October 4

Events

AD 23 – Rebels capture and sack the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. They kill and decapitate the emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.

610 – Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.

1227 – Assassination of Caliph al-Adil.

1302 – A peace treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice ends the Byzantine–Venetian War (1296–1302).

1363 – End of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeat that of his rival, Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history.

1511 – Formation of the Holy League of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Papal States and the Republic of Venice against France.

1535 – The first complete English-language Bible (the Coverdale Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale.

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.

1597 – The first Guale uprising begins against the Spanish missions in Georgia.

1636 – The Swedish Army defeats the armies of Saxony and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Wittstock.

1693 – Piedmontese troops are defeated by the French.

1725 – Foundation of Rosario in Argentina.

1777 – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.

1779 – The Fort Wilson Riot takes place.

1795 – Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence by suppressing armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the National Convention.

1824 – Mexico adopts a new constitution and becomes a federal republic.

1830 – The Provisional Government of Belgium secedes from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1853 – The Ottoman Empire declares war on the Russian Empire.

1876 – Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.

1883 – First run of the Orient Express.

1883 – First meeting of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland.

1895 – The first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship administered by the United States Golf Association is played at the Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.

1904 – IFK Göteborg was founded in Café Olivedal in Gothenburg, Sweden.

1917 – World War I: The Battle of Broodseinde is fought between the British and German armies in Flanders.

1918 – An explosion kills more than 100 and destroys the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey.

1927 – Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.

1936 – The British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist organizations violently clash in the Battle of Cable Street.

1941 – Norman Rockwell's Willie Gillis character debuts on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

1958 – The current constitution of France is adopted.

1960 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, crashes after a bird strike on takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport, killing 62 people (out of 72 onboard).

1963 – Hurricane Flora kills 6,000 in Cuba and Haiti.

1965 – Pope Paul VI arrives in New York City, the first Pope to visit the Americas.

1966 – Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

1967 – Omar Ali Saifuddien III of Brunei abdicates in favour of his son, Hassanal Bolkiah.

1976 – Official launch of the InterCity 125 high speed train.

1983 – Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

1985 – The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.

1991 – The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.

1992 – The Rome General Peace Accords ends a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.

1992 – El Al Flight 1862: An El Al Boeing 747-258F crashes into two apartment buildings in Amsterdam, killing 43 including 39 on the ground.

1993 – Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.

1997 – The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company. A Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the $17.3 million stolen cash.

2001 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: A Sibir Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into the Black Sea after being struck by an errant Ukrainian S-200 missile. Seventy-eight people are killed.

2003 – Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: Twenty-one Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.

2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.

2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange.

2010 – The Ajka plant accident in western Hungary releases about a million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of liquid alumina sludge. Nine people are killed and 122 injured, and the Marcal and Danube rivers are severely contaminated.

Births

1160 – Alys, Countess of the Vexin, daughter of Louis VII of France (d. c. 1220)

1274 – Rudolf I, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1319)

1276 – Margaret of Brabant (d. 1311)

1289 – Louis X of France (d. 1316)

1331 – James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond, Irish politician, Lord Justice of Ireland (d. 1382)

1379 – Henry III of Castile (d. 1406)

1503 – Isabella of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1539)

1515 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (d. 1586)

1542 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian cardinal and saint (d. 1621)

1550 – Charles IX of Sweden (d. 1611)

1562 – Christen Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer and author (d. 1647)

1570 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and philosopher (d. 1637)

1585 – Anna of Tyrol (d. 1618)

1625 – Jacqueline Pascal, French nun and composer (d. 1661)

1626 – Richard Cromwell, English academic and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1712)

1657 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter and illustrator (d. 1747)

1694 – Lord George Murray, Scottish Jacobite General (d. 1760)

1720 – Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian sculptor and illustrator (d. 1778)

1723 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist and author (d. 1798)

1759 – Louis François Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician and academic (d. 1803)

1768 – Francisco José de Caldas, Colombian naturalist, executed by royalists in the war of independence (d. 1816)

1787 – François Guizot, French historian and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1874)

1793 – Charles Pearson, English lawyer and politician (d. 1862)

1807 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Canada East (d. 1864)

1814 – Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (d. 1875)

1822 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (d. 1893)

1835 – Jenny Twitchell Kempton, American opera singer and educator (d. 1921)

1836 – Juliette Adam, French author (d. 1936)

1837 – Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1919)

1841 – Prudente de Morais, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Brazil (d. 1912)

1841 – Maria Sophie of Bavaria (d. 1925)

1843 – Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, Palestinian nun and Catholic Saint (d. 1927)

1858 – Léon Serpollet, French businessman (d. 1903)

1861 – Walter Rauschenbusch, American pastor and theologian (d. 1918)

1861 – Frederic Remington, American painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1909)

1862 – Edward Stratemeyer, American author and publisher (d. 1930)

1868 – Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 20th President of Argentina (d. 1942)

1874 – John Ellis, English executioner (d. 1932)

1876 – Florence Eliza Allen, American mathematician and suffrage activist (d. 1960)

1877 – Razor Smith, English cricketer (d. 1946)

1880 – Damon Runyon, American newspaperman and short story writer. (d. 1946)

1881 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (d. 1948)

1884 – Ramchandra Shukla, Indian historian and author (d. 1941)

1884 – Subramaniya Siva, Indian author and activist (d. 1925)

1886 – Luis Alberni, Spanish-American actor and singer (d. 1962)

1888 – Lucy Tayiah Eads, American tribal chief (d. 1961)

1888 – Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1954)

1890 – Alan L. Hart, American physician and author (d. 1962)

1890 – Osman Cemal Kaygılı, Turkish writer and journalist (d. 1945)

1892 – Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian soldier and politician, 14th Federal Chancellor of Austria (d. 1934)

1892 – Hermann Glauert, English aerodynamicist and author (d. 1934)

1892 – Robert Lawson, American author and illustrator (d. 1957)

1895 – Buster Keaton, American film actor, director, and producer (d. 1966)

1895 – Richard Sorge, German journalist and spy (d. 1944)

1896 – Dorothy Lawrence, English reporter, who secretly posed as a man to become a soldier during World War I (died 1964)

1900 – August Mälk, Estonian author and playwright (d. 1987)

1903 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian genealogist, historian, and politician (d. 1993)

1903 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and academic, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (d. 1995)

1903 – Pierre Garbay, French general (d. 1980)

1903 – Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian-German lawyer and general (d. 1946)

1906 – Mary Celine Fasenmyer, American mathematician (d. 1996)

1907 – Alain Daniélou, French-Swiss historian and academic (d. 1994)

1910 – Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player and coach (d. 2002)

1910 – Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, Turkish poet and author (d. 1956)

1913 – Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Haiti (d. 2011)

1914 – Jim Cairns, Australian economist and politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2003)

1914 – Brendan Gill, American journalist and essayist (d. 1997)

1916 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)

1916 – Jan Murray, American comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 2006)

1916 – George Sidney, American director and producer (d. 2002)

1917 – Violeta Parra, Chilean singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1967)

1918 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)

1922 – Malcolm Baldrige, Jr., American businessman and politician, 26th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1987)

1922 – Shin Kyuk-ho, South Korean-Japanese businessman, founded Lotte Group

1922 – Don Lenhardt, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)

1923 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director and gun rights activist (d. 2008)

1924 – Donald J. Sobol, American soldier and author (d. 2012)

1925 – Roger Wood, Belgian-American journalist (d. 2012)

1926 – Raymond Watson, American businessman (d. 2012)

1927 – Wolf Kahn, American painter and academic

1928 – Alvin Toffler, German-American journalist and author (d. 2016)

1928 – Torben Ulrich, Danish-American tennis player

1929 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (d. 1968)

1929 – John E. Mack, American psychiatrist and author (d. 2004)

1929 – Leroy Van Dyke, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1931 – Terence Conran, English designer and businessman

1931 – Basil D'Oliveira, South African-English cricketer and footballer (d. 2011)

1931 – Richard Rorty, American philosopher and author (d. 2007)

1933 – German Moreno, Filipino television host and actor (d. 2016)

1933 – Ann Thwaite, English author

1934 – Sam Huff, American football player, coach, and sportscaster

1934 – Dimosthenis Sofianos, Greek journalist and poet

1936 – Charlie Hurley, Irish footballer and manager

1936 – Giles Radice, Baron Radice, English politician

1937 – Jackie Collins, English-American author and actress (d. 2015)

1937 – David Crocker, American philosopher and academic

1937 – Gail Gilmore, Canadian-American actress and dancer (d. 2014)

1937 – Jim Sillars, Scottish lawyer and politician

1938 – Kurt Wüthrich, Swiss chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1938 – Norman D. Wilson, American actor (d. 2004)

1939 – Ivan Mauger, New Zealand motorcycle racer

1940 – Vic Hadfield, Canadian ice hockey player

1940 – Silvio Marzolini, Argentinian footballer and manager

1940 – Steve Swallow, American bass player and composer

1940 – Alberto Vilar, American businessman and philanthropist

1941 – Roy Blount, Jr., American humorist and journalist

1941 – Karen Cushman, American author

1941 – Karl Oppitzhauser, Austrian race car driver

1941 – Anne Rice, American author

1941 – Robert Wilson, American director and playwright

1942 – Bernice Johnson Reagon, American singer-songwriter

1942 – Karl W. Richter, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1967)

1942 – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic politician, 24th Prime Minister of Iceland

1942 – Christopher Stone, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)

1943 – H. Rap Brown, American activist

1943 – Owen Davidson, Australian tennis player

1943 – Karl-Gustav Kaisla, Finnish ice hockey player and referee (d. 2012)

1943 – Dietmar Mürdter, German footballer

1943 – Florian Pittiș, Romanian actor, singer, director, and producer (d. 2007)

1943 – Jimy Williams, American baseball player and manager

1944 – Colin Bundy, South African-English historian and academic

1944 – Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (d. 2006)

1944 – Eddie Gómez, Puerto Rican-American bass player

1944 – Tony La Russa, American baseball player and manager

1944 – John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith, Scottish educator and politician

1945 – Clifton Davis, American singer-songwriter, actor, and minister

1946 – Larry Clapp, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)

1946 – Chuck Hagel, American sergeant and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Defense

1946 – Michael Mullen, American admiral

1946 – Susan Sarandon, American actress and activist

1947 – Julien Clerc, French singer-songwriter and pianist

1947 – Jim Fielder, American bass player

1947 – Ann Widdecombe, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health

1948 – Linda McMahon, American businesswoman and politician

1948 – Duke Robillard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1949 – Armand Assante, American actor and producer

1949 – Stephen Gyllenhaal, American director, producer, and screenwriter

1951 – Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov, Kazakh poet and author

1953 – Gil Moore, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer

1953 – Andreas Vollenweider, Swiss harp player

1955 – John Rutherford, Scottish rugby player

1955 – Jorge Valdano, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager

1956 – Lesley Glaister, English author and playwright

1956 – Charlie Leibrandt, American baseball player

1956 – Sherri Turner, American golfer

1956 – Christoph Waltz, Austrian-German actor

1957 – Bill Fagerbakke, American actor

1957 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (d. 2013)

1957 – Russell Simmons, American businessman, founded Def Jam Recordings and Phat Farm

1958 – Anneka Rice, Welsh radio and television host

1959 – Chris Lowe, English singer and keyboard player

1959 – Tony Meo, English snooker player

1959 – Hitonari Tsuji, Japanese author, composer, and director

1960 – Joe Boever, American baseball player

1960 – Henry Worsley, English colonel and explorer (d. 2016)

1961 – Philippe Russo, French singer-songwriter and guitarist

1961 – Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese author and illustrator, created Yu-Gi-Oh!

1962 – Carlos Carsolio, Mexican mountaineer

1962 – Jon Secada, Cuban-American singer-songwriter

1963 – A. C. Green, American basketball player

1963 – Koji Ishikawa, Japanese author and illustrator

1964 – Tom Jager, American swimmer

1964 – Yvonne Murray, Scottish runner

1965 – Olaf Backasch, German footballer

1965 – Marcus Bentley, British actor, broadcaster and voice-over artist

1965 – Skip Heller, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1965 – Steve Olin, American baseball player (d. 1993)

1965 – Micky Ward, American boxer

1967 – Nick Green, Australian rower

1967 – Liev Schreiber, American actor and director

1968 – Richard Hancox, English footballer and manager

1968 – Tim Wise, American activist and author

1971 – Darren Middleton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

1972 – Kurt Thomas, American basketball player

1974 – Paco León, Spanish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1975 – Cristiano Lucarelli, Italian footballer and manager

1975 – Mohamed Jameel, Maldivian footballer

1976 – Mauro Camoranesi, Argentinian-Italian footballer and manager

1976 – Elisandro Naressi Roos, Brazilian footballer

1976 – Alicia Silverstone, American actress, producer, and author

1976 – Ueli Steck, Swiss mountaineer and rock climber

1977 – Richard Reed Parry, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer

1978 – Phillip Glasser, American actor and producer

1978 – Kei Horie, Japanese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1978 – Kyle Lohse, American baseball player

1979 – Björn Phau, German tennis player

1979 – Adam Voges, Australian cricketer

1979 – Caitriona Balfe, Irish actress and model

1980 – Me'Lisa Barber, American sprinter

1980 – Sarah Fisher, American race car driver

1980 – Mellisa Hollingsworth, Canadian skeleton racer

1980 – James Jones, American basketball player

1980 – Tomáš Rosický, Czech footballer

1981 – Shaura, Japanese singer

1981 – Justin Williams, Canadian ice hockey player

1982 – Tony Gwynn, Jr., American baseball player

1982 – Jered Weaver, American baseball player

1983 – Dan Clarke, English race car driver

1983 – Marios Nicolaou, Cypriot footballer

1983 – Chansi Stuckey, American football player

1983 – Kurt Suzuki, American baseball player

1983 – Vicky Krieps, Luxembourgish actress

1984 – Lena Katina, Russian singer-songwriter

1984 – Álvaro Parente, Portuguese race car driver

1984 – Karolina Tymińska, Polish heptathlete

1985 – Shontelle, Barbadian singer-songwriter

1985 – Thorsten Wiedemann, German rugby player

1987 – Rawez Lawan, Swedish footballer

1987 – Will Puddy, English footballer

1987 – Marina Weisband, German politician

1988 – Melissa Benoist, American actress and singer

1988 – Caner Erkin, Turkish footballer

1988 – Evgeni Krasnopolski, Israeli figure skater

1988 – Derrick Rose, American basketball player

1989 – Dakota Johnson, American model and actress

1990 – Signy Aarna, Estonian footballer

Deaths

863 – Turpio, Frankish nobleman

1052 – Vladimir of Novgorod (b. 1020)

1160 – Constance of Castile, Queen of France (b. 1141)

1189 – Gerard de Ridefort, Grand Master of the Knights Templar

1221 – William IV Talvas, Count of Ponthieu (b. 1179)

1226 – Francis of Assisi (b. 1182)

1250 – Herman VI, Margrave of Baden (b. 1226)

1305 – Emperor Kameyama of Japan (b. 1249)

1497 – John, Prince of Asturias, only son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (b. 1478)

1582 – Teresa of Ávila, Spanish nun and saint (b. 1515)

1597 – Sarsa Dengel, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1550)

1646 – Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English courtier and politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1586)

1660 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (b. 1578)

1661 – Jacqueline Pascal, French nun and composer (b. 1625)

1669 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1606)

1680 – Pierre-Paul Riquet, French engineer, designed the Canal du Midi (b. 1609)

1743 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish commander and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey (b. 1678)

1749 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)

1821 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer, designed the Waterloo Bridge (b. 1761)

1827 – Grigorios Zalykis, Greek-French lexicographer and scholar (b. 1785)

1851 – Manuel Godoy, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1767)

1852 – James Whitcomb, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Indiana (b. 1795)

1859 – Karl Baedeker, German publisher, founded Baedeker (b. 1801)

1864 – Joseph Montferrand, Canadian logger and strongman (b. 1802)

1867 – Francis Xavier Seelos, German-American priest and missionary (b. 1819)

1871 – Sarel Cilliers, South African spiritual leader and preacher (b. 1801)

1890 – Catherine Booth, English theologian and saint, co-founded The Salvation Army (b. 1829)

1903 – Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher and author (b. 1880)

1904 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (b. 1834)

1904 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist and academic (b. 1847)

1910 – Sergey Muromtsev, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1850)

1935 – Jean Béraud, French painter and academic (b. 1849)

1935 – Marie Gutheil-Schoder, German soprano, actress, and director (b. 1874)

1943 – Irena Iłłakowicz, German-Polish lieutenant (b. 1906)

1944 – Al Smith, American lawyer and politician, 42nd Governor of New York (b. 1873)

1946 – Barney Oldfield, American race car driver and actor (b. 1878)

1947 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)

1951 – Henrietta Lacks, American medical patient (b. 1920)

1955 – Alexander Papagos, Greek general and politician, 152nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1883)

1958 – Ida Wüst, German actress and screenwriter (b. 1884)

1961 – Benjamin, Russian metropolitan (b. 1880)

1963 – Alar Kotli, Estonian architect (b. 1904)

1970 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943)

1974 – Anne Sexton, American poet and author (b. 1928)

1975 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1903)

1977 – José Ber Gelbard, Argentinian activist and politician (b. 1917)

1980 - Pyotr Masherov, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia (b. 1918)

1981 – Freddie Lindstrom, American baseball player and coach (b. 1905)

1982 – Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1932)

1982 – Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, 165th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1898)

1989 – Secretariat, American race horse (b. 1970)

1989 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)

1990 – Mārtiņš Zīverts, Latvian playwright (b. 1903)

1992 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1936)

1994 – Danny Gatton, American guitarist (b. 1945)

1997 – Otto Ernst Remer, German general (b. 1912)

1997 – Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese game designer, created Game Boy (b. 1941)

1998 – S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian and academic (b. 1930)

1999 – Erik Brødreskift, Norwegian drummer (b. 1969)

1999 – Bernard Buffet, French painter and illustrator (b. 1928)

1999 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1928)

2000 – Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, 32nd Premier of the Republic of China (b. 1914)

2000 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)

2001 – Blaise Alexander, American race car driver (b. 1976)

2001 – John Collins, American guitarist (b. 1913)

2001 – Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (b. 1917)

2002 – André Delvaux, Belgian-Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1926)

2003 – Sid McMath, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)

2004 – Gordon Cooper, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927)

2005 – Stanley K. Hathaway, American lawyer and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1924)

2007 – Qassem Al-Nasser, Jordanian general (b. 1925)

2009 – Gerhard Kaufhold, German footballer (b. 1928)

2009 – Günther Rall, German general and pilot (b. 1918)

2010 – Norman Wisdom, English actor, comedian, and singer-songwriter (b. 1915)

2011 – Doris Belack, American actress (b. 1926)

2012 – David Atkinson, Canadian actor and singer (b. 1921)

2012 – Stan Mudenge, Zimbabwean historian and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1941)

2012 – Tom Stannage, Australian footballer, historian, and academic (b. 1944)

2013 – John Cloudsley-Thompson, Pakistani-English commander (b. 1921)

2013 – Ulric Cross, Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (b. 1917)

2013 – Akira Miyoshi, Japanese composer (b. 1933)

2013 – Diana Nasution, Indonesian singer (b. 1958)

2013 – Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd Minister of Defence for Vietnam (b. 1911)

2013 – Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1917)

2014 – Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer and educator (b. 1941)

2014 – Hugo Carvana, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1937)

2014 – Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1959)

2014 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (b. 1951)

2014 – Jewel Joseph Newman, American sergeant and politician (b. 1921)

2015 – William A. Culpepper, American general, lawyer, and judge (b. 1916)

2015 – Edida Nageswara Rao, Indian director and producer (b. 1934)

2015 – Dave Pike, American vibraphone player and songwriter (b. 1938)

2015 – Neal Walk, American basketball player (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:

Amun

Francis of Assisi

Saint Petronius of Bologna

October 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Cinnamon Roll Day (Sweden)

Day of Peace and Reconciliation (Mozambique)

Independence Day (Lesotho), celebrates the independence of Lesotho from the United Kingdom in 1966.

National Taco Day (United States)

National Vodka Day (United States)

World Animal Day

The beginning of World Space Week (October 4–10)