Historical Events
- Oct 1 Free agent center Wang Zhizhi, the first ever Chinese-born player in the NBA, signs a 3-year offer sheet with the Los Angeles Clippers; waived in 2003 and moves to Miami Heat
- Oct 2 The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks
- Oct 5 For the first time in its 42-year old history, the Anaheim Angels win a post-season series by beating the Yankees, 9-5 to take the ALDS, 3-1
Canonization
Oct 6 Pope John Paul II canonizes Opus Dei founder Josemaría Escrivá as a Catholic saint
- Oct 6 The French oil tanker Limburg is bombed off Yemen.
Nobel Prize for Economics
Oct 10 American Vernon L. Smith and Daniel Kahneman awarded Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences for work in experiment economics
Election of Interest
Oct 10 Former cricketer Imran Khan elected to the Pakistani Parliament after winning the seat of Mianwali-I
Nobel Prize in Literature
Oct 10 Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertész is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
- Oct 11 A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
Nobel Peace Prize
Oct 11 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to former US President Jimmy Carter [1]
- Oct 12 Terrorists explode two bombs in Bali's nightclub district killing 202 and injuring 209 mostly foreign tourists
F1 World Champion
Oct 13 Michael Schumacher wins season ending Japanese F1 Grand Prix for his record 11th victory of the year & 3rd straight World Drivers Championship; title margin: 67 points from Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello
- Oct 13 MLB American League Championship: Anaheim Angels beat Minnesota Twins, 4 games to 1
- Oct 14 MLB National League Championship: San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1
- Oct 16 Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
Top Gear
Oct 20 Motoring TV series "Top Gear" premieres on the BBC, starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe (replaced after the first season by James May)
Music History
Oct 24 Twyla Tharp's rock ballet "Movin' Out", set to songs of Billy Joel, opens at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, NYC; runs for 1,303 performances
- Oct 26 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Arlington Park, winners: Volponi, Vindication, Azeri, High Chaparral, Starine, Storm Flag Flying, Domedriver, Orientate
- Oct 26 Moscow Theatre Siege ends: Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels during a musical performance three days before
- Oct 27 Baseball World Series: Anaheim beats San Francisco Giants, 4-1 in Game 7 at Edison Field to win Angels' first title; MVP: Anaheim 1st baseman Troy Glaus
- Oct 27 The British ITV Network airs a regional service for the last time in England and Wales, LWT loses its identity completely
- Oct 29 Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno, a fire destroys a luxurious department store with 1,500 people shopping. Over 60 people died and over 100 are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
- Oct 30 British Digital terrestrial television (DTT) Service Freeview begins transmitting in parts of the United Kingdom.
- Oct 30 Run-DMC founding member Jam Master Jay is shot and killed in his recording studio in NYC by a drug dealer [1]
- Oct 31 A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas formally indicted former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.
Famous Birthdays
Jacob Sartorius (21 years old)
Oct 2 American singer (Sweatshirt) and internet personality, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Oct 8 Zheng Qinwen, Chinese tennis player (Australian Open women's singles 2024 runner-up), born in Shiyan, China
- Oct 9 Ben Shelton, American tennis player, born in Gainesville, Florida
- Oct 25 Dominic Sessa, American actor (The Holdovers), born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
- Oct 28 Lola Tung, American actress (The Summer I Turned Pretty), born in New York City
Famous Weddings
- Oct 5 "Angel" actress Charisma Carpenter (32) weds Damian Hardy
Jessica Simpson
Oct 26 American singer-songwriter and TV personality Jessica Simpson (22) weds singer-songwriter Nick Lachey (28) at Riverbend Church in Austin, Texas
Famous Divorces
Drew Barrymore
Oct 15 Comedian Tom Green (30) divorces actress Drew Barrymore (26) due to irreconcilable differences after less than a year of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Oct 1 Walter Annenberg, American publisher (Triangle-TV Guide) and philanthropist, dies at 94
- Oct 2 Heinz von Foerster, Austrian-born physicist and philosopher, dies at 90
- Oct 3 Bruce Paltrow, American television and film producer (b. 1943)
- Oct 3 John Weitz, American author and fashion designer (Friends in High Places), dies at 79
- Oct 3 Robert Krausz, Israeli stock market advisor and investor (b. 1936)
- Oct 4 Alphonse Chapanis, founder of ergonomics (b. 1917)
- Oct 4 André Delvaux, Belgian film director and screenwriter (Benvenuta), dies at 76
- Oct 4 William "Buddy" Lester, American comedian and actor (Barney Miller, Phil Silvers Show), dies at 85
- Oct 6 Chuck Rayner, Canadian Hockey HOF goaltender (Hart Memorial Trophy 1950; NHL All-Star 1949, 50, 51; New York Americans, New York Rangers), dies from a heart attack at 82
- Oct 6 Claus von Amsberg, husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, dies at 76
- Oct 8 Jacques Richard, French Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1952)
- Oct 8 Phyllis Calvert [Bickle], British actress (Crash of Silence, The Man in Grey), dies at 87
- Oct 9 Aileen Wournos, American serial killer sentenced to death (b. 1956)
- Oct 9 Anwar Hussain, Pakistani cricket batsman (4 Tests, Pakistan's first Test; Karachi, Mumbai, Sind, Northern India), dies at 82
- Oct 9 Charles Guggenheim, American film director and producer (b. 1924)
- Oct 10 Teresa Graves, American actress (Laugh-in, Get Christie Love!), dies in a fire at her home at 54
- Oct 11 Dina Pathak [Gandhi], Indian Gujarati theatre actress, director and activist (President of National Federation of Indian Women, 1994-2002), dies of a heart attack at 80
- Oct 12 Audrey Mestre, French diver (b. 1974)
- Oct 12 Ray Conniff, American bandleader and musician (Ray Conniff Singers), dies at 85
- Oct 13 Dennis Patrick, American actor (Dear Dead Delilah, Dallas, Rituals), dies in a house fire at 84
- Oct 13 Keene Curtis, American character actor (The Rothschilds, Cheers, Amanda's), dies at 79
Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002)
Oct 13 American historian (Band of Brothers), dies of lung cancer at 66
- Oct 14 Bill Green, American politician (Rep-R-NY, 1978-93), dies of cancer at 72
- Oct 14 Norbert Schultze, German songwriter (Lili Marleen), opera and film score composer and reformed propagandist, dies at 91
- Oct 16 Angela Dawson, American murder victim
- Oct 17 (George) Derek Bell, Northern Irish harpist, pianist, oboist, musicologist, and composer (The Chieftans; "Three Images of Ireland in Druid Times"), dies of a heart attack at 66 [1]
- Oct 17 Aileen Riggin, American diver (Olympic gold 3m springboard 1920, 24), dies at 96
- Oct 17 Fred Scolari, American basketball point guard (NBA All-Star 1952, 53; Washington Capitols; Baltimore Bullets), dies at 80
- Oct 18 Kam Fong Chun, American actor (Hawaii Five-0, Magnum, P.I.), dies of lung cancer at 84
- Oct 18 Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 10, 16, 33), dies at 70
- Oct 18 Roman Tam, Hong Kong singer (b. 1950)
- Oct 18 Wynand Breytenbach, South African soldier and politician, Deputy Minister of Defense (1986-94), dies at 67
- Oct 19 Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Mexican pioneering artistic photographer, dies at 100 [1]
- Oct 20 Barbara Berjer, American soap opera actress (Another World), dies at 82
- Oct 20 Bernard Fresson, French actor (Hiroshima Mon Amour), dies at 71
- Oct 22 Queen Geraldina of the Albanians (b. 1915)
Adolph Green (1914-2002)
Oct 23 American screenwriter (On The Town; Singin' in the Rain), lyricist ("Bells Are Ringing"; "Just In Time"), and playwright (It's Always Fair Weather) - all usually with collaborator Betty Comden, dies at 87
- Oct 23 Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford, British historian, dies at 96
- Oct 23 Marianne Hoppe, German theater and film actress (Der Schimmelreiter), dies at 93
- Oct 23 Richard Helms, American intelligence official (CIA head 1966-73), dies at 89
- Oct 24 Harry Hay, American activist (b. 1912)
- Oct 24 Herman Gaviria, Colombian football player (b. 1969)
- Oct 24 Mary Jeanette "Peggy" Moran, American actress (Double Date, Horror Island), dies from injuries at 84
- Oct 24 Winton M. Blount, United States Postmaster General (b. 1921)
- Oct 25 Paul Wellstone, American politician (Sen-D-Minnesota 1991-2002), dies in a plane crash at 58
Richard Harris (1930-2002)
Oct 25 Irish actor (A Man Called Horse, This Sporting Life) and singer ("MacArthur Park"), dies of Hodgkin's disease at 72
- Oct 26 Jacques Massu, French general who led Battle of Algiers, dies at 94
- Oct 26 Movsar Barayev, Chechen Islamist militia leader during the Second Chechen War, dies at 23
- Oct 27 Charles O. Whitley, American politician (Rep-D-NC, 1977-87), dies at 75
- Oct 27 Tom Dowd, American recording engineer and producer (innovator of multitrack recording), dies of emphysema at 77
- Oct 28 Erling Persson, Swedish entrepreneur (H&M stores), dies at 85
- Oct 28 Margaret Booth, American film editor (b. 1898)
- Oct 29 Glenn McQueen, American animator (b. 1960)
- Oct 30 Jam Master Jay [Jason Mizell], American rapper, DJ and musician (Run-DMC), fatally shot by a drug dealer at 37
- Oct 30 Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- Oct 30 Rudolf Brucci [Bruči], Italian-Croatian composer (Gilgamesh; Lesta), and educator, dies at 85
- Oct 30 William Mitchell, British physicist, dies at 77
- Oct 31 Lionel Poilâne, French baker and entrepreneur, dies at 57
- Oct 31 Michail Stasinopoulos, Greek politician and 1st President of Greece, dies at 99
- Oct 31 Raf Vallone, Italian actor (A View From the Bridge), dies at 86
