Oct 15, 1783. Jean Franois Pilatre de Rozier and Franois Laurent, Marquis dArlandes, became the first people to fly when they ascended in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon at Paris, France, less than three months after the first public balloon flight demonstration (June 5, 1783), and only a year after the first experiments with small paper and fabric balloons by the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Jacques, in November 1782. The first manned free flight lasted about 4 minutes and carried the passengers at a height of about 84 feet. On Nov 21, 1783, they soared 3,000 feetover Paris for 25 minutes.
Oct 15, 1951. The enormously popular sitcom, I Love Lucy was TVs first smash hit, and starred the real-life husband-and-wife team of Cuban actor/ bandleader Desi Arnaz and talented redheaded actress/ comedienne Lucille Ball. They played Ricky and Lucy Ricardo, a New York bandleader and his aspiring actress/ homemaker wife who was always scheming to get on stage. Costarring were William Frawley and Vivian Vance as Fred and Ethel Mertz, the Ricardos landlords and good friends, who participated in the escapades and dealt with the consequences of Lucys often well-intentioned plans. Famous actors guest-starred on the show, including Harpo Marx, RockHudson, William Holden, Hedda Hopper and John Wayne. This was the first sitcom to be filmed live before a studio audience, and it did extremely well in the ratings both the first time around and in reruns. The last telecast ran Sept 24, 1961.
Oct 15. A day for everyone to celebrate and practice cake decorating. It is easy to create cakes with color, sweetness and fun. With the right tools, instruction and inspiration, anyone can achieve amazing results in cake decorating and sweet treat making.
Oct 15. Honor a grouch; all grouches deserve a day to be recognized. Created for and inspired by Alan Miller, retired teacher and Chairman of the Board, NAG (National Association of Grouches).
Oct 15. Around 1922, a candy company employee named Herbert Birch Kingston decided that it would be a wonderful thing to distribute candyto the sick, shut-ins and orphans of Cleveland, OH. Thus, Sweetest Day was born. Do something nice for someone today, something that will make him or her say, Oh, thats so sweet! Annually, the third Saturday in October.
Oct 16, 1868. Salt Lake City, UT. Americas first department store, ZCMI (Zions Co-Operative Mercantile Institution), is still operating at Salt Lake City (although under a new name and new ownership). It was founded under the direction of Brigham Young.
Noah Webster’s birthday on 16 October marks Dictionary Day, a day to encourage use of dictionaries on a daily basis.
Oct 16, 1859. White abolitionist John Brown, with a band of about 20 men, seized the US Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, WV. Brown was captured and the insurrection put down by Oct 19. Brown was hanged at Charles Town, WV, Dec 2, 1859.
National Friends of Libraries Week, created by the Associationof Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations sponsors this week of creative library promotion and support.
The United Nations marks World Food Day as a day to raise public awareness of hunger and world food problems.
Oct 17, 1966. Hollywood Squares Debut on Television. On this game show, nine celebrities sat in a giant grid. Two contestants played tic-tac-toe by determining if an answer given by a celebrity was correct. Peter Marshall hosted the show for many years with panelists Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Cliff Arquette, Wally Cox, John Davidson and George Gobel, amongothers. John Davidson took over as host in 1986 for a new version of the game show with Joan Rivers and, later, Shadoe Stevens at center square. In1998 Hollywood Squares appeared again with Tom Bergeron as host and Whoopi Goldberg as the center square.
Oct 17, 1989. The San Francisco Bay area was rocked by an earthquake registering 7.1 on the Richter scale at 5: 04 PM, PDT, just as thenations baseball fans settled in to watch the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park. A large audience was tuned in to the pregame coverage when the quake hit and knocked the broadcast off the air. The quake caused damage estimated at $ 10 billion and killed 67 people, many of whom were caught in the collapse of the double-decked Interstate 80, at Oakland, CA.
Take advantage of National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day and remove those icons you don’t use or reduce your computer screen clutter!
Oct 18, 1988. This comedy showed the blue-collar Conner familytrying to make ends meet. Rosanne played wisecracking Roseanne Conner, John Goodman played her husband, Dan, and Laurie Metcalf played her sister, Jackie. The Conner children were played by Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Alicia Goranson and Sarah Chalke (Becky) and Michael Fishman (D.J.). The last episode aired Nov 14, 1997.
Oct 18. Anniversary of transfer of Alaska on Oct 18, 1867, from Russia to the US. The transfer became official on Sitkas Castle Hill. This is a holiday in Alaska; when it falls on a weekend it is observed on the following Monday.
Oct 18, 1896. Although cartoons had appeared in newspapers formany years, the comic stripa narrative told in cartoons over several panels took its main form with the appearance of The Yellow Kid Takes a Handat Golf in the New York Journals weekly supplement, American Humorist. The creator was Richard Fenton Outcault. In March 1897 the Yellow Kid Magazine gathered the strips and became the first published collection of a comic strip setting the stage for the first comic books in the late 1920s.
Oct 18. A day to commemorate the anniversary of the 1929 rulingthat declared women to be persons in Canada. Prior to this ruling English common law prevailed ( Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges). The celebrated cause, popularly known as the Persons Case, was brought by five womenof Alberta, Canada; leader of the courageous Famous Five was Emily Murphy (1868 1933). This ruling by the Judicial Committee of Englands Privy Council, Oct 18, 1929, overturned a 1928 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Oct 19. Celebrate the beauty of ugly with Hagfish Day. This special day is a fun, somewhat tongue-in-cheek event with an important and serious goal: to raise awareness and understanding of the uniqueness and significance of all sea creatures even the ugly, slimy, misunderstood or unusual (like the hagfish).
Information Overload Day is the third Wednesday in October and seeks solutions to increase productivity through better management of information.
Oct 19, 1781. More than 7,000 English and Hessian troops, led by British general Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, VA, effectively ending the war between Britain and its American colonies. There were no more major battles, but the provisional treaty of peace was not signed until Nov 30, 1782, and the final Treaty of Paris, Sept 3, 1783.
Oct 20, 1973. One of the most iconic and dramatic man-made structures of the 20th century, the Sydney Opera House, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II at Sydney, Australia, on this date. Designed by Danish architect Jrn Utzon, the theater is perched on Sydney Harbor and appears to bea ship in full sail. It took 14 years to build, and its roof is covered with more than one million tiles.
Oct 21, 1805. This famous naval action between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets removed the threat of Napoleons invasion of England. The British victory, off Trafalgar on the coast of Spain, guaranteed the fame of Viscount Horatio Nelson, who died in the battle.
Image: Painting by by Nicholas Pocock, Public Domain
Oct 21, 1797. The USS Constitution was launched and christened by Captain James Sever on this date at Boston, MA, making this frigate the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Congress had commissioned the Constitution and five other ships in 1794. The Constitution earned its nickname, Old Ironsides, and place in Americas heart through valiant service in the War of 1812. In a fight with Britain’s HMS Guerriere on Aug 19, 1812, sailors reported a British shot repelled by the side of the ship and declared that its sides were made of iron. No enemy ever boarded the ship in its days of active service. It now rests at Boston Harbor.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com user “skeeze” CC0
Oct 22, 1942. Americas Sweetheart was born at Utica, NY. Her first big break was as a Mouseketeer on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Show, arole she successfully transitioned into a career as a pop singer, scoring a string of hits in the 1950s. Funicello hit it big again in the early 60s with a series of beach party movies (Bikini Beach, Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo), most alongside costar Frankie Avalon. Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, and died from complications due to her condition Apr 8, 2013, at Bakersfield, CA.
Image: Publicity photo of American entertainers Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Public Domain.
Oct 22, 1962. President John F. Kennedy, in a nationwide television address on this date, demanded the removal from Cuba of Soviet missiles, launched equipment and bombers and imposed a naval quarantine to prevent further weaponry from reaching Cuba. On Oct 28, the USSR announced it would remove the weapons in question. In return, the US removed missiles from Turkey that were aimed at the USSR.
Image: US Central Intelligence Agency, Public Domain
