- 1989The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös, replacing the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.
- 1992Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil.
- 1993Shankill Road bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in the Shankill area of Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians.
- 1998Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a “land for peace” agreement.
- 2001Apple announces the iPod.
- 2002Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
- 2004A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
- 2007A powerful cold front in the Bay of Campeche causes the Usumacinta Jackup rig to collide with Kab 101, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after evacuation of the rig.
- 2011A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands.
Who Were Born On October 23?
- 1503Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (d. 1539)
- 1516Charlotte de Valois, princess of France (d. 1524)
- 1634Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden (d. 1715)
- 1698Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (d. 1782)
- 1705Maximilian Ulysses Count Browne, Austrian field marshal (d. 1757)
- 1715Tsar Peter II of Russia (d. 1730)
- 1762Samuel Morey, American inventor (d. 1843)
- 1766Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (d. 1847)
- 1771Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (d. 1813)
- 1790Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman (d. 1860)
- 1796Stefano Franscini, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1857)
- 1801Albert Lortzing, German composer (d. 1851)
- 1805John Russell Bartlett, American linguist (d. 1886)
- 1813Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer (d. 1848)
- 1815João Maurício Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (d. 1889)
- 1817Pierre Athanase Larousse, French lexicographer (d. 1875)
- 1835Adlai Stevenson I, American politician, and 23rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1914)
- 1844Robert Bridges, English poet (d. 1930)
- 1865Neltje Blanchan, American writer (d. 1918)
- 1869John Heisman, American football player and coach (d. 1936)
- 1870Francis Kelley, Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma (d. 1948)
- 1873William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (d. 1975)
- 1875Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist (d. 1946)
- 1876Franz Schlegelberger, German judge and politician (d. 1970)
- 1880Una O'Connor, Irish actress (d. 1959)
- 1885Lawren Harris, Canadian painter (d. 1970)
- 1888Onésime Gagnon, Canadian politician (d. 1961)
- 1893Gummo Marx, American actor (d. 1977)
- 1894Rube Bressler, baseball player (d. 1966)
- 1896André Lévêque, French engineer (d. 1930)
- 1900Douglas Jardine, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- 1904Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
- 1905Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
- 1905Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (d. 2003)
- 1908Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
- 1909Zellig Harris, American linguist (d. 1992)
- 1910Hayden Rorke, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1910Richard Mortensen, Danish painter (d. 1993)
- 1918James Daly, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1918Peggy Moran, American actress d. 2002
- 1919Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (d. 1992)
- 1920Ted Fujita, Japanese meteorologist (d. 1998)
- 1922Coleen Gray, American actress
- 1923Aslam Farrukhi, Pakistani scholar and poet
- 1923Frank Sutton, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1923Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1985)
- 1923Ned Rorem, American composer
- 1925Fred Shero, Canadian hockey player and coach (d. 1990)
- 1925Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)
- 1925Manos Hadjidakis, Greek composer (d. 1994)
- 1927Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (d. 2009)
- 1927Sonny Criss, American alto saxophonist (d. 1977)
- 1928Bella Darvi, Polish-born French actress (d. 1971)
- 1929Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet, columnist and journalist (d. 2006)
- 1931Diana Dors, British actress (d. 1984)
- 1931Jim Bunning, American baseball player and politician
- 1931William P. Clark, American jurist, and 44th United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1935Juan “Chi-Chi” Rodríguez, Puerto Rican golfer
- 1936Philip Kaufman, American film director
- 1937Carlos Lamarca, Brazilian military turned guerrilla leader (d. 1971)
- 1939Stanley Anderson, American actor
- 1940Baby Jane Holzer, American art collector, film producer and Andy Warhol “superstar”
- 1940Ellie Greenwich, American singer (d. 2009)
- 1940Pelé, Brazilian footballer
- 1941Igor Smirnov, Moldovan politician
- 1941Mel Winkler, American actor
- 1942Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop (d. 2007)
- 1942Bernd Erdmann, German football player and manager
- 1942Michael Crichton, American writer (d. 2008)
- 1944Mike Harding, English singer and comedian
- 1945Kim Larsen, Danish singer
- 1945Maggi Hambling, English sculptor and painter
- 1946Mel Martinez, American politician
- 1948Brian Ross, American journalist
- 1948Hermann Hauser, Austrian-born entrepreneur
- 1949Michael ‘Wurzel’Burston, British musician (Motörhead)
- 1949Nick Tosches, American writer
- 1951Charly García, Argentine singer
- 1951Fatmir Sejdiu, former (2nd) President of Kosovo
- 1952Pierre Moerlen, French drummer and percussionist (d. 2005)
- 1954Ang Lee, Taiwanese-born director
- 1956Dianne Reeves, American jazz singer
- 1956Dwight Yoakam, American singer
- 1957Martin Luther King III, American human rights advocate
- 1958Michael Eric Dyson, American activist, professor, author
- 1958Rose Nabinger, German singer
- 1959“Weird Al” Yankovic, American musical parodist
- 1959Nancy Grace, American former prosecutor
- 1959Sam Raimi, American film director
- 1960Randy Pausch, American computer science professor, author (d. 2008)
- 1960Wayne Rainey, American motorcyclist
- 1961Andoni Zubizarreta, Spanish footballer
- 1961Laurie Halse Anderson, American writer
- 1962Doug Flutie, American football player
- 1963Gordon Korman, Canadian-American Author
- 1964Robert Trujillo, American bassist (Metallica)
- 1965Al Leiter, American baseball player
- 1965Augusten Burroughs, American writer
- 1966Alex Zanardi, Italian race car driver
- 1967Dale Crover, American musician (Melvins, The Men of Porn, Altamont)
- 1969Brooke Theiss, American actress
- 1969Trudi Canavan, Australian writer
- 1970Grant Imahara, American TV Mythbuster
- 1970Zoe Wiseman, American Model and Photographer
- 1971Carlo Forlivesi, Italian composer
- 1971Christopher Horner, American cyclist
- 1972Bryan Pratt, Missouri Politician
- 1972Jasmin St. Claire, Former pornographic actress
- 1973Christian Dailly, Scottish footballer
- 1974Sander Westerveld, Dutch footballer
- 1975Jessicka, American artist
- 1975Keith Van Horn, American basketball player
- 1975Michelle Beadle, American television personality
- 1975Odalys García, Cuban actress
- 1976Cat Deeley, English model and television personality
- 1976Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- 1977Brad Haddin, Australian cricket player
- 1978Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
- 1978Jimmy Bullard, English footballer
- 1978Steve Harmison, English cricketer
- 1978Wang Nan, Chinese table tennis player
- 1979Jorge Solís, Mexican professional boxer
- 1979Ramón Castro, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1979Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
- 1980Mate Bilić, Croatian footballer
- 1980Pedro Liriano, Dominican baseball player
- 1981Ben Francisco, American baseball player
- 1981Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dutch racing driver
- 1981Shoo, South Korean singer and actress
- 1982Aleksandar Luković, Serbian footballer
- 1982Valentin Badea, Romanian footballer
- 1983Filippos Darlas, Greek footballer
- 1983Josh Strickland, American entertainer
- 1984Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model
- 1984Meghan McCain, American author and daughter of John McCain
- 1984Simone Masini, Italian footballer
- 1985Luca Spinetti, Italian footballer
- 1985Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American writer and actress
- 1986Briana Evigan, American actress
- 1986Jake Robinson, English footballer
- 1986Jessica Stroup, American actress
- 1987Faye Hamlin, Swedish singer (Play)
- 1990Axel Ehnström, Finnish singer (Better known by stage name Paradise Oskar)
- 1990Stan Walker, Australian/New Zealand recording artist and actor.
- 1990Stevie Brock, American singer
- 1991Princess Mako of Akishino of Japan
- 1993Taylor Spreitler, American actress
Who Died On October 23?
- 42 BCMarcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)
- 877Ignatius, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 797)
- 930Daigo, Emperor of Japan (b. 885)
- 1456Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)
- 1550Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (b. 1480)
- 1581Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1529)
- 1616Leonhard Hutter, German theologian (b. 1563)
- 1688Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)
- 1730Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)
- 1764Emmanuel-Auguste de Cahideuc, Comte Dubois de la Motte, French naval officer (b. 1683)
- 1774Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary and scientist (b. 1715)
- 1867Franz Bopp, German linguist (b. 1791)
- 1869Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1799)
- 1872Théophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)
- 1885Charles S. West, Texas jurist and politician (b. 1829)
- 1893Alexander Battenberg, prince of Bulgaria (b. 1857)
- 1910Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (b. 1853)
- 1915W. G. Grace, English cricketer (b. 1848)
- 1921John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (b. 1840)
- 1939Zane Grey, American author (b. 1872)
- 1942Ralph Rainger, American composer (b. 1901)
- 1943Wakashima Gonshirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 21st Yokozuna (b. 1876)
- 1944Charles Glover Barkla, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
- 1944Hana Brady, Holocaust victim (b. 1931)
- 1950Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)
- 1953Adrien-Maurice-Victurnien-Mathieu, 8th duc de Noailles (b. 1869)
- 1957Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)
- 1959George Bouzianis, Greek painter (b. 1885)
- 1959Gerda Lundequist, Swedish actress (b. 1871)
- 1978Maybelle Carter, American guitarist and musical innovator (b. 1909)
- 1983Jessica Savitch, American journalist (b. 1947)
- 1984James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (b. 1892)
- 1984Oskar Werner, Austrian actor (b. 1922)
- 1986Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
- 1988Asashio Tarō III, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 46th Yokozuna (b. 1929)
- 1989Armida, Mexican actress (b. 1911)
- 1990Louis Althusser, French philosopher (b. 1918)
- 1994Robert Lansing, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1996Bob Grim, American baseball player (b. 1930)
- 1997Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)
- 1998Barnett Slepian, American physician (b. 1946)
- 2000Rodney Anoa'i aka Yokozuna, Samoan-American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
- 2001Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (b. 1917)
- 2001Ronald William “Josh” Kirby, British artist (b. 1928)
- 2002Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1915)
- 2003Soong May-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1897)
- 2003Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1944)
- 2004Bill Nicholson, English Footballer (b.1919)
- 2004Robert Merrill, American baritone (b. 1919)
- 2005John Muth, American economist (b. 1930)
- 2005Stella Obasanjo, Nigerian first lady (b. 1945)
- 2005William Hootkins, American actor (b. 1948)
- 2006Lebo Mathosa, South African entertainer (b. 1977)
- 2007John Ilhan, Australian entrepreneur (b. 1965)
- 2007Lim Goh Tong, Malaysian-born Chinese businessman (b. 1918)
- 2008Kevin Finnegan, British boxer (b. 1948)
- 2010Francis Crippen, American long-distance swimmer (b. 1984)
- 2010Leo Cullum, American cartoonist (b. 1942)
- 2011John McCarthy, American computer scientist and pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, inventor of the Lisp programming language.(b. 1927)
- 2011Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1987)
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