What Happened in October 1996

Historical Events

Event of Interest

Oct 1 Following the Port Arthur Massacre, John Howard's Australian government starts a gun buy back scheme. Compulsorily acquires more than 640,000 firearms, including many newly illegal semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.

  • Oct 2 30th Country Music Association Awards: Brooks & Dunn win
  • Oct 3 Thunderdome in Tampa Bay renamed Tropicana Field
  • Oct 4 BPAA US Bowling Open by Dave Husted
  • Oct 4 BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Liz Johnson
  • Oct 4 Left wing Mike Donnelly becomes first player in NHL history to play for all 3 New York teams (Sabres, Rangers & Islanders) when he suits up for the NY Islanders in a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles
  • Oct 4 Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi breaks record for fastest hundred in one-day cricket history; in first ODI innings, Afridi savages Sri Lanka for 102 in KCA Centenary Tournament match in Nairobi; reaches 100 in 37 balls
  • Oct 5 Cleveland Indians strike out 23 Baltimore Orioles in 12 innings in 4-3 ALDS win at Jacobs Field; Orioles win series, 3-1
  • Oct 5 New York centre fielder Bernie Williams homers from each side of the plate as the Yankees beat Texas, 6-4 to win the AL Division Series, 3 - 1
  • Oct 5 Yao Wenyuan is released from prison after serving 20 years for his role in the Chinese Cultural Revolution
  • Oct 6 Lois & Clark (fictional characters) wed
  • Oct 6 NY Jet Nick Lowrey ties Jan Stenerud with 373 NFL field goals

Event of Interest

Oct 7 Rupert Murdoch launches Fox News with Roger Ailes as CEO

  • Oct 9 Howard Stern's book "Miss America" released in paperback
  • Oct 10 "Sex & Longing" opens at Cort Theater NYC
  • Oct 10 Cornerstone dedication for Holocaust Museum in New York City
  • Oct 11 Ford buys rights to name Detroit domed stadium for $40 million

Farm Aid Concert

Oct 12 Farm Aid IX held in Columbia, South Carolina; performers include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Beach Boys, Son Volt, Robert Earl Keen, Martina McBride, Jewel, and John Conlee [1]

  • Oct 13 "Big" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 193 performances

F1 World Champion

Oct 13 British Williams driver Damon Hill wins season ending Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka; becomes first son of a F1 World Drivers Champion (Graham Hill 1962, 68) to win title himself; wins by 19 points from Jacques Villeneuve

  • Oct 13 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 1
  • Oct 13 NY Jet Nick Lowrey breaks Jan Stenerud NFL field goal record at 374
  • Oct 13 Yanks (3) & Orioles (3) combine to tie play off record of 6 HRs
  • Oct 14 Braves blow out St Louis, 14-0 in an NLCS game
  • Oct 14 Dow Jones closes over 6,000 for 1st time (6,010)
  • Oct 14 Packer Chris Jacke kicks longest field goal to end overtime (53 yds)
  • Oct 16 Eighty-four people are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 football fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
  • Oct 17 "Taking Sides" opens at Atkinson Theater NYC
  • Oct 17 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3
  • Oct 19 Braves beat NY Yanks by record tying 11 runs, 12-1 in a World Series
  • Oct 20 MLB Atlanta Braves Andruw Jones is youngest player to homer in World Series

Summer and Smoke

Oct 20 Revival of Tennessee Williams' stage drama "Summer and Smoke", starring Harry Hamlin and Mary McDonnell, closes at Criterion Theater, NYC, after 53 performances

Cricket Record

Oct 20 Wasim Akram (257) & Saqlain Mushtaq gets cricket Test record 313 for 8th wicket, vs Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura

  • Oct 22 NY Yankee Bernie Williams hits record tying 7th post season HR, as Yanks tie record of 6th straight post season road win (en route to 8)
  • Oct 23 New York Yankees set record recovering from 0-6 in Baseball World Series game to beat Braves, 8-6 in Game 4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium; record 7th straight post-season road win
  • Oct 24 Hasan Raza makes Test Cricket debut for Pakistan age 14 yrs 238 days
  • Oct 24 Last game at Atlanta County Fulton Stadium. Yanks win record 8th straight road post season win (with no loses)

Sports History

Oct 25 Frank, brother of Yank manager Joe Torre, receives a heart transplant

  • Oct 26 Baseball World Series: New York beats Atlanta Braves, 3-2 in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium to win club's 23rd title; MVP: Bronx Bombers' reliever John Wetteland
  • Oct 26 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Woodbine Racetrack; winners: Lit de Justice, Storm Song, Jewel Princess, Da Hass, Boston Harbor, Pilsudski, Alphabet Soup
  • Oct 27 US beats Japan, 21½-14½, at Nichirei International Golf Tournament
  • Oct 28 Apple Records releases The Beatles "Anthology 3" (double CD/triple LP)", the last of 3-part series of rare recordings and outtakes by the Beatles; set covers the years 1968-70; album tops Billboard charts in US and peaks at no. 4 in UK
  • Oct 28 Goa upset Karnataka to win their 1st Ranji Cricket Trophy game ever
  • Oct 30 Exxon confirms that it is in talks with state-owned Qatar General Petroleum Corporation concerning the application of new technology to convert natural gas to petroleum products
  • Oct 31 American jam band Phish performs The Talking Heads' "Remain In Light" as a musical costume during a show at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia
  • Oct 31 Transportes Aéreos Regionais (TAM) Flight 402, a Fokker F100, crashes into several houses in São Paulo, Brazil killing 98 including 2 on the ground.
1996 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Oct 3 Adair Tishler, American child actress
  • Oct 5 Mary Gibbs, American child actress (Monsters, Inc.), born in Pasadena, California
  • Oct 7 Lewis Capaldi, Scottish singer-songwriter ("Someone You Loved"), born in Glasgow, Scotland
  • Oct 9 Bella Hadid [Isabella Khair Hadid], American fashion model, born in Los Angeles, California
  • Oct 9 Jacob Batalon, Filipino-American actor (Spider Man - Homecoming; Reginald the Vampire), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Oct 11 Rhea Ripley [Demi Bennett], Australian professional wrestler (WWE), born in Adelaide, Australia

Joshua Wong (27 years old)

Oct 13 Hong Kong-Chinese activist and pro-democracy politician (Demosistō), born in British Hong Kong

  • Oct 14 Lourdes Leon, American actress, director and Madonna's daughter, born in Los Angeles, California
  • Oct 22 Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Norwegian cross-country skier (5x Olympic gold 2018, 22; 6 x World C'ship gold), born in Oslo, Norway
  • Oct 24 Jaylen Brown, American NBA player (Boston Celtics), born in Atlanta, Georgia
  • Oct 24 Tamino [Fouad], Belgian-Egyptian rock and world music singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Amir; Sahal), born in Mortsel, Belgium
  • Oct 26 Onutė Gražinytė, Lithuanian classical pianist, born in Vilnus, Lithuania
  • Oct 26 Pasaye, twin born 92 days before his brother (Jan 26), born in Palatine, Illinois
  • Oct 27 Samantha Logan, American actress (All American), born in Boston, Massachusetts
  • Oct 28 Jasmine Jessica Anthony, American actress (1408, Water Pills), born in Tarzana, California
  • Oct 28 Naelee Rae, American actress
Born in 1996

Famous Weddings

Evander Holyfield

Oct 4 Former undisputed boxing heavyweight world champion Evander Holyfield (34) weds Janice Itson (34) at Glynn Wedding Chapel in nearby Fayetteville

Faith Hill & Tim McGraw

Oct 6 American country singer Faith Hill (29) weds American country singer and actor Tim McGraw (45) in Rayville, Louisiana

  • Oct 19 "Rescue Me" actor-comedian Lenny Clarke (43) weds former TV producer Jennifer Miller (31) at Martha's Vineyard in Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Oct 23 American caricaturist Al Hirshfeld (93) weds Louise Kerz

Paula Abdul

Oct 25 American pop singer-dancer Paula Abdul (33) weds sportswear designer Brad Beckerman (30) at Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel; divorce in 1998


Famous Divorces

Elizabeth Taylor

Oct 31 English-American actress Elizabeth Taylor's 8th (and final) divorce from American construction worker Larry Fortensky, after 5 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

  • Oct 1 Patrick McGeown, Irish IRA member and hunger striker, dies at 40
  • Oct 2 Andrey Lukanov, Bulgarian politician (40th Prime Minister of Bulgaria), assassinated at 58
  • Oct 2 Banjo Matthews, American auto racing constructor (72% of winning cars in top NASCAR division 1974-85; 262 wins in 362 Cup races), dies of heart and respiratory disease at 64
  • Oct 2 Frida Knight, English Communist activist and author, dies at 85
  • Oct 2 Ivan Mark Waller, English mountaineer, dies at 89
  • Oct 2 Joonas Kokkonen, Finnish composer (The Last Temptations), dies at 74
  • Oct 2 Robert Bourassa, Prime Minister of Quebec province (1970-76, 85-93), dies at 63
  • Oct 2 Ronald John Bilsland Colville, businessman, dies at 79
  • Oct 2 Sybil Marion Rosenfeld, theatre historian, dies at 93
  • Oct 3 Denis Frank Owen, British ecologist and natural historian, dies at 65
  • Oct 3 Thomas ap Rees, British botanist, dies in a cycling accident at 65
  • Oct 3 Tony Parker, British oral historian, dies at 73
  • Oct 4 Martyn Harris, journalist, dies at 43
  • Oct 4 Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese film director and screenwriter (Joi-uchi), dies at 80
  • Oct 4 Silvio Piola, Italian soccer striker (34 caps, 30 goals; Lazio), dies at 83
  • Oct 4 Tim N Gidal Gidalewitsch, photojournalist, dies at 87
  • Oct 5 Seymour Cray, American inventor (Cray Research, Cray I supercomputer), dies after a car accident at 71
  • Oct 6 Martyn Taylor, teacher/campaigner, dies at 57
  • Oct 6 Ted Bessell, American director and actor (Don-That Girl, Gomer Pyle- Frankie), dies of an aneurism at 61
  • Oct 7 Charles Wegg Solicitor-Prosser, dies at 86
  • Oct 8 Geoffrey Finsberg, British politician, dies at 70
  • Oct 8 Joseph Roy George Ralston, pilot, dies at 81
  • Oct 8 Susan Gautier-Smith, British TV producer, dies of heart failure at 33
  • Oct 8 Watkins Shaw, British musicologist, dies at 85
  • Oct 8 William Prince, American actor (Spies Like Us, The Stepford Wives, City in Fear), dies at 83
  • Oct 9 Alan Charles Downes, British founder member of Independent Television News and cameraman, dies at 58
  • Oct 9 Harvey Vernon [Chet Smith], American actor (Teen Wolf, Jasper-Carter Country), dies at 69
  • Oct 9 Joachim Wohlgemuth, German writer, dies at 64
  • Oct 9 Nigel Thomas Loveridge Fisher, politician, dies at 83
  • Oct 9 Richard Clarkson, English aeronautical engineer (Hawker Siddeley Trident), dies at 94

Walter Kerr (1913-1996)

Oct 9 American actor, writer (Goldilocks) and Broadway theatre critic, dies of congestive heart failure at 83

  • Oct 10 David Viscott, American psychiatrist and media personality, dies at 58
  • Oct 10 Dick Pickering, British trade unionist, dies of a heart attack at 54
  • Oct 10 Hugh Stirling Mackenzie, British Royal Navy officer, dies at 83
  • Oct 10 John Hillaby, English writer and traveller, dies at 79
  • Oct 10 Siddig El Nigoumi, ceramicist, dies at 65
  • Oct 11 Arthur Walter Lucas, first Chief Restorer of the National Gallery, London, dies at 80
  • Oct 11 Edith Tilton Penrose, American-born British economist (The Theory of the Growth of the Firm), dies at 81
  • Oct 11 Johnny Costa [Costanza], American jazz pianist, celeste and accordion player, and musical director (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), dies at 74
  • Oct 11 Keith Boyce, West Indian cricketer (West Indies all-rounder 1969-76), dies of chronic cirrhosis of the liver at 53
  • Oct 11 Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)
  • Oct 11 Terry Patchett, politician, dies at 56
  • Oct 11 William Vickrey, Canadian economist (Nobel 1996), dies at 82
  • Oct 12 David Gilroy Bevan, British politician, dies at 86
  • Oct 12 Jack Robertson, English cricketer (Middlesex & England opening batsman 11 Tests), dies at 79
  • Oct 12 Pavel Alexandrovich Solovyov, aero-engine designer, dies at 79

René Lacoste (1904-1996)

Oct 12 French tennis player (7 Grand Slam titles, Lacoste clothing), dies of heart failure at 92

  • Oct 12 Trevor Illtyd williams, scientific writer, dies at 75
  • Oct 12 Vernon Elliott, British composer and bassoonist, dies at 84
  • Oct 13 Albert Hughes Williams, Welsh teacher and historian, dies at 89
  • Oct 13 Beryl Reid, British actress (The Killing of Sister George; Smiley's People), dies from pneumonia at 77
  • Oct 13 Henri Nannen, German journalist (Der Stern), dies at 82
  • Oct 14 Laura La Plante, American actress (Show Boat, Scandal) known for her work in the silent film era, dies at 91
  • Oct 14 William John Raff Hooper, British cartoonist (Percy Prune), dies at 80
  • Oct 16 Anthony Griffin, British Royal Navy admiral (Controller of the Navy, 1971–75; chairman of British Shipbuilders 1977–80). dies at 75
  • Oct 16 Eric Malpass, English writer (Pentecost family books), dies at 85
  • Oct 16 Ismond Rosen, South African born British psychoanalyst and artist, dies at 82
  • Oct 16 James Wild, music teacher, dies at 68
  • Oct 16 Jason Bernard, actor (judge-Liar Liar), dies of a heart attack at 58
  • Oct 17 Berthold Goldschmidt, German-British opera composer (Beatrice Cenci), dies at 93
  • Oct 17 Christopher Acland, English drummer (Lush), takes his own life at 30
  • Oct 18 Guiseppe Panini, industrialist, dies at 71
  • Oct 19 Neville Robinson, English physicist, dies at 71
  • Oct 19 Oliver Charles Anderson, novelist, dies at 84
  • Oct 20 Bill Bedford, British test pilot (pioneered the development of V/STOL aircraft), dies at 75
  • Oct 20 Mary Tuck, British social researcher and civil servant, dies at 68
  • Oct 21 Abdelhamid Benhadugah, novelist, dies at 71
  • Oct 21 Eric Halsall, English TV presenter and sheepdog trial commentator (One Man and His Dog), dies at 76
  • Oct 21 Georgios Zoitakis, leader of Greece (1967-72), dies
  • Oct 21 Robert O'Neill Crossman, politician, dies at 49
  • Oct 21 Wang Li, politician, dies at 78
  • Oct 22 John Bauldie, British music journalist, dies at 47
  • Oct 22 Matthew Harding, businessman/football supporter, dies at 42
  • Oct 23 Alexander Kelly, British pianist and composer, dies at 67
  • Oct 23 Diana Trilling, writer, dies at 91
  • Oct 23 Lin Onus, Australian Aboriginal artist (Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute), dies at 47
  • Oct 23 Ronald Alfred Gardyne "Rags" Butler, British sailor, dies at 68
  • Oct 24 Arthur Axmann, German Nazi leader (head of the Hitler Youth 1940-45), dies at 83
  • Oct 24 Bruce Matthews, Australian newspaper executive who worked for Rupert Murdoch, dies at 71 [1]
  • Oct 24 Eugene Polyakov, Russian balletmaster (Paris Opera Ballet), dies at 53
  • Oct 24 Hubert Miles Gladwyn Jebb, 1st Baron Gladwyn, British politician and diplomat, dies at 96
  • Oct 24 Sid Pye, drummer, dies at 55
  • Oct 26 Hans Kosterlitz, German-British biochemist (endorphins), dies at 93
  • Oct 26 Sylvia Mary Paget Chancellor, British philanthropist, dies at 95
  • Oct 27 Belinda Quirey, British dance historian and teacher, dies at 84
  • Oct 27 James Aubrey Turner, scientist, dies at 57
  • Oct 27 John Gregory, English ballet dancer, dies at 82
  • Oct 28 (Moritz) "Morey" Amsterdam, American comedian, cellist, and actor (The Dick Van Dyke Show - "Buddy"), dies at 87
  • Oct 28 Jack Tinker, British drama critic, dies at 58
  • Oct 28 William Downie Forrest, Scottish foreign correspondent (Spanish Civil War, WWII), dies at 94 [1]
  • Oct 29 J. Edward Day, 55th U.S. Postmaster General (1961), dies at 82
  • Oct 29 Patricia Ticia Anne Ingrams, broadcaster, dies at 50
  • Oct 29 Patrick Johnson, English physicist, dies at 92
  • Oct 30 John Young, Scottish actor and TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 80
  • Oct 30 Leon Lewis, US radio talk show host (WMCA, 1970-80), dies at 81
  • Oct 30 Rohan Butler, English historian, dies at 79
  • Oct 31 Andrew Hutchings, British trade union leader, dies at 88
  • Oct 31 Arthur Peterson, American actor (Soap, Mission: Impossible, Crisis), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 83
  • Oct 31 John Gorman, printer and socialist historian, dies at 66
  • Oct 31 Peter Doig, British Labour Party politician, dies at 85