October 30
Events
758 – Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates.
1137 – Battle of Rignano between Ranulf of Apulia and Roger II of Sicily.
1270 – The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (******* to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1340 – Battle of Rio Salado.
1470 – Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats the Yorkists in battle.
1485 – King Henry VII of England is crowned.
1501 – Ballet of Chestnuts – a banquet held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace where fifty prostitutes or courtesans are in attendance for the entertainment of the guests.
1831 – In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
1863 – Danish Prince Wilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes.
1864 – Second war of Schleswig ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.
1864 – Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at "Last Chance Gulch".
1894 – Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.
1905 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.
1918 – The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.
1920 – The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
1922 – Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.
1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter.
1929 – The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.
1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
1941 – World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
1941 – 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.
1944 – Anne Frank and ****** Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
1945 – Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.
1947 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.
1950 – Pope Pius XII witnesses "The Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.
1960 – Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.
1961 – Because of "violations of Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Joseph Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.
1965 – Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense ****** by wave after wave of Viet Cong ******, ****ing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
1970 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, ****s 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
1972 – A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois ****s 45 and injures 332.
1973 – The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time.
1974 – The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.
1974 – Nolan Ryan throws the fastest baseball pitch ever. It was recorded at 100.9 mph.
1975 – Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.
1975 – The New York Daily News runs the “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline.
1980 – El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
1983 – The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
1987 – In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
1991 – The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.
1993 – Greysteel massacre: The Ulster Freedom Fighters, a loyalist terrorist group, open fire on a crowded bar in Greysteel, Northern Ireland. Eight civilians are ****ed and thirteen wounded.
1995 – Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%).
1996 – Odwalla company officials withdrew their products from over 4,600 stores after an outbreak of E. Coli in their apple juice, which in the end sickened over 60 people and ****ed one.
2000 – The last Multics machine is shut down.
2002 – British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
Births
1218 – Emperor Chukyo of Japan (d. 1234)
1513 – Jacques Amyot, French writer (d. 1593)
1624 – Paul Pellisson, French writer (d. 1693)
1668 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, queen in Prussia (d. 1705)
1735 – John Adams, second President of the United States (d. 1826)
1751 – Richard Sheridan, Irish playwright (d. 1816)
1762 – André Chénier, French writer (d. 1794)
1786 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer (d. 1871)
1799 – Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal (d. 1885)
1821 – Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian writer (d. 1881)
1839 – Alfred Sisley, Anglo-French artist (d. 1899)
1844 – Harvey W. Wiley, American chemist (d. 1930)
1847 – Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist (d. 1897)
1857 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist (d. 1904)
1861 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
1871 – Paul Valéry, French poet (d. 1945)
1871 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (d. 1949)
1873 – Francisco I. Madero, President of Mexico (d. 1913)
1881 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (d. 1941)
1882 – William Halsey, Jr, American admiral (d. 1959)
1882 – Günther von Kluge, German field marshal (d. 1944)
1885 – Ezra Pound, American poet (d. 1972)
1886 – Zoe Akins, American playwright (d. 1958)
1887 – Sukumar Ray, Bengali Writer (d. 1923)
1888 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek Olympic champion (d. 1913)
1893 – Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (d. 1972)
1893 – Roland Freisler, German **** politician (d. 1945)
1894 – Jean Rostand, French biologist (d. 1977)
1895 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (declined) (d. 1964)
1895 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1896 – Ruth Gordon, American actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet (d. 1928)
1897 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (d. 1928)
1898 – Bill Terry, baseball player (d. 1989)
1900 – Ragnar Granit Finnish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1906 – Alexander Gode, German-American linguist (d. 1970)
1906 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver and one-time F1 world champion (d. 1966)
1907 – Sol Tax, American anthropologist (d. 1995)
1908 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (d. 1963)
1908 – Patsy Montana, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 1996)
1909 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist (d. 1966)
1911 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (d. 2005)
1914 – Richard E Holz, American composer (d. 1986)
1914 – Anna Wing, English actress
1915 – Fred Friendly, American journalist (d. 1998)
1916 – Leon Day, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1917 – Bobby Bragan, American baseball player
1917 – Nikolai Vasilievich Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal (d. 1994)
1917 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
1922 – Jane White, American actress and singer
1926 – Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver
1927 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1928 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
1930 – Nestor Almendros, Spanish cinematographer (d. 1992)
1930 – Clifford Brown, American musician (d. 1956)
1931 – Vince Callahan, American politician
1932 – Louis Malle, French film director (d. 1995)
1932 – Barun De, Indian historian
1934 – Frans Brüggen, Dutch musician
1935 – Agota Kristof, Hungarian writer
1935 – Michael Winner, British film director
1935 – Jim Perry, American baseball player
1935 – Robert Caro, American biographer
1936 – Polina Astakhova, Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2005)
1937 – Claude Lelouch, French film director
1939 – Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, Nobel laureate
1939 – Grace Slick, American singer (Jefferson Airplane)
1939 – Edward Holland, Jr., American singer
1940 – Ed Lauter, American actor
1941 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel laureate
1941 – Otis Williams, American singer
1943 – Joanna Shimkus, Canadian actress
1945 – Henry Winkler, American actor
1946 – Chris Slade, Welsh drummer (Asia)
1947 – Timothy B. Schmit, American musician (Eagles)
1948 – Rusty Goffe, British actor
1951 – Harry Hamlin, American actor
1953 – Charles Martin Smith, American actor
1954 – Mario Testino, Peruvian-born English fashion photographer
1956 – Juliet Stevenson, English actress
1957 – Kevin Pollak, American actor
1958 – Joe Delaney, American football player (d. 1983)
1958 – Stefan Dennis, Australian actor
1958 – Ramona d'Viola, American cyclist
1960 – Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
1961 – Scott Garrelts, American baseball player
1962 – Courtney Walsh, Jamaican West Indies cricketer
1963 – Michael Beach, American actor
1963 – Rebecca Heineman, Computer game programmer
1963 – Kristina Wagner, American actress
1964 – Howard Lederer, American poker player
1964 – Humayun Kabir Dhali, Bangladeshi Writer & Journalist
1966 – Scott Innes, American voice actor
1967 – Brad Aitken, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
1968 – Jack Plotnick, American actor
1969 – Masanori Hikichi, Japanese composer
1970 – Maja Tatic, Bosnia singer
1970 – Tory Belleci, American TV Mythbuster
1970 – Nia Long, American actress
1970 – Ekaterini Voggoli, Greek discus thrower
1970 – Ben Bailey, American host of the game show Cash Cab
1971 – Ahn Jae Wook, South Korean actor and singer
1971 – Suzan van der Wielen, Dutch hockey-international
1973 – Adam "Edge" Copeland, Canadian wrestler
1973 – Silvia Corzo, Colombian newscaster
1973 – Michael Oakes, English footballer
1975 – Ian D'Sa, Guitarist/Vocalist for Canadian rock band Billy Talent
1975 – Maria Thayer, American actress
1976 – Stern John, Trinidadian footballer
1976 – Maurice Taylor, American Basketball Player
1977 – Jason Adelman, American actor
1977 – Eefke Mulder, Dutch hockey-international
1978 – Martin Dossett, American football player
1978 – Amanda Swafford, American model
1978 – Matthew Morrison, American actor
1979 – Jason Bartlett, American baseball player
1979 – Yukie Nakama, Japanese actress
1980 – Sarah Carter, Canadian actress
1980 – Kareem Rush, American basketball player
1980 – Choi Hong-man, South Korean kickboxer
1980 – John Foo, Irish martial artist and actor
1981 – Ayaka Kimura, Japanese actress
1981 – Ivanka Trump, American model
1981 – Jun Ji-hyun, South Korean actress
1981 – Ian Snell, American baseball player
1982 – Andy Greene, American ice hockey player
1982 – Manny Parra, American baseball player
1983 – Iain Hume, Canadian footballer
1983 – Trent Edwards, American football player
1984 – Eva Marcille, American model and actress
1984 – Tyson Strachan, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper
1987 – Junaid Siddique, Bangladeshi cricketer
1988 – Janel Parrish, American actress
1989 – Seth Adkins, American actor
1989 – Nastia Liukin, Russian/American gymnast
1989 – Vanessa White, British singer (The Saturdays)
1992 – Tequan Richmond, American actor
Deaths
1459 – Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (b. 1380)
1522 – Jean Mouton, French composer
1553 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (b. 1489)
1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard, French poet (b. 1528)
1611 – King Charles IX of Sweden (b. 1550)
1626 – Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1580)
1632 – Henri II de Montmorency, French naval officer and Governor of Languedoc (b. 1595)
1654 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (b. 1633)
1680 – Antoinette Bourignon, Flemish mystic (b. 1616)
1685 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (b. 1603)
1809 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
1816 – Frederick I of Württemberg (b. 1754)
1842 – Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet and author (b. 1784)
1853 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (b. 1786)
1883 – Robert Volkmann, German composer (b. 1815)
1893 – John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1894 – Honoré Mercier, politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
1899 – William Henry Webb, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1816)
1910 – Henry Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1828)
1912 – James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (b. 1855)
1915 – Charles Tupper, sixth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1917 – Talbot Mercer Papineau, Canadian lawyer and soldier (b. 1883)
1923 – Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1858)
1957 – Fred Beebe, baseball player (b. 1880)
1961 – Luigi Einaudi, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (b. 1874)
1963 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (b. 1908)
1966 – Yórgos Theotokás, Greek novelist (b. 1906)
1968 – Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author (b. 1886)
1968 – Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
1968 – Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890)
1969 – Pops ******, American musician (b. 1892)
1975 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1979 – Sir Barnes Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor (b. 1887)
1979 – Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (b. 1890)
1985 – Kirby Grant, American actor (b. 1911)
1988 – T. Hee, American animator (b. 1911)
1993 – Paul Grégoire, Archbishop of Montreal (b. 1911)
1997 – Samuel Fuller, American film director (b. 1912)
2000 – Steve Allen, American comedian, author, and composer (b. 1921)
2002 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and musician (Run DMC) (b. 1965)
2002 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2004 – Peggy Ryan, American actress (b. 1924)
2005 – Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (b. 1908)
2005 – Shamsher Singh Sheri, Indian communist leader (b. 1942)
2006 – Junji Kinoshita, Japanese playwright (b. 1914)
2006 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (b. 1926)
2007 – Robert Goulet, American entertainer (b. 1933)
2007 – Linda Stein, Ramones manager and real estate broker (b. 1945)
2007 – Washoe, chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language (b. 1965)
2007 – John Woodruff, American athlete (b. 1915)
2008 – Pedro Pompilio Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
Calendar of Saints – October 30th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
Alonso Rodríguez
St. Artemas
St. Herbert
St. Marcellus the Centurion
St. Saturninus
Serapion of Antioch
United States – Mischief Night in some areas (known as Devil's Night in Michigan)
Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in post-Soviet states
Events
758 – Guangzhou is sacked by Arab and Persian pirates.
1137 – Battle of Rignano between Ranulf of Apulia and Roger II of Sicily.
1270 – The Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis end by an agreement between Charles I of Sicily (******* to King Louis IX of France, who had died months earlier) and the sultan of Tunis.
1340 – Battle of Rio Salado.
1470 – Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats the Yorkists in battle.
1485 – King Henry VII of England is crowned.
1501 – Ballet of Chestnuts – a banquet held by Cesare Borgia in the Papal Palace where fifty prostitutes or courtesans are in attendance for the entertainment of the guests.
1831 – In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
1863 – Danish Prince Wilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes.
1864 – Second war of Schleswig ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.
1864 – Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at "Last Chance Gulch".
1894 – Domenico Melegatti obtains a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.
1905 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.
1918 – The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.
1920 – The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.
1922 – Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.
1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter.
1929 – The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.
1938 – Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
1941 – World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
1941 – 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.
1944 – Anne Frank and ****** Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
1945 – Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.
1947 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.
1950 – Pope Pius XII witnesses "The Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.
1960 – Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.
1961 – Because of "violations of Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Joseph Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.
1965 – Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense ****** by wave after wave of Viet Cong ******, ****ing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
1970 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, ****s 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
1972 – A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago, Illinois ****s 45 and injures 332.
1973 – The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time.
1974 – The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.
1974 – Nolan Ryan throws the fastest baseball pitch ever. It was recorded at 100.9 mph.
1975 – Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.
1975 – The New York Daily News runs the “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline.
1980 – El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.
1983 – The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
1987 – In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
1991 – The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.
1993 – Greysteel massacre: The Ulster Freedom Fighters, a loyalist terrorist group, open fire on a crowded bar in Greysteel, Northern Ireland. Eight civilians are ****ed and thirteen wounded.
1995 – Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%).
1996 – Odwalla company officials withdrew their products from over 4,600 stores after an outbreak of E. Coli in their apple juice, which in the end sickened over 60 people and ****ed one.
2000 – The last Multics machine is shut down.
2002 – British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
Births
1218 – Emperor Chukyo of Japan (d. 1234)
1513 – Jacques Amyot, French writer (d. 1593)
1624 – Paul Pellisson, French writer (d. 1693)
1668 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, queen in Prussia (d. 1705)
1735 – John Adams, second President of the United States (d. 1826)
1751 – Richard Sheridan, Irish playwright (d. 1816)
1762 – André Chénier, French writer (d. 1794)
1786 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer (d. 1871)
1799 – Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal (d. 1885)
1821 – Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian writer (d. 1881)
1839 – Alfred Sisley, Anglo-French artist (d. 1899)
1844 – Harvey W. Wiley, American chemist (d. 1930)
1847 – Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist (d. 1897)
1857 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist (d. 1904)
1861 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (d. 1929)
1871 – Paul Valéry, French poet (d. 1945)
1871 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (d. 1949)
1873 – Francisco I. Madero, President of Mexico (d. 1913)
1881 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (d. 1941)
1882 – William Halsey, Jr, American admiral (d. 1959)
1882 – Günther von Kluge, German field marshal (d. 1944)
1885 – Ezra Pound, American poet (d. 1972)
1886 – Zoe Akins, American playwright (d. 1958)
1887 – Sukumar Ray, Bengali Writer (d. 1923)
1888 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek Olympic champion (d. 1913)
1893 – Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (d. 1972)
1893 – Roland Freisler, German **** politician (d. 1945)
1894 – Jean Rostand, French biologist (d. 1977)
1895 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (declined) (d. 1964)
1895 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1896 – Ruth Gordon, American actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet (d. 1928)
1897 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (d. 1928)
1898 – Bill Terry, baseball player (d. 1989)
1900 – Ragnar Granit Finnish neuroscientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1906 – Alexander Gode, German-American linguist (d. 1970)
1906 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver and one-time F1 world champion (d. 1966)
1907 – Sol Tax, American anthropologist (d. 1995)
1908 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (d. 1963)
1908 – Patsy Montana, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 1996)
1909 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist (d. 1966)
1911 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (d. 2005)
1914 – Richard E Holz, American composer (d. 1986)
1914 – Anna Wing, English actress
1915 – Fred Friendly, American journalist (d. 1998)
1916 – Leon Day, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1917 – Bobby Bragan, American baseball player
1917 – Nikolai Vasilievich Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal (d. 1994)
1917 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)
1922 – Jane White, American actress and singer
1926 – Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver
1927 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1928 – Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
1930 – Nestor Almendros, Spanish cinematographer (d. 1992)
1930 – Clifford Brown, American musician (d. 1956)
1931 – Vince Callahan, American politician
1932 – Louis Malle, French film director (d. 1995)
1932 – Barun De, Indian historian
1934 – Frans Brüggen, Dutch musician
1935 – Agota Kristof, Hungarian writer
1935 – Michael Winner, British film director
1935 – Jim Perry, American baseball player
1935 – Robert Caro, American biographer
1936 – Polina Astakhova, Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2005)
1937 – Claude Lelouch, French film director
1939 – Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, Nobel laureate
1939 – Grace Slick, American singer (Jefferson Airplane)
1939 – Edward Holland, Jr., American singer
1940 – Ed Lauter, American actor
1941 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel laureate
1941 – Otis Williams, American singer
1943 – Joanna Shimkus, Canadian actress
1945 – Henry Winkler, American actor
1946 – Chris Slade, Welsh drummer (Asia)
1947 – Timothy B. Schmit, American musician (Eagles)
1948 – Rusty Goffe, British actor
1951 – Harry Hamlin, American actor
1953 – Charles Martin Smith, American actor
1954 – Mario Testino, Peruvian-born English fashion photographer
1956 – Juliet Stevenson, English actress
1957 – Kevin Pollak, American actor
1958 – Joe Delaney, American football player (d. 1983)
1958 – Stefan Dennis, Australian actor
1958 – Ramona d'Viola, American cyclist
1960 – Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
1961 – Scott Garrelts, American baseball player
1962 – Courtney Walsh, Jamaican West Indies cricketer
1963 – Michael Beach, American actor
1963 – Rebecca Heineman, Computer game programmer
1963 – Kristina Wagner, American actress
1964 – Howard Lederer, American poker player
1964 – Humayun Kabir Dhali, Bangladeshi Writer & Journalist
1966 – Scott Innes, American voice actor
1967 – Brad Aitken, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Gavin Rossdale, English musician
1968 – Jack Plotnick, American actor
1969 – Masanori Hikichi, Japanese composer
1970 – Maja Tatic, Bosnia singer
1970 – Tory Belleci, American TV Mythbuster
1970 – Nia Long, American actress
1970 – Ekaterini Voggoli, Greek discus thrower
1970 – Ben Bailey, American host of the game show Cash Cab
1971 – Ahn Jae Wook, South Korean actor and singer
1971 – Suzan van der Wielen, Dutch hockey-international
1973 – Adam "Edge" Copeland, Canadian wrestler
1973 – Silvia Corzo, Colombian newscaster
1973 – Michael Oakes, English footballer
1975 – Ian D'Sa, Guitarist/Vocalist for Canadian rock band Billy Talent
1975 – Maria Thayer, American actress
1976 – Stern John, Trinidadian footballer
1976 – Maurice Taylor, American Basketball Player
1977 – Jason Adelman, American actor
1977 – Eefke Mulder, Dutch hockey-international
1978 – Martin Dossett, American football player
1978 – Amanda Swafford, American model
1978 – Matthew Morrison, American actor
1979 – Jason Bartlett, American baseball player
1979 – Yukie Nakama, Japanese actress
1980 – Sarah Carter, Canadian actress
1980 – Kareem Rush, American basketball player
1980 – Choi Hong-man, South Korean kickboxer
1980 – John Foo, Irish martial artist and actor
1981 – Ayaka Kimura, Japanese actress
1981 – Ivanka Trump, American model
1981 – Jun Ji-hyun, South Korean actress
1981 – Ian Snell, American baseball player
1982 – Andy Greene, American ice hockey player
1982 – Manny Parra, American baseball player
1983 – Iain Hume, Canadian footballer
1983 – Trent Edwards, American football player
1984 – Eva Marcille, American model and actress
1984 – Tyson Strachan, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper
1987 – Junaid Siddique, Bangladeshi cricketer
1988 – Janel Parrish, American actress
1989 – Seth Adkins, American actor
1989 – Nastia Liukin, Russian/American gymnast
1989 – Vanessa White, British singer (The Saturdays)
1992 – Tequan Richmond, American actor
Deaths
1459 – Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian humanist (b. 1380)
1522 – Jean Mouton, French composer
1553 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (b. 1489)
1602 – Jean-Jacques Boissard, French poet (b. 1528)
1611 – King Charles IX of Sweden (b. 1550)
1626 – Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1580)
1632 – Henri II de Montmorency, French naval officer and Governor of Languedoc (b. 1595)
1654 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (b. 1633)
1680 – Antoinette Bourignon, Flemish mystic (b. 1616)
1685 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (b. 1603)
1809 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
1816 – Frederick I of Württemberg (b. 1754)
1842 – Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet and author (b. 1784)
1853 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (b. 1786)
1883 – Robert Volkmann, German composer (b. 1815)
1893 – John Joseph Caldwell Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1894 – Honoré Mercier, politician, Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
1899 – William Henry Webb, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1816)
1910 – Henry Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1828)
1912 – James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (b. 1855)
1915 – Charles Tupper, sixth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1821)
1917 – Talbot Mercer Papineau, Canadian lawyer and soldier (b. 1883)
1923 – Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1858)
1957 – Fred Beebe, baseball player (b. 1880)
1961 – Luigi Einaudi, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (b. 1874)
1963 – U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, An Indian politician (b. 1908)
1966 – Yórgos Theotokás, Greek novelist (b. 1906)
1968 – Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author (b. 1886)
1968 – Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)
1968 – Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890)
1969 – Pops ******, American musician (b. 1892)
1975 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1979 – Sir Barnes Wallis, British scientist, engineer and inventor (b. 1887)
1979 – Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (b. 1890)
1985 – Kirby Grant, American actor (b. 1911)
1988 – T. Hee, American animator (b. 1911)
1993 – Paul Grégoire, Archbishop of Montreal (b. 1911)
1997 – Samuel Fuller, American film director (b. 1912)
2000 – Steve Allen, American comedian, author, and composer (b. 1921)
2002 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and musician (Run DMC) (b. 1965)
2002 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
2004 – Peggy Ryan, American actress (b. 1924)
2005 – Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (b. 1908)
2005 – Shamsher Singh Sheri, Indian communist leader (b. 1942)
2006 – Junji Kinoshita, Japanese playwright (b. 1914)
2006 – Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (b. 1926)
2007 – Robert Goulet, American entertainer (b. 1933)
2007 – Linda Stein, Ramones manager and real estate broker (b. 1945)
2007 – Washoe, chimpanzee trained in American Sign Language (b. 1965)
2007 – John Woodruff, American athlete (b. 1915)
2008 – Pedro Pompilio Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
Calendar of Saints – October 30th is the feast day of the following Roman Catholic Saints:
Alonso Rodríguez
St. Artemas
St. Herbert
St. Marcellus the Centurion
St. Saturninus
Serapion of Antioch
United States – Mischief Night in some areas (known as Devil's Night in Michigan)
Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in post-Soviet states