Historical Events
- Oct 1 "Roza" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 12 performances
- Oct 1 Fiji's constitution is suspended
- Oct 1 Whittier Narrows magnitude 5.9 earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley and Southern California, causing $213–358 million of damage, 200 injuries and 8 deaths
- Oct 3 Michael Pruffer of France skis 135.26 MPH at Portillo, Chile
- Oct 3 San Diego catcher Benito Santiago's MLB rookie record 34-game hitting streak ends as Padres snap 9-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory v LA Dodgers
- Oct 3 USSR performs underground nuclear test
The Last Emperor
Oct 4 "The Last Emperor" directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O'Toole premieres at the Tokyo Film Festival (Best Picture 1988)
- Oct 4 First "Scab Sunday" of NFL football with replacement players as a result of players strike; chiefly related to the expiration of 1982 Collective Bargaining Agreement; players returned October 15
- Oct 4 Winnipeg CFL defensive back James Jefferson scores 2 TDs on interception returns without making an interception; scores both on laterals in Blue Bombers' 47-14 win v Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Faith
Oct 6 "Faith" single released by George Michael (Billboard Song of the Year 1988)
Event of Interest
Oct 6 Military coup leader Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka declares Fiji a republic
- Oct 6 US Senate Judiciary Committee votes 9-5 to send nomination of Robert Bork for a seat on the Supreme Court to full senate with an unfavorable recommendation
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Oct 9 "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" documentary film directed by Taylor Hackford of 1986 concerts celebrating rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry is released
- Oct 9 Japanese bank buys "Lady McGill" stamp for $1,100,000
Tunnel of Love
Oct 10 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's 8th studio album "Tunnel of Love"
- Oct 10 Garfield Park Nature Center opens, latest in Cleveland Metroparks
- Oct 10 Giant's Jeffrey Leonard hits playoff record HR in his 4th cons game
- Oct 10 Hartford center Doug Jarvis ends his career having played an NHL record 964 consecutive games as the Whalers lose 6-2 to the New York Rangers
- Oct 11 200,000 march for gay and lesbian civil rights in Washington, D.C.
- Oct 12 21st Country Music Association Awards: Hank William Jr wins
Got My Mind Set On You
Oct 12 George Harrison releases single "Got My Mind Set On You", it becomes his third solo #1 hit, and the last chart-topper by any of the Beatles
- Oct 12 Minnesota Twins beat Detroit Tigers, 9-5 in ALCS Game 5 at Tiger Stadium for 4-1 series win; go on to win club's first Baseball World Series
- Oct 12 Oscar Arias (Costa Rican Pres) wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Oct 13 1st military use of trained dolphins (US Navy in Persian Gulf)
- Oct 13 Costa Rican President Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize
- Oct 13 West Indies score 4-360 in 50 overs in Cricket World Cup v Sri Lanka
- Oct 14 In Midland, Tx 1½-year-old Jessica McClure falls 22' (7m) down a well
- Oct 14 MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat San Francisco Giants, 4 games to 3
- Oct 15 6th Belgium government of Martens falls
- Oct 15 Allan Knee and Brian Gari's musical "Late Nite Comic" opens at Ritz Theater, NYC; runs for 4 performances
- Oct 15 Coup in Burkina Faso, president Sankara dies
- Oct 15 Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" premieres in NYC
- Oct 15 NFL Players Association orders an end to 24 day strike; union fails to achieve demands short-term with no collective bargaining agreement in place
- Oct 15 The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England
- Oct 16 338,500,000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record)
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 16 Defending champion Mike Tyson beats Tyrell Biggs by TKO in round 7 at Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey; retains unified heavyweight boxing title
- Oct 16 Dow Jones for 1st time falls more than 100 pts (108.35)
- Oct 16 Great Storm of 1987: 175-kph hurricane force winds hit London and much of the South of England killing 23 people and causing widespread blackouts
- Oct 16 Jessica McClure rescued 58 hrs after falling 22' into a well shaft
- Oct 16 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Oct 17 "Late Nite Comic" closes at Ritz Theater NYC after 4 performances
- Oct 17 1st indoor World Series game (Minnesota Metrodome)
Event of Interest
Oct 17 US First Lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical mastectomy
- Oct 19 "Anything Goes" opens at Beaumont Theater NYC for 804 performances
- Oct 19 Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record
- Oct 19 US warships destroy 2 Iranian oil platforms in Persian Gulf
Sports History
Oct 19 Woody Woodward resigns as NY Yankee GM, Lou Piniella is named GM and Billy Martin is named NY Yankee manager for 5th & final time
- Oct 20 10 die as US Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn near Indianapolis
- Oct 20 Dow-Jones increases 102.27 pts/608,120,000 shares traded (record)
- Oct 20 Subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz sentenced to 6 months in jail
- Oct 21 7th Belgium government of Martens forms
- Oct 21 Full US Senate debate begins on Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court
Nobel Prize for Economics
Oct 21 Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded to American Robert Solow for his theory of economic growth
- Oct 22 American composer John Adams's first opera, "Nixon in China", premieres at the Houston Grand Opera, in Houston, Texas
- Oct 22 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Joseph Brodsky
Music History
Oct 22 Revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's "Cabaret" opens at Imperial Theater, NYC; runs for 262 performances
- Oct 23 Dutch government gives Fokker's Aircraft Ÿ212 million credit
- Oct 23 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Oct 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Oct 23 US Senate rejects Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court by a bipartisan vote of 58-42
- Oct 24 NBC technicians accept pact, end 118 day strike
- Oct 25 Baseball World Series: Minnesota Twins beat St Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at HHH Metrodome for 4-3 series win and franchise first in Minneapolis; MVP: Twins pitcher Frank Viola
- Oct 26 Dow Jones down 156.83 points
- Oct 26 Head of Salvadoran Human Rights Comm assassinated by death squads
- Oct 27 Lucas Mangopes Democratic Party wins Bophuthatswana elections
Lettice & Lovage
Oct 27 Peter Shaffer's musical "Lettice & Lovage" premieres in London
- Oct 27 South Korean voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution
- Oct 29 "Don't Get God Started" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 86 performances
Boxing Title Fight
Oct 29 Thomas Hearns wins unprecedented 4th different weight boxing title
- Oct 30 "Faith" debut album by George Michael is released
- Oct 30 In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine.
- Oct 31 A pair in Coventry, England, ties world record for longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes
- Oct 31 American jockey Chris Antley becomes first rider to win 9 races in a day (4 at Aqueduct / 5 at The Meadowlands)
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 1 Hiroki Aiba, Japanese actor and singer (The Prince Of Tennis), born in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan
- Oct 1 Michaela Coel, English actress, filmmaker and singer (Chewing Gum), born in London, England
- Oct 2 Phil Kessel, American NHL right wing, 2007-23 (Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins and 3 other teams; Stanley Cup 2016, 2017, 2023), born in Madison, Wisconsin
- Oct 2 Ricky Stenhouse Jr, American auto racer (NASCAR Nationwide Series champion 2011-12; Daytona 500 2023), born in Memphis, Tennessee
- Oct 3 Danny Willett, British golfer (US Masters 2016), born in Sheffield, England
- Oct 3 Zuleyka Rivera, Puerto Rican Miss Universe
- Oct 4 Michael Roman, actor (Al-One Life to Live)
- Oct 5 Javier Villa, Spanish racing driver, born in Colunga, Spain
- Oct 5 Kevin Mirallas, Belgian footballer, born in Liège, Belgium
- Oct 7 Jeremy Brockie, Australian footballer, born in Christchurch, New Zealand
- Oct 8 Aya Hirano, Japanese voice actress and singer, born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
- Oct 11 Mike Conley Jr., American basketball point guard (NBA All-Star 2021; Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies), born in Fayetteville, Arkansas
- Oct 15 Jesse Levine, American Canadian tennis player, born in Boca Raton, Florida
- Oct 17 Bea Alonzo, Filipina actress
- Oct 17 Jarosław Fojut, Polish footballer
- Oct 18 Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model
- Oct 18 Zac Efron, American actor (17 Again), and singer (High School Musical; The Greatest Showman), born in San Luis Obispo, California,
- Oct 21 Anele Ngcongca, South African soccer defender (53 caps; Genk), born in Cape Town, South Africa (d. 2020)
- Oct 21 Dean Lewis, Australian singer-songwriter ("Waves", "Be Alright"), born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Oct 23 Carmella [Leah Van Dale], American pro wrestler (WWE SmackDown Women's C'ship 2017; WWE Women's Tag Team C'ship [Queen Zelina] 2021), born in Spencer, Massachusetts
- Oct 23 Faye [Hamlin], Swedish pop singer ("Play"), born in Stockholm
- Oct 23 Seo In-Guk, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor (The Master's Sun), born in Ulsan, South Korea
- Oct 24 Anthony Vanden Borre, Belgian footballer, born in Likasi, Zaire (now Congo)
- Oct 24 Charlie White, American ice dancer (Olympic gold, 2014 & silver, 2014, 2010), born in Royal Oak, Michigan
- Oct 24 Lincoln Lewis, Australian actor (Tomorrow, When the War Begin), born in Brisbane, Australia
- Oct 25 Darron Gibson, Irish football player (Manchester United), born in Derry, Northern Ireland
- Oct 25 Fabian Hambüchen, German gymnast (Olympic gold 2016, silver 2012, bronze 2008), born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
- Oct 27 Andrew Bynum, American basketball player (Los Angeles Lakers), born in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey
- Oct 27 Yi Jianlian, Chinese basketball player (Milwaukee Bucks), born in Heshan, Guangdong, China
- Oct 28 Choi Na-yeon, South Korean golfer (US Open 2012), born in Seoul, South Korea
- Oct 28 Frank Ocean [Christopher Breaux], American singer-songwriter ("Thinkin' 'Bout You"), born in Long Beach, California
- Oct 29 Andy Dalton, American NFL player (Chicago Bears), born in Katy, Texas
- Oct 29 Makoto Ogawa, Japanese pop singer (Morning Musume), born in Kashiwazaki, Japan
- Oct 29 Tove Lo, Swedish singer-songwriter ("Sunshine Kitty"), born in Helsingborg, Sweden
- Oct 30 Ashley Graham, American model and body activist, born in Lincoln, Nebraska
- Oct 30 Junaid Siddique, Bangladeshi cricketer, born in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Famous Weddings
Rick Hansen
Oct 10 Paralympian Rick Hansen (30) weds physiotherapist Amanda Reid
Joe Cocker
Oct 11 British rock and blues singer Joe Cocker (43) weds Pam Baker
Famous Deaths
- Oct 2 Madeleine Carroll, English actress (39 Steps, Secret Agent), dies at 81
- Oct 2 Peter Medawar, British biologist (1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance"), dies at 72
- Oct 8 Konstantinos Tsatsos, Greek politician and 2nd President of Greece (1975-1980), dies at 88
- Oct 9 Clare Boothe Luce, American politician and U.S. ambassador to Italy, dies at 84
- Oct 9 Guru Gopinath, Indian classical dancer, dies at 79
- Oct 12 Alf Landon, American politician, Governor of Kansas (1933-37) and Republican Presidential nominee in 1936, dies at his Topeka home at 100
- Oct 12 Philleo Nash, American politician and Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (1961-66), dies at 77
- Oct 13 Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor, dies at 58
Walter Houser Brattain (1902-1987)
Oct 13 American physicist (transistors, Nobel 1956), dies at 85
- Oct 14 Rodolfo Halffter, Spanish composer, and music critic, dies at 86
- Oct 15 Thomas Sankara, Burkinabé revolutionary and politician, President of Burkina Faso (1983-87), assassinated in a coup at 37
- Oct 16 Dana Suesse, American musician and songwriter ("You Ought To Be In Pictures"), dies at 77
- Oct 17 Abdul Malek Ukil, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1925)
- Oct 17 Roderich Menzel, Czech tennis player (French Open singles 1938 runner-up; US Open mixed doubles 1935 runner-up), dies at 80
- Oct 17 Ruby Dandridge [Ruby Jean Butler], American actress (Father of the Bride), dies at 87
- Oct 18 Theodore Brameld, author (Use of Explosive Ideas), dies at 83
- Oct 19 Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
- Oct 19 Jacqueline du Pre, British cellist, dies from complications of multiple sclerosis at 42
- Oct 20 Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (theory of probability), dies at 84
- Oct 21 Bob Simmons, British actor and stuntman (James Bond films, 1962-85), dies at 64
- Oct 21 Ying-Chin Ho, Taiwan government official, dies at 88
- Oct 22 Angiolino "Lino" Ventura, Italian actor (Happy New Year, Pain in the A--), dies of a heart attack at 68
- Oct 24 Constantin Alajalov, Armenian-American illustrator (The New Yorker; Saturday Evening Post; Dithers & Jitters), and painter, dies at 86
- Oct 25 Cecil Brown, American war correspondent (worked closely with Edward R. Murrow during WW II), dies at 80
- Oct 25 Gerald Pearson, American physicist and inventor of the solar cell, dies at 82
- Oct 27 Vijay Merchant, Indian cricket batsman (10 Tests, 3 x 100, HS 154; Bombay CC), dies at 76
- Oct 28 Andre Masson, French surrealist artist (Labyrinth), dies at 91
- Oct 29 Kamal El Mallakh, Egyptian archaeologist (King Khufu Solar ship), and journalist, dies at 57
- Oct 29 Woody Herman, American jazz clarinetist and composer (Thundering Herd), dies at 74
- Oct 31 Joseph Campbell, American professor of comparative mythology (Mythic Image), dies at 83
