Historical Events
- Oct 3 Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy is attacked by one of the shows tigers, canceling the show for good.
- Oct 4 Jockey Jerry Bailey surpasses his own single season record for North American purse earnings ($19,271,814) set in 2002; wins aboard Sightseek in Beldame Stakes & Birdstone in Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park
- Oct 4 Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel: 21 Israelis, Jews and Arabs, are killed, and 51 others wounded.
- Oct 4 Red Raiders' quarterback B.J. Symons sets a Big 12 Conference record with 8 touchdown passes, leading Texas Tech to a convincing 59-28 win over Texas A & M
- Oct 4 Ten thousand people participate in "Rites of Ancestral Return" the reinternment of African American ancestral remains at the African Burial Ground in Manhattan [1]
- Oct 4 Trainer Bobby Frankel saddles Sightseek to victory in the Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park; Frankel's 23rd Grade I stakes winner of the year, breaking D. Wayne Lukas' 1987 record of 22
- Oct 5 Chicago Cubs win their first MLB postseason series since the 1908 World Series with 5-1 win v Atlanta Braves in Game 5 NLDS at Turner Field
- Oct 5 Kansas City wide receiver Dante Hall scores on game winning 93-yard punt return in Chiefs 24-23 victory v Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium; returns for score in an NFL-record 4th straight game
Election of Interest
Oct 7 California holds gubernatorial recall election - Governor Gray Davis loses and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes governor
Nobel Prize for Economics
Oct 8 Clive Granger and Robert F. Engle awarded Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)”
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Oct 8 Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon win the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes
Nobel Peace Prize
Oct 10 Shirin Ebadi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, making her the 1st Iranian Muslim women to receive the prize
- Oct 12 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Home Depot Center, Carson, CA: Nia Künzer scores winner in sudden death extra time as Germany beats Sweden, 2-1
F1 World Champion
Oct 12 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher finishes 8th at the season-ending Japanese F1 Grand Prix at Suzuka; clinches 4th consecutive World Drivers Championship by 2 points from Kimi Räikkönen
Sports History
Oct 14 Fan Steve Bartman deflects the ball away from Chicago Cubs outfielder Moises Alou. Cubs give up eight runs in the inning and lose to the Marlins 8-3, and the Bartman incident is seen as the turning point in the series
- Oct 15 China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission
- Oct 15 MLB National League Championship: Florida Marlins beat Chicago Cubs, 4 games to 3
- Oct 15 The Staten Island Ferry boat Andrew J. Barberi collides with a pier at the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
- Oct 16 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3
- Oct 17 Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.
- Oct 17 Pinnacle fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) to become World's tallest high-rise
- Oct 18 Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia
Beatification
Oct 19 Mother Teresa of Calcutta is beatified by Pope John Paul II
Music Concert
Oct 24 Walt Disney Concert Hall, new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, designed by Frank Gehry, opens in downtown Los Angeles, California
- Oct 25 15th College Football Holy War: Boston College beats Notre Dame 27-25 in Chestnut Hill
- Oct 25 Baseball World Series: Florida beats New York Yankees, 2-0 in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium for Marlins second title; MVP: Florida pitcher Josh Beckett
- Oct 25 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Santa Anita Racetrack; winners: Pleasantly Perfect, Action This Day, Adoration, Johar, High Chaparral, Islington, Halfbridled, Six Perfections, Cajun Beat
- Oct 26 The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in Californian history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego
Wicked
Oct 30 Stephen Schwartz's musical "Wicked", a re-telling of the "Wizard of Oz" from the Wicked Witch of the West's' point of view, starring Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, opens at the Gershwin Theatre, NYC; run is ongoing, wins 2 Tony Awards, 7 Drama Desk Awards, and a Grammy
- Oct 31 A bankruptcy court approves MCI's reorganization plans, essentially clearing the telecommunications company to exit bankruptcy
Sports History
Oct 31 Bethany Hamilton, aged 13, has her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing in Hawaii
Appointment of Interest
Oct 31 Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power
2003 History
Famous Weddings
- Oct 11 "The West Wing" actress Annabeth Gish (32) weds former "The X-Files" stunt man Wade Allen at The Sea Ranch Lodge
Alyson Hannigan & Alexis Denisof
Oct 11 American Pie star Alyson Hannigan (29) weds Angel's Alexis Denisof (37) at the Two Bunch Palms Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, California
- Oct 12 Actor Danny Nucci (35) weds actress Paula Marshall (39) in Los Angeles
Famous Deaths
- Oct 1 (Greig) "Chubby" Jackson, American big band jazz double-bassist, bandleader, and TV host, dies at 84
- Oct 2 John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor (b. 1914)
- Oct 3 Florence Stanley, American actress (b. 1924)
- Oct 3 William Steig, American cartoonist (The New Yorker, 1930-2003) and children's author (Shrek!; Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; Doctor De Soto), dies at 95 [1]
- Oct 4 Sid McMath, American politician (b. 1912)
- Oct 5 Denis Quilley, British actor (Anything Goes, The Lady's Not For Burning, Masada), dies from liver cancer at 75
- Oct 6 Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist (Grizzly Man), dies mauled and eaten by bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska at 46
- Oct 7 Arthur Berger, American composer (Ideas of Order), music critic, and educator (Brandeis, 1953-80; New England Conservatory of Music, 1980-99), dies at 91
- Oct 7 Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke, English peer and director (Emily), dies at 64
- Oct 7 Izzy Asper, Canadian tax lawyer (b. 1932)
- Oct 7 Wally George, American conservative TV commentator, dies at 71
- Oct 9 Carolyn Heilbrun, American mystery writer (as Amanda Cross), editor (Lady Ottoline's Album), and academic (Columbia University, 1960-62), tales her own life at 77
- Oct 10 Eugene Istomin, American pianist (Leventritt Award-1943), dies at 77
- Oct 11 Franklyn Perring, English botanist (co-author of Atlas of the British Flora, 1962), dies of cancer at 76
- Oct 11 Ivan Getting, American physicist and engineer (developed Global Positioning System), dies at 91 [1]
Bill Shoemaker (1931-2003)
Oct 12 American Racing Hall of Fame jockey (8,833 career victories, Kentucky Derby 1955, 59, 65, 86), dies of natural causes at 72
- Oct 12 Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
- Oct 12 Joan Kroc [Mansfield], American philanthropist and 3rd wife of Ray Kroc, the owner of McDonald's and the San Diego Padres, dies of a brain tumor at 75
- Oct 12 Ram Gopal, Indian-English dancer (Blue Peter, Purple Plain), dies at 90
- Oct 13 Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
- Oct 14 Mokta Ould Daddah, Mauritanian politician, President Mauritania (1961-78), dies at 78
- Oct 14 Patrick Dalzel-Job, English soldier and inspiration for James Bond (b. 1913)
- Oct 15 Ben Metcalfe, Canadian environmental activist (helped found Greenpeace), dies at 83
- Oct 15 Bertram N. Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, (1994 Nobel Prize for Physics for neutron spectroscopy), dies at 85
- Oct 16 Avni Arbas, Turkish artist (b. 1919)
- Oct 16 László Papp, Hungarian boxer (Olympic gold-1948, 1952, 1956), dies at 77 [1]
- Oct 16 Stu Hart, Canadian professional wrestler and trainer, dies at 88
- Oct 17 Janice Rule, American actress (Alvarez Kelly, Doctor's Wife), dies at 72
- Oct 18 Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Spanish writer (b. 1939)
- Oct 18 Preston Smith, 40th Governor of Texas, dies at 91
- Oct 19 Alija Izetbegović, Bosnian politician and 1st President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1990-2000), dies of heart disease complicated by injuries from a fall at 78
- Oct 19 Hawk [Michael Hegstrand], American professional wrestler (ECW/WCW/WWF/AWA, Legion of Doom), dies at 46
- Oct 19 Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902)
- Oct 20 Čkalja [Miodrag Petrović], Serbian actor and one of the most popular comedians of former Yugoslavia, dies at 79
- Oct 20 Jack Elam, American actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo), dies at 82
- Oct 21 (Steven) Elliott Smith, American Academy Award nominated singer-songwriter (Good Will Hunting - "Miss Misery"), dies of suspected self-inflicted stab wounds at 34 [1]
- Oct 21 Fred Berry, African-American actor (Rerun-What's Happening), dies at 52
- Oct 21 Louise Day Hicks, American politician (b. 1916)
- Oct 21 Luis A. Ferré, Puerto Rican industrialist and politician (Governor of Puerto Rico, 1969-73), dies at 99
Soong Mei-ling (1897-2003)
Oct 23 Chinese political figure and First Lady of the Republic of China (1948-75), dies at 106
- Oct 23 Tony Capstick, English actor, comedian, and musician. dies of an aneurysm at 59
- Oct 24 Rosie Nix Adams, Stepdaughter of Johnny Cash (b. 1958)
- Oct 24 Ross Taylor [Robert Murray Taylor], Scottish transplant surgeon who pioneered kidney transplantations in the U.K., dies from cancer of the stomach at 70
- Oct 24 Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross country skier (Olympic gold 1952, 56, 60), dies in car accident at 78
- Oct 25 Hemu Adhikari, Indian cricket batsman (21 Tests; HS 114 1st Test v WI 1948), dies at 84
- Oct 25 Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher, spiritual leader and social revolutionary who founded the Swadhyaya Parivar, dies of cardiac arrest at 83
- Oct 25 Robert Strassburg, American composer, conductor and educator (Leaves of Grass: A Choral Symphony), dies at 88
- Oct 26 Roberto Garcia Morillo, Argentine composer and music critic, dies at 92
- Oct 27 Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
- Oct 29 Franco Corelli, Italian tenor, dies after suffering a stroke at 82
- Oct 29 Hal Clement [Harry Clement Stubbs], American sci-fi writer (Mission of Gravity; Needle), dies at 81
- Oct 30 Abel Ehrlich, Israeli composer, dies at 88
- Oct 31 Gordon Weir, New Zealand cricket batsman (11 Tests, 3 x 50; Auckland CA), dies at 93
- Oct 31 Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b. 1919)
- Oct 31 Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Indian Carnatic vocalist, dies at 95
