October 31

Halloween

Birthdays:

1963 ~ Dermot Mulroney, American actor.

1963 ~ Rob Schneider, American comedian and actor.

1951 ~ Nick Saban, American college football coach who coached for Louisiana State University, before moving on to the University of Alabama.

1950 ~ John Candy (d. Mar. 4, 1994), Canadian actor and comedian.  He died of a heart attack at age 43.

1950 ~ Jane Pauley, American journalist and news anchor.

1946 ~ Stephen Rea, Irish actor.

1943 ~ Brian Piccolo (d. June 16, 1970), American football player.  He died of cancer at age 26.  His life story was depicted in the movie, Brian’s Song.

1942 ~ David Ogden Stiers, American actor.

1939 ~ Ron Riflin (né Saul M. Rifkin), American actor.

1936 ~ Michael Landon (né Eugene Maurice Orowitz, d. July 1, 1991), American actor.  He died at age 54 of pancreatic cancer.

1935 ~ Dale Brown, American basketball coach who coached the LSU Tigers for 25 years.

1935 ~ Ronald Graham, American mathematician.

1931 ~ Dan Rather, American journalist and news anchor.

1930 ~ Michael Collins, American astronaut.  He was on Apollo 11.

1925 ~ Sir John Pople (d. Mar. 15, 2004), English chemist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 78.

1925 ~ Robin Moore (né Robert Lowell Moore, d. Feb. 21, 2008), American popular author who wrote The French Connection.  He also wrote The Green Berets.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 82.

1922 ~ Barbara Bel Geddes (d. Aug. 8, 2005), American actress best known for her role as Miss Ellie on the television series, Dallas.  She died of lung cancer at age 82 in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

1922 ~ Norodom Sihanouk (d. Oct 15, 2012), Cambodian king and 1^st Prime Minister of Cambodia who reigned over independence and bloodshed.  He died 2 weeks before his 90^th birthday.

1920 ~ Helmut Newton (né Helmut Neustädter, d. Jan. 23, 2004), German photographer.  He was killed in a car accident at age 83.

1920 ~ Dick Francis (né Richard Stanley Francis, d. Feb. 14, 2010), British jockey who was a best-selling novelist.  He died at age 89.

1919 ~ Father Magnus Wenninger (d. Feb. 17, 2017), American mathematician and Catholic priest.  He died at age 97.

1912 ~ Dale Evans (née Lucille Wood Smith, d. Feb. 7, 2001), American singer-songwriter and actress.  She was the third wife of Roy Rogers.  She died of congestive heart failure at age 88.

1912 ~ Oscar Dystel (d. May 28, 2014), American publisher who saved the paperback.  He died at age 101.

1902 ~ Abraham Wald (d. Dec. 13, 1950), Hungarian mathematician.  He was killed in a plane crash at age 48.

1896 ~ Ethel Waters (d. Sept. 1, 1977), American actress and singer.  She was 80 years old.

1893 ~ Kurt Reidemeister (b. July 8, 1971), German mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1887 ~ Chiang Kai-shek (b. Apr. 5, 1887), 1^st President of the Republic of China.  He died at age 87.

1860 ~ Juliette Gordon Low (d. Jan. 17, 1927), American founder of the Girl Scouts.  She died of breast cancer at age 66.

1848 ~ Boston Custer (d. June 25, 1876), youngest brother of George Armstrong Custer (b. Dec. 5, 1839) and Thomas Ward Custer (b. Mar. 15, 1845).  All were killed in the Battle of Little Big Horn.  Boston was 27 years old; George Custer was 36 years old, and Thomas was 31.

1835 ~ Adolf von Baeyer (d. Aug. 20, 1917), German chemist and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 81.

1827 ~ Richard Morris Hunt (d. July 31, 1897), American architect and designer of the New York Tribune Building.  He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont.  He died at age 67.

1815 ~ Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstraβ (d. Feb. 19, 1897), German mathematician.  He died at age 81.

1795 ~ John Keats (d. Feb. 23, 1821), English poet.  He died of tuberculosis at age 25.

1711 ~ Laura Bassi (d. Feb. 20, 1778), Italian physician and scholar.  She is believed to have been the first female university professor in Europe.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born sometime between October 20 and 31 in 1711.  She died at age 66.

1705 ~ Pope Clement XIV (né Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, d. Sept. 22, 1774).  He was Pope from May 19, 1769 until his death on this date 5 years later.  He was 68 at the time of his death.

1632 ~ Jan Vermeer (d. Dec. 15, 1675), Dutch/Flemish painter.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on this date.   The date of his death is unknown, but he was buried on December 15, 1675.  He died at age 43.

1607 ~ Pierre de Fermat (d. Jan. 12, 1665), French mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is generally attributed to have been 1601 it may have been as late as 1607.  Also, he may have been born as late as December 7, 1607.  He was, thus, either 57 or 63 at the time of his death.  He did pioneering work in analytic geometry.

1424 ~ King Władysław III of Poland (d. Nov. 10, 1444).  He was killed in the Battle of Varna just 10 days after his 20^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2015 ~ A Russian plane traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt to St. Petersburg, Russia was bombed and crashed in the Sinai.  All 224 passengers and crew perish.  The crash was the result of a terrorist attack.

2011 ~ The global population of humans reached the 7 Billion mark.  The United Nations designated this as Seven Billion Day.

2002 ~ Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow (b. 1961) was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston, Texas on 78 counts of money laundering, conspiracy, wire fraud and obstruction of justice in the collapse of Enron.  Fastow served a 6-year prison term for his actions.

1999 ~ EgyptAir flight 990, traveling from New York to Cairo, crashed off the coast of Massachusetts.  All 217 passengers and crew aboard were killed.  The cause of the crash is in dispute.  Two investigations came up with different conclusions: The crash was either due to the deliberate action of the relief first officer or was caused by mechanical failure.

1956 ~ During the Suez Crisis, the United Kingdom and France began bombing Egypt in an attempt for force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

1941 ~ The sculpture at Mount Rushmore was completed 14 years after work had begun.

1922 ~ Benito Mussolini (1883 ~ 1945) was made Prime Minister of Italy.

1913 ~ The Lincoln Highway was dedicated.  This was the first automobile road across the United States.

1864 ~ Nevada became the 36^th State of the Union.

1861 ~ Union General Winfield Scott (1786 ~ 1866) resigned as Commander of the United States Army, citing failing health.

1517 ~ The traditional date that Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, hence marking the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ John H. Reed (b. Jan. 5, 1921), 67^th Governor of Maine.  He served as Governor from December 1959 until January 1967.  Before turning to politics, he was a potato farmer in Aroostook County.  He died at age 91.

2012 ~ John Fitch (b. Aug. 4, 1917), American racing legend who loved speed and safety.  He invented the safety barriers found on interstate exit ramps.  He died at age 95.

2010 ~ Ted Sorensen (né Theodore Sorensen, b. May 8, 1928), 8^th White House Counsel.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from January 1961 until February 1964.  He died at age 82.

2009 ~ Qian Xuesen (b. Dec. 11, 1911), Chinese scientist who put China in space.  He died at age 97.

2008 ~ Studs Terkel (né Louis Terkel, b. May 16, 1912), American writer and oral historian who tapped into the heart of America.  He died at age 96.

2006 ~ P.W. Botha (né Pieter Willem Botha, b. Jan. 12, 1916), South African politician.  He died of a heart attack at age 90.

1993 ~ River Phoenix (né River Jude Bottom, b. Aug. 23. 1970), American actor.  He died at age 23 of a drug overdose.

1993 ~ Frederico Fellini (b. Jan. 20, 1920), Italian movie director.  He died of a stroke at age 73.

1991 ~ Joseph Papp (b. June 22, 1921), American stage director and producer.  He died of prostate cancer at age 70.

1988 ~ John Houseman (né Jacques Haussmann, b. Sept. 22, 1902), Rumanian-born actor.  He died of spinal cancer at age 86.

1986 ~ Robert Sanderson Mulliken (b. June 7, 1896), American chemist and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 90.

1984 ~ Indira Gandhi (b. Nov. 19, 1917), Prime Minister of India and first woman to hold that Office.  She served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination on October 21, 1984.  She was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.  Her assassination caused riots throughout India in which nearly 10,000 Sikhs were killed.  She was killed 19 days before her 67^th birthday.

1926 ~ Harry Houdini (né Erik Weiss, b. Mar. 24, 1874), Hungarian-born American magician.  He died of gangrene following a rupture of his appendix after he had been punched in the gut two weeks earlier.  He died at age 52.

1879 ~ Joseph Hooker (b. Nov. 13, 1814), American general.  He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.  He was born in Hadley, Massachusetts.  He died 2 weeks before his 65^th birthday.

1834 ~ Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (b. June 24, 1771), French businessman who founded a gunpowder company in 1802.  His company was the forerunner of today’s DuPont chemical company.  He died at age 63.

1723 ~ Cosimo III de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. Aug. 14, 1642).  He died at age 81.

1214 ~ Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (b. Oct. 13, 1163).  She was the daughter of King Henry II of England.  She died 13 days after her 53^rd birthday.