October 15

Events

1066 – Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England, but is never crowned. He reigns until 10 December 1066.

1211 – Battle of the Rhyndacus: The Latin emperor Henry of Flanders defeats the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris.

1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends as the Austrians rout the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.

1582 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.

1764 – Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

1783 – The Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon (tethered) makes the first human ascent, piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier.

1793 – Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted in a swift, pre-determined trial in the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.

1815 – Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

1863 – American Civil War: The H. L. Hunley, the first submarine to sink a ship, sinks during a test, killing its inventor, Horace L. Hunley.

1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Glasgow is fought, resulting in the surrender of Glasgow, Missouri and its Union garrison, to the Confederacy.

1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation.

1888 – The "From Hell" letter allegedly sent by Jack the Ripper is received by investigators.

1894 – The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying.

1904 – The Russian Baltic Fleet leaves Reval, Estonia for Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.

1910 – Airship America is launched from New Jersey in the first attempt to cross the Atlantic by a powered aircraft.

1917 – World War I: At Vincennes outside Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.

1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced in Germany to counter hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic.

1928 – The airship, Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.

1932 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.

1934 – The Soviet Republic of China collapses when Chiang Kai-shek's National Revolutionary Army successfully encircles Ruijin, forcing the fleeing Communists to begin the Long March.

1939 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.

1940 – The President of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, is executed by the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco, making him the only European president to have been executed.

1944 – The Arrow Cross Party (very similar to Hitler's NSDAP (Nazi party)) takes power in Hungary.

1945 – World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.

1951 – Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducts the very last step of the first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in one of the first three oral contraceptives.

1951 – The first episode of I Love Lucy, an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS).

1953 – British nuclear test Totem 1 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.

1954 – Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto. As a Category 4 upon landfall, it is the strongest storm on record to strike as far south as North Carolina.

1956 – Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.

1965 – Vietnam War: The Catholic Worker Movement stages an anti-war rally in Manhattan including a public burning of a draft card; the first such act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.

1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

1969 – Vietnam War; The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam is held in Washington D.C. and across the US. Over two million demonstrate nationally; about 250,000 in Washington D.C..

1970 – Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.

1971 – The start of the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire in Iran.

1979 – Black Monday in Malta. The building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party.

1989 – Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL.

1990 – Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.

1995 – Marco Campos is killed in an accident in an International Formula 3000 race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours circuit, making him the only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series.

1997 – The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), 50 years and one day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere.

1997 – The Cassini probe launches from Cape Canaveral on its way to Saturn.

2001 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.

2003 – China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission.

2005 – A riot in Toledo, Ohio breaks out during a National Socialist/Neo-Nazi protest; over 100 are arrested.

2006 – Hawaii earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake rocks Hawaii, causing property damage, injuries, landslides, power outages, and the closure of Honolulu International Airport.

2007 – Seventeen activists in New Zealand are arrested in the country's first post-9/11 anti-terrorism raids.

2008 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, the second worst day in the Dow's history based on a percentage drop.

2011 – 2011 Global Protests occur.

2013 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes the Philippines, resulting in more than 215 deaths.

Births

99 BC – Lucretius, Roman poet and philosopher (d. 55 BCE)

70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)

1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (d. 1307)

1440 – Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse, German noble (d. 1483)

1471 – Konrad Mutian, German epigrammatist and academic (d. 1526)

1542 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (d. 1605)

1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (d. 1647)

1686 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (d. 1758)

1701 – Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian nun and saint, founded Grey Nuns (d. 1771)

1711 – Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine (d. 1741)

1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)

1767 – Gabriel Richard, French-born American Roman Catholic priest, missionary, educator, and politician (d. 1832)

1784 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician, Governor-General of Algeria (d. 1849)

1785 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean general and politician (d. 1821)

1814 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian author, poet, and painter (d. 1841)

1818 – Alexander Dreyschock, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1869)

1825 – Marie of Prussia (d. 1889)

1829 – Asaph Hall, American astronomer and academic (d. 1907)

1836 – James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (d. 1902)

1840 – Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (d. 1894)

1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German composer, poet, and philosopher (d. 1900)

1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer, actor, and journalist (d. 1918)

1865 – Charles W. Clark, American singer and educator (d. 1925)

1865 – Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (d. 1945)

1872 – Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian educator and politician, 3rd President of Austria (d. 1956)

1872 – August Nilsson, Swedish pole vaulter, shot putter, and tug of war competitor (d. 1921)

1874 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1899)

1878 – Paul Reynaud, French lawyer and politician, 118th Prime Minister of France (d. 1966)

1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (d. 1967)

1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (d. 1975)

1882 – Charley O'Leary, American baseball player and coach (d. 1941)

1884 – Archibald Hoxsey, American pilot (d. 1910)

1887 – Frederick Fleet, English sailor (d. 1965)

1888 – S. S. Van Dine, American author and critic (d. 1939)

1890 – Álvaro de Campos, Portuguese poet and engineer (d. 1935)

1893 – Carol II of Romania (d. 1953)

1894 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1965)

1897 – Johannes Sikkar, Estonian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1960)

1899 – Adolf Brudes, Polish-German race car driver (d. 1986)

1900 – Mervyn LeRoy, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1987)

1901 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (d. 1952)

1905 – C. P. Snow, English chemist and author (d. 1980)

1906 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (d. 2004)

1906 – Alicia Patterson, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Newsday (d. 1963)

1906 – Victoria Spivey, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1976)

1907 – Varian Fry, American journalist and author (d. 1967)

1908 – Herman Chittison, American pianist (d. 1967)

1908 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, 7th United States Ambassador to India (d. 2006)

1909 – Jesse L. Greenstein, American astronomer and academic (d. 2002)

1909 – Robert Trout, American journalist (d. 2000)

1910 – Edwin O. Reischauer, Japanese-American scholar and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 1990)

1912 – Nellie Lutcher, American singer and pianist (d. 2007)

1913 – Wolfgang Lüth, German commander (d. 1945)

1914 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (d. 2007)

1916 – Al Killian, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2007)

1916 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (d. 1997)

1917 – Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)

1917 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., American historian and critic (d. 2007)

1917 – Paul Tanner, American trombonist and educator (Glenn Miller Orchestra) (d. 2013)

1919 – Malcolm Ross, American captain, balloonist, and physicist (d. 1985)

1919 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (d. 1995)

1920 – Chris Economaki, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2012)

1920 – Patricia Jessel, Hong Kong-English actress (d. 1968)

1920 – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999)

1920 – Henri Verneuil, Turkish-French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)

1921 – Angelica Rozeanu, Romanian-Israeli table tennis player (d. 2006)

1922 – Agustina Bessa-Luís, Portuguese author

1922 – Preben Munthe, Norwegian economist and politician, State Conciliator of Norway (d. 2013)

1922 – William Y. Thompson, American historian and author (d. 2013)

1923 – Italo Calvino, Italian novelist, short story writer, and journalist (d. 1985)

1923 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and politician (d. 2010)

1923 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (d. 2013)

1924 – Marguerite Andersen, German-Canadian author and educator

1924 – Lee Iacocca, American businessman and author

1924 – Warren Miller, American director and screenwriter

1925 – Mickey Baker, American-French guitarist (d. 2012)

1925 – Aurora Bautista, Spanish actress (d. 2012)

1925 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (d. 2009)

1926 – James E. Akins, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (d. 2010)

1926 – Agustín García Calvo, Spanish philosopher and poet (d. 2012)

1926 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (d. 1984)

1926 – Ed McBain, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)

1926 – Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)

1926 – Karl Richter, German organist and conductor (d. 1981)

1927 – Jeannette Charles, English actress

1927 – Bill Henry, American baseball player (d. 2014)

1927 – B. S. Abdur Rahman, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)

1930 – FM-2030, Belgian-Iranian basketball player, philosopher and diplomat (d. 2000)

1931 – Freddy Cole, American singer and pianist

1931 – Gail Harris, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)

1931 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (d. 2015)

1931 – Pauline Perry, Baroness Perry of Southwark, English academic and politician

1932 – Jaan Rääts, Estonian guitarist and composer

1933 – Nicky Barnes, American drug lord

1934 – Alan Elsdon, English trumpet player (d. 2016)

1934 – N. Ramani, Indian flute player (d. 2015)

1935 – Barry McGuire, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1935 – Dick McTaggart, Scottish boxer

1935 – Bobby Morrow, American sprinter

1935 – Willie O'Ree, Canadian ice hockey player

1936 – Michel Aumont, French actor

1936 – Robert Baden-Powell, 3rd Baron Baden-Powell, South African-English businessman

1937 – Linda Lavin, American actress and singer

1937 – Shelley Mann, American swimmer (d. 2005)

1937 – Biff Rose, American singer-songwriter and comedian

1938 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1993)

1938 – Brice Marden, American painter

1938 – Robert Ward, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)

1940 – Tommy Bishop, English rugby league player and coach

1940 – Peter C. Doherty, Australian surgeon and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate

1941 – Roy Masters, Australian rugby league coach, journalist, and author

1942 – Hilo Chen, Taiwanese-American painter

1942 – Harold W. Gehman, Jr., American admiral

1942 – Don Stevenson, American singer-songwriter and drummer

1943 – Penny Marshall, American actress, director, and producer

1944 – Sali Berisha, Albanian cardiologist and politician, 2nd President of Albania

1944 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan Tamil merchant seaman and politician (d. 2005)

1944 – Haim Saban, Egyptian-American businessman, co-founded Saban Entertainment

1944 – David Trimble, Northern Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd First Minister of Northern Ireland, Nobel Prize laureate

1945 – Steve Camacho, Guyanese cricketer (d. 2015)

1945 – Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Spanish cardinal

1945 – Neophyte of Bulgaria, Bulgarian patriarch

1945 – Jim Palmer, American baseball player and sportscaster

1946 – Victor Banerjee, Indian actor and director

1946 – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1946 – Palle Danielsson, Swedish bassist and composer

1946 – Stewart Stevenson, Scottish engineer and politician, Minister for Environment and Climate Change

1947 – Hümeyra, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress

1947 – Jaroslav Erno Šedivý, Czech drummer

1948 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2016)

1948 – Chris de Burgh, Argentinian singer-songwriter and pianist

1949 – Laurie McBain, American author

1949 – Prannoy Roy, Indian journalist, economist, and broadcaster, founded NDTV

1950 – Candida Royalle, American porn actress, director, and producer (d. 2015)

1951 – Atoy Co, Filipino basketball player, coach, and actor

1951 – Peter Richardson, English actor, director, and screenwriter

1951 – Roscoe Tanner, American tennis player

1951 – Rafael Vaganian, Armenian chess player

1951 – A. F. Th. van der Heijden, Dutch author

1953 – Betsy Clifford, Canadian skier

1953 – Tito Jackson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1953 – Larry Miller, American actor and screenwriter

1953 – Peter Phillips, English conductor and musicologist, founded The Tallis Scholars

1953 – Walter Jon Williams, American author

1954 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet and educator

1954 – Jere Burns, American actor

1954 – Princess Friederike of Hanover

1954 – Julia Yeomans, English physicist and academic

1955 – Kulbir Bhaura, Indian field hockey player

1955 – Emma Chichester Clark, English author and illustrator

1957 – Michael Caton-Jones, Scottish actor, director, and producer

1957 – Mira Nair, Indian-American actress, director, and producer

1957 – Stacy Peralta, American skateboarder, director, producer, and businessman, co-founded Powell Peralta

1958 – Stephen Clarke, English-French journalist and author

1958 – Masako Katsuki, Japanese voice actress and singer

1959 – Sarah, Duchess of York

1959 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef and author

1959 – Alex Paterson, English keyboard player

1959 – Todd Solondz, American actor, director, and screenwriter

1961 – Vyacheslav Butusov, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist

1963 – Stanley Menzo, Dutch footballer and manager

1964 – Roberto Vittori, Italian colonel, pilot, and astronaut

1965 – Nasser El Sonbaty, German bodybuilder and trainer (d. 2013)

1966 – Jorge Campos, Mexican footballer and manager

1966 – Bill Charlap, American pianist and composer

1966 – Ilse Huizinga, Dutch singer

1966 – Dave Stead, English drummer

1967 – Götz Otto, German actor and screenwriter

1967 – Dan Forest, American politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

1968 – Didier Deschamps, French footballer and manager

1968 – Vanessa Marcil, American actress

1968 – Rod Wishart, Australian rugby player

1969 – Vítor Baía, Portuguese footballer

1969 – Dominic West, English actor and director

1970 – Ginuwine, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor

1970 – Eric Benét, American musician

1971 – Joey Abs, American wrestler

1971 – Andy Cole, English footballer and coach

1971 – Lauri Pilter, Estonian author and translator

1972 – Fred Hoiberg, American basketball player and coach

1972 – Matt Keeslar, American actor

1972 – Michél Mazingu-Dinzey, German-Congolese footballer and manager

1973 – Maria Hjorth, Swedish golfer

1973 – Dax Riggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1974 – Ömer Çatkıç, Turkish footballer

1974 – Bianca Rinaldi, Brazilian actress

1975 – Alessandro Doga, Italian footballer

1975 – Glen Little, English footballer and manager

1976 – Christian Allen, American video game designer

1976 – Manuel Dallan, Italian rugby player

1977 – Masato Kawabata, Japanese race car driver

1977 – David Trezeguet, French footballer

1977 – Patricio Urrutia, Ecuadorian footballer

1978 – Devon Gummersall, American actor, director, and screenwriter

1978 – Takeshi Morishima, Japanese wrestler

1979 – Bohemia, Pakistani-American rapper and producer

1979 – Blue Adams, American football player and coach

1979 – Jekaterina Golovatenko, Estonian figure skater

1979 – Paul Robinson, English footballer

1979 – Jaci Velasquez, American singer-songwriter and actress

1979 – Māris Verpakovskis, Latvian footballer

1980 – Tom Boonen, Belgian cyclist

1980 – Siiri Nordin, Finnish singer-songwriter

1981 – Keyshia Cole, American singer-songwriter and producer

1981 – Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player

1981 – Radoslav Židek, Slovak snowboarder

1982 – Paulini, Fijian-Australian singer-songwriter and actress

1982 – Charline Labonté, Canadian ice hockey player

1982 – Yōko Maki, Japanese actress

1982 – Sachiko Yamada, Japanese swimmer

1983 – Bruno Senna, Brazilian race car driver

1983 – Stephy Tang, Hong Kong singer

1984 – Izale McLeod, English footballer

1984 – Johan Voskamp, Dutch footballer

1984 – Jessie Ware, English singer-songwriter

1985 – Arron Afflalo, American basketball player

1985 – Walter Alberto López, Uruguayan footballer

1985 – Marcos Martínez, Spanish race car driver

1986 – Lee Donghae, South Korean singer-songwriter

1986 – Carlo Janka, Swiss skier

1987 – Jesse Levine, Canadian-American tennis player

1987 – Chantal Strand, Canadian voice actress and singer

1987 – Ott Tänak, Estonian race car driver

1988 – Lassy Mbouity, Congolese writer and politician

1988 – Mesut Özil, German footballer

1989 – Blaine Gabbert, American football player

1989 – Leandro Antonio Martínez, Argentinian-Italian footballer

1990 – Jeon Ji-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer

1994 – Stephen Arthurworrey, English footballer

1995 – Jakob Pöltl, Austrian basketball player

Deaths

412 – Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria

892 – Al-Mu'tamid, Muslim caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate

898 – Lambert of Italy (b. 880)

912 – Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi, Spanish emir (b. 844)

1002 – Otto-Henry, Duke of Burgundy (b. 946)

1080 – Rudolf of Rheinfelden (b. 1025)

1173 – Petronilla of Aragon (b. 1135)

1326 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1261)

1385 – Dionysius I, Metropolitan of Moscow

1389 – Pope Urban VI (b. 1318)

1496 – Gilbert, Count of Montpensier (b. 1443)

1564 – Andreas Vesalius, Belgian-Greek anatomist, physician, and author (b. 1514)

1690 – Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish painter and illustrator (b. 1622)

1715 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1675)

1788 – Samuel Greig, Scottish-Russian admiral (b. 1735)

1810 – Alfred Moore, American captain and judge (b. 1755)

1811 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (b. 1735)

1817 – Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish-Lithuanian general and engineer (b. 1746)

1819 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1744)

1820 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (b. 1771)

1837 – Ivan Dmitriev, Russian poet and politician, Russian Minister of Justice (b. 1760)

1891 – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, English author and songwriter (b. 1837)

1900 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1850)

1910 – Stanley Ketchel, American boxer (b. 1886)

1917 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (b. 1876)

1918 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian guru and saint (b. 1838)

1930 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (b. 1866)

1934 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (b. 1860)

1940 – Lluís Companys, Catalan lawyer and politician, President of Catalonia (b. 1882)

1945 – Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (b. 1883)

1946 – Hermann Göring, German general and politician (b. 1893)

1948 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)

1955 – Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese composer (b. 1914)

1958 – Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1907)

1958 – Elizabeth Alexander, British geologist, academic, and physicist (b. 1908)

1959 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (b. 1909)

1959 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1880)

1960 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress and producer (b. 1890)

1961 – Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Indian poet and author (b. 1896)

1963 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (b. 1908)

1964 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (b. 1891)

1965 – Abraham Fraenkel, German-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1891)

1966 – Frederick Montague, 1st Baron Amwell, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1876)

1968 – Virginia Lee Burton, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)

1976 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1902)

1980 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1900)

1980 – Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek footballer and volleyball player (b. 1896)

1981 – Philip Fotheringham-Parker, English race car driver (b. 1907)

1983 – Pat O'Brien, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1899)

1987 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (b. 1949)

1987 – Donald Wandrei, American author and poet (b. 1908)

1988 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English pianist, composer, and critic (b. 1892)

1990 – Delphine Seyrig, French actress and director (b. 1932)

1993 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (b. 1913)

1994 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher and academic (b. 1934)

1995 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1967)

1995 – Marco Campos, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1976)

1998 – Colette Darfeuil, French actress (b. 1906)

1999 – Josef Locke, British-Irish soldier, tenor and actor (b. 1917)

2000 – Konrad Emil Bloch, Polish-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)

2000 – Vincent Canby, American journalist and critic (b. 1924)

2003 – Ben Metcalfe, Canadian journalist and activist (b. 1919)

2005 – Jason Collier, American basketball player (b. 1977)

2005 – Matti Wuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1945)

2007 – Piet Boukema, Dutch jurist and politician (b. 1933)

2008 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (b. 1927)

2008 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (b. 1914)

2008 – Jack Narz, American game show host and announcer (b. 1922)

2009 – Heinz Versteeg, Dutch-German footballer (b. 1939)

2010 – Richard C. Miller, American photographer (b. 1912)

2010 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (b. 1926)

2010 – Johnny Sheffield, American actor (b. 1931)

2011 – Betty Driver, English actress, singer, and author (b. 1920)

2012 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)

2012 – Erol Günaydın, Turkish actor and screenwriter (b. 1933)

2012 – Maria Petrou, Greek-English computer scientist and academic (b. 1953)

2012 – Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1922)

2012 – Pat Ward, American lawyer and politician (b. 1957)

2013 – Donald Bailey, American drummer (b. 1933)

2013 – Nevill Drury, English-Australian journalist and publisher (b. 1947)

2013 – Sean Edwards, English race car driver (b. 1986)

2013 – Cancio Garcia, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1937)

2013 – Gloria Lynne, American singer (b. 1931)

2013 – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)

2013 – Hans Riegel, German businessman (b. 1923)

2014 – Giovanni Reale, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1931)

2014 – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic designer (b. 1929)

2014 – Robert Tiernan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1929)

2014 – Nobby Wirkowski, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1926)

2015 – Sergei Filippenkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1971)

2015 – Nate Huffman, American basketball player (b. 1975)

2015 – Neill Sheridan, American baseball player (b. 1921)

2015 – Kenneth D. Taylor, Canadian businessman and diplomat (b. 1934)

2015 – Tyrone Young, American football player (b. 1960)

Holidays and observances

Breast Health Day (Europe)

Christian feast day:

Cúan of Ahascragh

Teresa of Ávila

Thecla of Kitzingen

October 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Earliest day on which Heroes' Day can fall, while October 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in October. (Jamaica)

Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while October 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in October. (Argentina)

Earliest day on which Sweetest Day can fall, while October 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday in October. (Great Lakes region)

Evacuation Day (Tunisia)

Global Handwashing Day

International Day of Rural Women (United Nations)

King Father's Commemoration Day (Cambodia)

National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (United States)

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (Canada, the United States, the UK and Italy)

Teachers' Day (Brazil)

White Cane Safety Day (United States)

World Students' Day